Japanese star Shohei Ohtani, who is active in the American professional baseball Major League (MLB), was honored with the opening game selection for the second consecutive year.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Los Angeles메이저사이트 Angels head coach Phil Nevin held a press conference on the 17th (Korean time) in Tampee, Arizona, where the spring camp was held, and announced that Ohtani was nominated as the starter for the opening game of this season.

Ohtani, who is attracting attention as a pitcher and hitter, became the starting pitcher for the Angels’ opening game for the second year in a row following last year.

Ohtani is the first in the history of the Angels club to become the starting pitcher for the opening game for two consecutive years since Jared Weaver, who took over the opening game selection from 2010 to 2015.

The Angels will play an away game against the Oakland Athletics on March 31st.

In the opening game against the Houston Astros last year, Ohtani struck out 9 in 4⅔innings and allowed 4 hits and 1 run, but became a losing pitcher.

At the press conference together, Ohtani asked as many questions about the free agent (FA) acquired after the season as he did about the starting pitcher for the opening game.

There are observations that if Ohtani, who doubles as a pitcher, declares free agency after this season, the total will exceed $500 million (approximately 645.7 billion won) for the first time in the major leagues.

However, Ohtani said, “I haven’t really thought about free agency yet.”

“I’ve never been a free agent, so I don’t know how it feels yet,” he said. “Right now, I’m just focusing on the season.”