Shohei Ohtani Shouts Out Dodgers Bat Boy That Saved Him
Nearly two dozen reporters from Japanese and Southern California-based news outlets surrounded Los Angeles Dodgers bat boy Javier Herrera on Friday afternoon at Oracle Park in San Francisco.
The 38-year-old fielded questions about how it felt to shield Shohei Ohtani from a line-drive foul ball that could have injured him.
“I don’t know,” a reluctant Herrera said. “I was just doing my job.”
Herrera has been with the club for 18 seasons and said he saw the pitch all the way in, which enabled him to make the face-saving viral play.
“I saw the pitch all the way through,” he said. “It hit the bat, and the ball pretty much found me. I was able to grab it.”
Ohtani posted a video clip of Herrera’s interview Friday to his Instagram account and wrote, “My hero!!”
The clip of his barehanded catch went viral on Wednesday night and Herrera didn’t realize just how crazy the play was until later that night when a friend sent it to him.
“I saw it 100 times,” Herrera said. “It was pretty impressive. I was impressed. But in the moment, it was just like, ‘OK, let’s keep playing.’ ”
Herrera also earned high praise from manager Dave Roberts.
“Yeah, he needs a contract extension, a raise,” Roberts said. “I was obviously right next to him, but I didn’t appreciate how close it was, you know, going towards Shohei. And what a great play it was. So, very quick reaction from Javy, and very grateful.”
Photo Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
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