Shohei Ohtani is not pitching this season, but he may need to channel those skills to put some spin on the seemingly NSFW celebration he debuted in a nationally televised game on Wednesday night.
In the top of the first inning, Ohtani stole second base before emerging from his slide by removing his left glove, standing up and looking towards the dugout while vociferously moving his right hand in a suggestive forward and back motion near his groin.
Ohtani then went on standing on second base with two outs as if nothing happened while ESPN made no mention of the odd celebration and cut it from the replay of the stolen base.
Ohtani now has 22 stolen bases on the season to add to his other eye-popping stats: batting .317 with 28 home runs and 66 RBIs.
The umpire who called Ohtani safe, though, appeared to see exactly what Ohtani was doing and then awkwardly looked away in a bizarre scene.
While it does not appear that Ohtani was asked about the lewd gesture he made, fans rocketed through social media to speculate on what was possibly going on.
“Shake the dirt out of that glove, Ohtani,” a popular fan account @DodgersNation posted on X.
Others felt bad that Phillies second baseman Byrson Stott was so close to Ohtani during the celebration.
“Someone needs to tell Ohtani that Stott is a happily married man,” X account @Phillytradesman posted.
Crossing Broad noted that some on X defended Ohtani by saying he was shaking the dirt out of his glove or perhaps had lost a bet with teammates.
Ohtani is also married, he announced in a spring training bombshell, although he declined to identify the Japanese woman he married.
She was later identified as basketball player Mamiko Tanaka.
Despite Ohtani’s best efforts, going 2-4 with an RBI, the Dodgers would fall to the Phillies in the battle between the two best teams that the National League has to offer.