Little Leaguer shares story of getting snubbed by Shohei Ohtani: ‘Never liked him ever since’

While the people around him always seem to be getting into legal hot water, Shohei Ohtani remains one of Major League Baseball’s brightest stars.

But not everyone is a big fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar.

A young girl on Australia’s Little League World Series baseball team was interviewed during the Mets-Mariners game on Sunday Night Baseball’s KidsCast, and while it sounded at first like she was about to share a fun anecdote about the MLB slugger, she ended up throwing some shade in his direction instead.

Monica Arcuri began telling a story about a time in 2023 when she visited Anaheim to see the Angels play and saw Ohtani hit a home run off Blue Jays pitcher Yusei Kikuchi. Her brother was given the ball and she attempted to get Ohtani to sign it and things didn’t go as planned.

“He hit a home run into an area where the fans couldn’t go, and then this guy got the ball and gave it to my brother,” Arcuri said. “So the next day we went to the VIP box at the front and I asked for his signature, but all he gave me was a side eye and not a nice glance. So after that, I’ve never liked him ever since. He’s not really humble. Not my style.”

For the sake of confirmation, here’s the home run that Arcuri mentioned.

It’s an unfortunate anecdote, and not exactly the kind of thing MLB might want to see on Sunday Night Baseball. Of course, we have to take the story with a grain of salt. We don’t know all the details surrounding the situation and whether or not Ohtani had pressing matters pulling him in a different direction.

Regardless, that certainly wasn’t the story anyone was expecting, but that’s the risk you take with the KidsCast.