Ippei Mizuhara is a familiar face to baseball fans as Ohtani’s constant companion, interpreting for him with the media and at other appearances.FILE - Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani, left, and interpreter Ippei Mizuhara answer questions during a news conference at Dodger Stadium.
The team did not have an immediate comment Wednesday. Mizuhara's firing was confirmed by Major League Baseball. After college, Mizuhara was hired by the Boston Red Sox as an interpreter for Japanese pitcher Hideki Okajima. In 2013, he returned to Japan to translate for English-speaking players on the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. That’s where he first met Ohtani, who joined the team that same year.
Mizuhara said he incurred more than $1 million in debt by the end of 2022 and his losses increased from there.