Shohei Ohtani is the latest sports star in Los Angeles to have an art mural made in his honor, just weeks after joining the Dodgers on a $700million, 10-year contract.
Jonas Never – a graffiti street artist – bought a few cans of spray paint to pull off the creation located on one of the sides of his shop, Prociety, on Main St and West 15th in downtown L.A.
He has done other murals before on LeBron James and Anthony Bourdain.
‘Had to welcome @shoheiohtani to LA the only way we know how,’ he shared as a caption to a photo of his most recent completed mural on Instagram, Saturday.
According to TMZ Sports, it took about a day and a half for Never to complete the chef d’oeuvre.
A mural of Shohei Ohtani in a LA Dodgers uniform has been spotted in downtown Los Angeles
Ohtani signed a whopping $700million, 10-year contract with the Dodgers earlier this month
Ohtani is no stranger to LA. after all, as he spent the first six years of his MLB career with the Angels, and a user pointed that out in Never’s Instagram post of his mural dedicated to the Japanese, two-way star.
‘We’re was all this hype when he was with the Angels?’ the user wrote.
Another Ohtani mural has also been spotted in Manhattan Beach, with plenty more of them expected to pop up all over L.A. before the 2024 season’s Opening Day on March 28.
L.A. is known for its street art, with murals of Kobe Bryant appearing all over the city, especially since his death in January 2020.
Ohtani, 29, and Ronald Acuña Jr. won this year’s Hank Aaron Awards on Saturday, presented by MLB to the most outstanding offensive performer in each league.
A baseball fan wondered asked why there were so many murals of Ohtani in L.A. all of a sudden
Ohtani has another mural in Manhattan Beach, with plenty more to come before Opening Day
The MLB award is picked by fan balloting combined with votes from a panel of Hall of Famers and former winners, a group that this year included Johnny Bench, Craig Biggio, Ken Griffey Jr., Derek Jeter, Chipper Jones, Pedro Martínez, Eddie Murray, Albert Pujols, David Ortiz, John Smoltz and Robin Yount.
The pair also won Most Valuable Awards last month in voting by the Baseball Writers´ Association of America. Ohtani was the first two-time unanimous MVP.
Ohtani became a free agent after the season and left the Angels after leading the AL with 44 homers and hitting .304 with 96 RBIs, eight triples and 20 stolen bases in a season at the plate that ended September 3 because of an oblique injury.
The right-hander was 10-5 with a 3.14 ERA in 23 starts on the mound, striking out 167 and walking 55 in 132 innings before tearing the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow on August 23. He had elbow surgery and won’t pitch next season.
