SEATTLE — The most popular attraction at All-Star Workout Day required three separate stages of interviews.
First Japanese TV reporters got their shot, then Japanese print/digital journalists, before American media could ask Shohei Ohtani a few questions.
In an All-Star Game filled with the best baseball players in the world, no one compared to the two-way icon whom everyone wanted a piece of — including a former teammate.
Kodai Senga hoped he would get a chance to talk with Ohtani, saying he was “worried” about whether they would have a few minutes to chat.
But the two natives of Japan spoke for a short while on the field at T-Mobile Park on Monday.
Asked about their conversation, Senga said, “It’s a secret.”
Is the Mets’ starter making a recruiting pitch ahead of perhaps the most hyped sports free agency of all time?
Senga smiled and let out a small laugh.
“I’m going to go put this [Mets] hat on him right now,” Senga said through interpreter Hiro Fujiwara on the eve of the All-Star Game.
It was a joke.
But the Mets would not complain if a kernel of truth exists, and Ohtani did not sound as if he has eliminated New York from his list of potential landing spots.
When the superstar was leaving Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball ahead of the 2018 season and choosing his MLB club, none of his seven finalists were on the East Coast.
He ultimately chose a smaller market — an Angels team that plays its home games in Anaheim, Calif. — and a club that did not have a lengthy history of winning.
In six terrific and historic seasons with the Angels, Ohtani has not reached the postseason.
Ahead of free agency and perhaps the trade deadline, he signaled he wants the losing to end.
“Those strong feelings [of wanting to win] get stronger year by year. It sucks to lose,” Ohtani said through an interpreter. “[I want] to win. It’s stronger every year.”
Ohtani, both an ace with a 3.32 ERA and a slugger with a 1.050 OPS, will bring a frenzy wherever he winds up.
A market like New York would attract a few more cameras and attention, but Ohtani did not suggest that would be a deterrent.
“Doesn’t really matter to [me] if it’s a bigger or smaller market,” said Ohtani, who added he tries not to think about the trade possibilities.
The Angels general manager who successfully lured Ohtani was Billy Eppler, who now has the same job with the Mets.
Steve Cohen’s wallet has made previous pipe dreams become reality in Queens, and the Mets could follow up the largest payroll in baseball history in 2023 with the largest individual contract in baseball history this offseason.
The Yankees and Hal Steinbrenner’s bank account always lurk, especially if their offense continues to flatline.
But 30 teams — including the Angels — will have strong reasons to pursue a player like no other.
“Everybody would love to have him on their roster,” said Astros and American League manager Dusty Baker. “He’s the most incredible athlete I’ve ever seen in baseball. I’ve seen some great players, but none that can both run like the wind, throw 100 miles an hour and hit as well as anybody in the game.”
Surely players in Seattle have been whispering in Ohtani’s ears about their clubs.
“I’ll keep that a secret,” Ohtani said with a smile.
Senga has played with Ohtani on a few national teams in Japan and said the two have kept in touch “here and there.”
The Mets and Angels have not played (and will not play until late August), so the two had not gotten a chance to catch up in person before Monday.
After the few-minute chat, Senga wondered what it would be like to be teammates again with this generation’s Babe Ruth.
“I think it would be a lot of fun,” said Senga, an All-Star who is in his first year of a five-year pact. “But obviously, we don’t know where I’m going to be. We don’t know where he’s going to be.
“If our paths crossed, it would be great.”