ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith. Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Stephen A. Smith criticized for comments about Angels star Shohei Ohtani

By Zac Wassink | Last updated Jul 12, 2021 2:17 PM ET

Los Angeles Angels two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani recently made history by setting the record for the most home runs hit in an MLB season by a Japanese-born player and is undeniably one of the faces of the league.

On Monday, however, ESPN's Stephen A. Smith received widespread criticism for suggesting Ohtani can't be one of MLB's biggest stars because he uses an interpreter:

Stephen A Smith sucks pic.twitter.com/LZKQVTqIzp
— Fuzzy (@fuzzyfromyt) July 12, 2021

Smith's comments shockingly went from bad to worse:

I'll pull the whole thing since First Take is re-airing on ESPN 2 right now but here's another bit pic.twitter.com/FpXTkUvBW6
— CJ Fogler #BlackLivesMatter (@cjzero) July 12, 2021

Per ESPN stats, Ohtani begins the All-Star break leading all of MLB with 33 home runs, and he's second in the league with a 1.062 OPS. According to Frank Pingue of Reuters (h/t Nasdaq), the 10 most-watched MLB games in Japan this season all featured the Angels, and Ohtani is the most-searched player on the MLB Film Room video tool.

Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reported last week Smith earns $12 million per year off his ESPN contract. While the Worldwide Leader pays Smith to generate headlines, one wonders if this is the type of attention ESPN would want linked with any of its personalities.

Zac Wassink

Zac Wassink is a longtime sports news writer and PFWA member who began his career in 2006 and has had his work featured on Yardbarker, MSN, Yahoo Sports and Bleacher Report. He is also a football and futbol aficionado who is probably yelling about Tottenham Hotspur at the moment and who chanted for Matt Harvey to start the ninth inning of Game 5 of the 2015 World Series at Citi Field. You can find him on X at @ZacWassink

More must-reads: