Ippei Mizuhara was reportedly not the only person in the MLB world who placed bets with an illegal bookmaker in recent years. Mizuhara, Shohei Ohtani's former interpreter, reportedly stole millions of dollars from the Los Angeles Dodgers star for gambling purposes. Mizuhara placed his bets with a bookmaker in California. Tisha Thompson of ESPN reports that David Fletcher, who played with Ohtani while they were both on the Los Angeles Angels, also placed bets with the same bookmaker.
Ohtani and Fletcher reportedly have a close relationship. Fletcher, a veteran infielder, did not place bets on baseball, sources told ESPN. However, Thompson revealed a shocking report about Fletcher's friend Colby Schultz, who played in the minor leagues for three years.
“David Fletcher's close friend, Colby Schultz, who played in the Kansas City Royals' system from 2018 to 2020, placed bets on baseball, including on Angels' games that Fletcher played in while he was on the team, multiple sources told ESPN,” Thompson wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
The situation has led fans to wonder if other players made bets with the illegal bookmaker. Investigations will continue into the situation.
David Fletcher, now with Braves, played with Angels for six years
Fletcher made his MLB debut in 2018 with the Angels, the same season in which Ohtani joined the team. Fletcher never offered much power at the plate, but he emerged as one of the better contact hitters in MLB in 2019 and 2020. He hit .290 during the '19 campaign before finishing 2020 with a .319 batting average.
Fletcher, however, has not hit over .262 since. He would remain with the Angels until 2023 and has played in five MLB games with the Atlanta Braves in 2024. He's spent the remainder of the season in the Braves' minor league system.
There was a time when Fletcher appeared to be a future star in the big leagues. After a decline in performance, his MLB career is now in question given these recent allegations. The investigation will continue before any final rulings are made.
Shohei Ohtani has been cleared of wrongdoing
Some fans are beginning to question Ohtani's involvement in the situation despite previously being cleared of any wrongdoing. At the moment, the assumption remains that Ohtani is innocent.
Perhaps this is just a matter of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. The thought at the moment is that Ohtani had no idea about Mizuhara using his money for gambling purposes. Ohtani has yet to speak on Fletcher's situation.
Again, and this cannot be stressed enough, but Ohtani has been cleared of any wrongdoing. Fans are often quick to throw conspiracies around, however.
Shohei Ohtani is focused on playing baseball. He has performed at an MVP-caliber level since joining the Dodgers, which is quite impressive given all of the off-field distractions he's dealt with.
This David Fletcher update adds yet another distraction that Ohtani will likely be asked about sooner rather than later. It is possible that Ohtani will address the situation with a statement and not take questions, which was the method he took when first addressing Mizuhara's gambling controversy.
Ohtani would be smart to address the situation rather than ignore it. Otherwise, conspiracies will continue to spread. Providing an explanation could help silence rumors.
We will continue to monitor and provide updates on this story as they are made available.
