Shohei Ohtani answered one of the most sought-after questions during his Dodgers introductory press conference on Thursday: What is the name of his adorable puppy?
Ohtani’s dog went viral when the two-way superstar won his second AL MVP award last month. The Japanese player was on his couch at home with his dog sitting next to him. When Ohtani won the award, he high-fived the pup.
But no one outside of Ohtani’s camp knew what the dog’s name was until Thursday when Ohtani shared the American translation of his dog’s name is “Decoy.” His Japanese name is “Dekopin.”
Shohei Ohtani has named his dog Dekopin in Japanese, but he also has an American name: Decoy!
👋 Decoy! pic.twitter.com/9CatffBmcf
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) December 14, 2023
That solved a big mystery for one of Ohtani’s new teammates Walker Buehler. Shortly after the superstar agreed to sign with Los Angeles, Buehler went on a posting spree on X, formerly known as Twitter, and tried to guess what the name could be. He hypothesized names like “Dodger” and “Walker,” like the rest of Dodgers fans.
Baseball fans can expect to see plenty of Decoy at Dodger Stadium over the next decade.