 Shohei Otani is the best baseball player right now arguably the greatest of all time and his next contract could be worth up to a Billion dollars David, but he's still not a household name. Let's talk about it Yeah, we got to talk about some viral sports questions right now because I went on the MLB reddit Baseball reddit some of the Asian reddits and people were asking the question if Shohei Otani is potentially the most talented baseball player of all time because he's a great hitter and a great pitcher the likes of you know Which have not been seen since Babe Ruth. How come it seems like the American fan base or American? You know endorsement brands don't care Yeah, when is there gonna be a candy bar named the the Otani bar right cuz they got a Babe Ruth bar, right? Well, you know, I don't know if that time has passed. But anyways guys, we're gonna get into the comments section We're gonna talk about eight reasons why Shohei Otani is not a household name Despite being the best player of a major American sports guys Please hit that like button check out other episodes of the hot pot boys as we get into this I did notice Andrew on the Asian subreddits. They tend to more focus on the fact that he's Asian He is from a foreign market where he is a superstar in Japan, right? But obviously what's big in Japan does not necessarily cross over to America and likewise There is a disconnect even though Japan is westernized. They are not Western people But other people on the MLB and baseball boards. They were more like no no no It's not just because he's Asian. It's just because the angels stink that that's the only reason why they're just not a good team Yeah, guys, we're gonna go through the reason but I'm real quick I do think it's important to note the MLB demographic guys the fan base is that the MLB is actually a About 60% white. Okay, it's 50% male and I don't know if this matters guys But the political affiliation the main political affiliation is Republican So I don't know if that contributes to maybe Shohei not being as big of a star as he's supposed to be But what are you trying to say? What are you trying to say guys? No, I am I'm not blaming it just on the Caucasian male There's a lot of other factors to consider here guys. So before Asians you start getting mad at these people Just listen to the video. All right, so make sure you like subscribe turning your notifications Andrew We are not subject matter Experts on baseball, right? No, we are subject matter experts on Asian representation in the West and just sports marketing in general, right? I mean, maybe not, you know experts like I work at a sports agency firm, but just for a regular person I know a thing or two we think about a lot of things guys So I would say I'm gonna go through the reasons real quick and we could talk about it I think number one obviously He has a Japanese name even though it's not the hardest name to say it's just harder to remember for American people number two He is from Asia so he doesn't really relate to the American experience or even the Asian American experience He's not out there drinking Boba and all this other stuff Boba's big in Japan right now though So I'm sure he's had it dude. He needs to go on settle Asian trades and pull a seam We would start drinking some some taro milk tea But I think the truth is he has his own world that he's like a tier one superstar in it's a little bit like Yolkic Yolkic doesn't have his own sneaker. He should have been a three-time MVP, right? And we're just talking about Joker, but he's like a tier one celebrity in Serbia right yeah, right like even in maybe the Euro League period He's just a tier one superstar. Also. Okay number three. Let's be honest Shohei Otani He doesn't choose to speak English very often. I heard that he does speak English casually He definitely can he also learned a little bit of Spanish But of course he doesn't give a lot of interviews and he does not speak a lot of English therefore not I mean It doesn't make him very Relatable when he does that right like people don't get to know him and things like that Yeah, I almost want to say though that that's a partially a factor But I almost want to say maybe even Ichiro was a bigger deal than Shohei even though Shohei is In a way better than Ichiro. Oh You mean Ichiro Suzuki being like he was bigger at his time possibly. Yeah, I think it's arguable Guys, he's also in the on the Anaheim Angels, which is a small market team that sucks So Dave, this is kind of weird. This is kind of like I guess if Yanis Anna de Kumpo was on the Knicks Instead of the Milwaukee Bucks. He would also be viewed differently, too Yeah, I think the Anaheim Angels are a local fan base There's nobody who's a fan of the Angels outside of that locality, right? It's like one of those type of he was on the Dodgers or Yankees all the Yankees my goodness Yeah, I think it would be uh, it would improve but it wouldn't still be like what it is because a lot of people were saying that the age of Baseball superstars is over because the Angels. I believe Andrew. Who do they have Mike trout? So Aaron Judge Mike trout and Shohei are gonna be like the top three highest paid players in baseball The Angels have two of them But how many people would recognize my my trout outside either? Oh, it's a good point. Yeah Maybe it's not only because Shohei is Asian guys Obviously Shohei has not really done anything viral or TMZ worthy hasn't dated Madonna like uh, who's it Derek Jeter? Alex Rodriguez Dennis Rodman did that. No one of the play didn't Derek Jeter go out when Derek Jeter went out with somebody famous I forgot Derek Jeter dated like 10 celebrities Jennifer Lopez, right? Yeah a bunch of people anyways Why did I say Madonna gosh? But anyways another reason is baseball is dying David. This is a huge conversation right now about how weekly baseball is uh Less watched or people seem to care about it less But worldwide baseball games like the big games are still watched a lot I actually think for me just a quick thought that's my number one I think everything is a factor pie and there's a lot of different slices I think baseball dying it's almost like the biggest slice to me I'm not saying it's not big in latin american countries I'm not saying it's not big in japan and amongst like older, you know corporate white guys, right? But it's like I feel like latin america. They would more so follow the players from their countries Yeah, let's just say a lot of Gen Z millennials not as much in the baseball Also, uh in baseball there is actually a history of a lot of great asian players So I guess it's not that shocking to see a great asian player. We have Ichiro Hideo no mo you have shin shin suchu you darvis right now Maybe they're not as great as all as each other as ichiro and as shouhei But essentially these are very good asian players So it's not weird to see an asian be really good at baseball. I guess it's not a shocking. Yeah, shout out to matsui I remember, you know growing up in seattle There were so many actually japanese players on the mariners because at one point the mariners were owned by nintendo Japanese company And then last but not least I actually just thinking maybe this goes along with baseball Dying, but there's not that many big household mlb names right now No, like dude, I honestly your average person can only name like probably 10 people in history And if you talk to like mba fans, they're saying ken griffy jr. I don't know who else I mean babe ruth ken griffy barry bonds derrick jeter alex rodriguez sammi sosa mark maguire ichiro big poppy ortiz like these are the I would say these are the names that even people who are not into baseball know Right this sort of permeated outside of the sport into pop culture Which is rare for baseball players, right? Literally ken griffy jr. Is the only baseball player in baseball history. I'm not saying ichiro and you know, uh Shohei don't move units for like a6 or mizuno in japan I'm talking about in america for nike ken griffy jr. Is the only guy to ever move units in history for sneakers Wow Like people want the griffys right right right So I guess you guys let me know in the comments down below Which reason do you think is the biggest reason why shohei otani is not a household name in america despite Being possibly if he stays on this trajectory the greatest baseball player ever Which is uh top three american sport. Yeah, you know what the weird thing is i'm actually like I'm not fully in agreement with the mlb in the baseball subreddits Which i i'm assuming are more full of like older white guys that are in their 40s Possibly I actually more agree with them I think that baseball Is really dying from a pop cultural standpoint and and just uh the people are not individual personas because even mike trout If I just pass by him and on the street, I don't even know if it would register in my mind No, yeah, he's like a top three player to Aaron judge like what does he look like and Aaron judge? It's he's on the yank. He's and he looks like derrick jeter So he uh, you know almost like that clone thing going for him, right? He's got the he's in jeter shadow like alex rodriguez too kind of that's funny But i'm just saying where i'm like Yeah, like I just think that that's the largest factor However, maybe number two would be him being japanese and then number three being the angels suck right Do you think how big of it being if he was japanese american versus being from japan now because there's even another Another step away from the cultural gap I mean jeremy lin had a lot more articles written about his rise more than yao ming yao ming had like more like Geopolitical like bridging the east and the west type articles, but jeremy's was more like hey Here's this guy that we never thought would do this thing. I think when you look at show. Hey, he's gigantic He's muscular So it does break some east asian stereotypes a little bit about being giant and muscular But outside of that he looks like a guy who should be really good Whereas like even each year oander was very small And he had generated like a lot of power from a small body david uh You know I want to ask this question and this is a question that some people ponder on the internet We also ponder ourselves Do you think it's kind of weird or is there a correlation between the fact that baseball is dying? uh And that not that many people care about soccer in america But asians happen to excel at those sports a lot like do you think like once other types of people Other than the original group of people start essentially dominating that sport Then that original group of people care about it less You are you referring to maybe like let's say for example theoretically if white women were super following, uh tennis when stefi graff was winning and then it was serena williams and serena williams sort of passed the torch to Naomi Osaka Obviously, Naomi's sort of like taking a break for several years now But it seemed like women's tennis is being dominated a lot by uh, I would say like black black or asian women Right. Yeah, non non white people for sure. That's women's sport. Women's tennis actually male tennis I think if like the nhl was like 75 black like the mba or or uh, nfl I think the fan base would change. Well, I guess that's interesting I mean that makes that's all a little bit logical to be honest, but I guess like Are people gonna pass the torch in baseball? Like is there gonna be a surge of now asians are going to take over baseball because if there's one show Hey, why not is there there can be shohei be be love show right? Are they just scouting like japan now? Yeah, like I guess and once it becomes asian enough and obviously it's very latino as well So there's a large latino fan base, but I'm assuming that the white black or latino fan base Is not generally connecting with shohei as much as they would if shohei was more american Yeah, for sure And I think even if he was like almost like a ken watt nabi You know the actor from japan who seems like also he has a big international fan base because he's able to like Sort of translate that like ronin samurai vibe, but like in a western way Yeah, I feel like shohei. He's just not he's not about the flash, but all right last question asian americans Should we care about him more? Like is it also understandable that a lot of asian americans don't are not super into shohei Especially if they're not super in a baseball like for me. I'm not super in a baseball Shout out to shohei I acknowledge he's probably gonna go down as maybe the greatest baseball player ever It's kind of weird at least most talented He's probably not going to win the most games because you know, it's hard to impact the game He might not have the greatest career depending on what team he goes to and what team he stays on But he might be the greatest singular player. So I guess Like should we should we care? We should care more. Yeah, I think that asian americans I would like to see more asian americans wear shohei otani jerseys Okay, but it's tough because the angels it's like kind of a whack team to wear their jersey You know what I mean? Like if it was that if it was yankees or dodgers for sure Or even white socks like people go for uh, yeah, I mean soccer you got sun herring men Which is great. There's another couple other koreans that are and that are like top tier right right in soccer So I think like should we is or a soccer just a world away It's too foreign because it's also the greatest soccer takes place Across the pond. You know what I mean, right? So maybe that's another reason why soccer We don't we don't think as much about soccer. Yeah I mean, I've just started to see people care more about soccer because messy has come to the mls But uh, it's an interesting question. Let us know in the comments section below Why you think there's not a lot of talk in asian america Or just america in general about shohei otani's individual dominance. Is it a team thing? Is it because he's asian? Is it because the angels suck or is it just like everything all of the above? What's the biggest reason I want to know what you think is the largest reason why all right everybody Thank you so much for watching the hot pop boys Uh, leave your comment down below hit that like button and until next time we out peace