Craig Carton wonders if Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter was just a ‘gambling buddy’

After hearing Shohei Ohtani speak English during the Los Angeles Dodgers’ World Series celebration, Craig Carton wondered whether he might not need an interpreter.

The Dodgers celebrated their ninth World Series championship in franchise history with a parade that ended as a rally at Dodger Stadium on Monday afternoon. During the celebration, Ohtani took the microphone to address the crowd in English.

Much to Stephen A. Smith’s dismay, Ohtani has conducted interviews with an interpreter throughout his MLB career, although he has given occasional answers in English. But after hearing Ohtani address a crowd of nearly 60,000 Dodgers fans in English, Craig Carton wondered if the superstar baseball player had another reason for using an interpreter.

“I applaud him for doing that. It might have been hard for him to speak English in front of so many people, but he clearly does not need an interpreter,” Carton concluded on his daily podcast with co-host Tyrone Johnson.

Will Ireton has been Ohtani’s interpreter since 2024. Ireton replaced Ippei Mizuhara, who was fired in March 2024 and later charged by federal prosecutors with bank fraud, alleging he stole nearly $17 million from Ohtani to pay off gambling debts. MLB cleared Ohtani of any wrongdoing. And he similarly was not charged in the scandal, with authorities deeming Ohtani a victim of fraud.

“I think a lot of guys speak perfect English, they just don’t want to cause screw the English media,” Carton said. “But here’s where I’m going to take this one mini step too far…if you go back to when he was with the Angels and his first year with the Dodgers, when he had Ippei as his interpreter, maybe he wasn’t an interpreter for him. Is there any possibility that the real reason he was keeping Ippei around – and I’m asking the question, I’m not accusing – is there the possibility that Ippei’s only real role was to be a gambling buddy?”

Carton, who was once charged with federal crimes and convicted of fraud himself, noted that it often takes months or even years for federal investigations to be completed, whereas Ohtani was cleared very quickly of any wrongdoing.

“But if we agree that Shohei speaks perfect English and we agree that having the interpreter is more out of ease and not having to deal with the English-speaking media,” Carton continued. “Maybe we haven’t really investigated why he has the interpreter or why he had the original interpreter for as long as he did when he clearly understands English.”

Ohtani has been playing baseball in the United States for eight years. While it’s great he was able to address fans in a few sentences in English, that in no way proves Ohtani still doesn’t need an interpreter. Taking questions during press conferences or conducting one-on-one interviews is very different than addressing crowds with a few prepared sentences.

To be fair, Carton isn’t the only person speculating right now.

In the wake of the NBA being hit with its own gambling scandal, there has been recent speculation as to why and how Ohtani was cleared so quickly when his interpreter was charged with bank fraud. But of all the conspiracies around Ohtani, the craziest would be the assumption that the FBI would have just let him walk without an investigation. If federal authorities had any suspicion that Ohtani may have been anything other than a victim in this scandal, then they probably wouldn’t have cleared him.