©Gary A. Vasquez - Imagn Images
There’s no doubt that Shohei Ohtani is the best all-around player in baseball today, and maybe ever. He is undoubtedly a global phenomenon everywhere that people like baseball.
But, longtime ESPN personality Karl Ravech may have went totally overboard when talking about Shohei’s global popularity. He claimed that he was as big as Tiger Woods, Muhammad Ali, and others, and had an argument for being the most well-known athlete globally today.
Make no mistake, the three-time MVP is a big deal. Fans flock to the ballpark to see him, and the atmosphere during the Dodgers’ recent tour to his homeland of Japan had a party-like atmosphere. The Dodgers have invested heavily in Japanese players, headlined by Ohtani and starting pitchers Roki Sasaki and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. He’s must-see TV, too.
But, Karl Ravech went too far. In this clip, he talks about how Ohtani is as popular as any athlete in the world now. ESPN personality and former USMNT soccer player Taylor Twellman was not happy about it. Take a look.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 rrrriiiiiggggghhhhhttt pic.twitter.com/8hpM1BpgGL
— Taylor Twellman (@TaylorTwellman) April 3, 2025
There probably hasn’t been a athlete who’s more well known globally, maybe since Tiger Woods, maybe Muhammad Ali, than this guy. I think you could make the case he’s the biggest and most well known athlete globally on the planet, because obviously, of what he does in Asia, and that’s why the Dodgers invested in him.
All due respect to Ravech, but he’s way off here. Yes, Ohtani is popular in Japan, which has a population of around 124 million, as well as in the USA. He mentions how popular Ohtani is in Asia, which would include Japan and South Korea, another baseball-loving country. But, most of Asia’s population resides in China and India, two countries where, while baseball does exist, isn’t very popular. Ohtani has just over 9 million Instagram followers. Lionel Messi, for instance, has over $500 million followers
Ohtani is a big deal, but he pales in comparison to the world’s biggest sports stars in terms of popularity.