Shohei Ohtani, who played for the Los Angeles Angels, signed a 10-year, $700 million giant contract with the city’s second team, the Los Angeles Dodgers.
In the American baseball league MLB, the most lucrative player contract of all time in sports history has been made.
Twice the league’s most valuable player, Japanese Shohei Ohtanisigned a historic contract with traditional club Los Angeles Dodgers on the night between Saturday and Sunday Finnish time.
An agent of a Japanese star Nez Balelo according to the contract is worth 10 years and 700 million dollars. Converted into euros, Ohtani’s contract is around 650 million euros.
According to US media reports, the total value of $700 million is fully guaranteed money. This means an unprecedented situation in professional sports, as no athlete has previously secured such a large profit at the time of signing with a single contract.
Previous record is soccer star Lionel Messi’s $674 million contract with Spanish club FC Barcelona from 2017-21.
Before Ohtani’s new contract, the biggest overall contract in baseball was with the Japanese’s old Angels teammate On Mike Troutwhose current contract is worth 12 years and $426.5 million.
A Japanese sensation
The 29-year-old Ohtani moved from the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters of the Japanese Baseball League to the MLB in 2018.
Ohtani quickly became a sensation after arriving in the United States. He is the only player in the league who excels as both a pitcher and hitter. Usually in baseball, players specialize in either the infield or the outfield, but Ohtani has managed to stand out in both roles.
See a sample of Ohtani’s skills in the message service X embed below.
During his six-year Major League Baseball career, Ohtani has been voted the league’s most valuable player twice. He has also made it to the all-star field twice and to the all-star game three times. In addition, he was awarded Rookie of the Year. In the season that ended, Ohtani also won the municipal statistics for hitters.
– To all Dodgers fans, I promise to always give my all on the field to be the best version of myself. Until the last day of my playing career, I want to continue to strive forward not only for the Dodgers but also for the baseball world, Ohtani said on Instagram when announcing his new contract.