ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Cardinals will play the Los Angeles Angles from May 2-4 at Busch Stadium.
Lars Nootbaar will face his Japan teammate Shohei Ohtani, the Angles all-star pitcher and hitter, for the first time since the World Baseball Classic.
Nootbaar and Ohtani were teammates representing Japan in the WBC in March. Nootbaar was the first player not born in Japan to represent the country.
Both players would play critical roles in Japan's win over USA for its first title since winning back-to-back titles in 2006 and 2009. Ohtani was named MVP for posting the best statistics in the entire tournament.
Nootbaar and Ohtani bonded throughout the tournament and Ohtani was spotted serval times doing the infamous "pepper-grinder" celebration that Nootbaar coined.
This is the first meeting between Nootbaar and Ohtani following the World Baseball Classic. Nootbaar was asked if he has seen him since he is in St. Louis for the series.
"[Ohanti] sleeps a lot, I asked him if he wanted to eat and he said he was sleeping," Nootbaar said.
The outfielder spoke about Ohtani and what he is like as a friend and a teammate.
"He's a normal guy, he's a humble dude. I've said it before, he's comfortable in his own skin. That's kind of what stood out to me the most that he's just one of the guys," he said. "Awesome guy, awesome friend. Obviously an amazing baseball player."
The outfielder described what it was like to bond with him and the infamous "pepper-grinder" celebration.
"I asked him 'Hey what are doing for celebrations?' and he was like 'We don't really do anything for the Angles, so whatever you do we will roll with it," Nootbaar said. "I kind of did it and he [Ohanti] rolled with it."
Shohei Ohtani is expected to pitch on Wednesday against the Cardinals. In 2023, he has a record of 4-0 with a 1.85 ERA. In the batter's box, he has seven home runs, 18 RBIs and a batting average of .294.
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