Shohei Ohtani donates 60,000 baseball gloves to Japanese schoolchildren

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Shohei Ohtani greeted by fans, meets Kodai Senga pregame

LA Angels two-way megastar Shohei Ohtani gets greeted by fans during one of the batting practices at the 2023 MLB All-Star week. He also greeted fellow Japanese baseball star Kodai Senga, of the New York Mets, prior to the 2023 MLB Home Run Derby. Ohtani will not participate in Monday night's tournament, despite leading the league in homers.

Two-way star and coveted free agent Shohei Ohtani is donating about 60,000 baseball gloves to Japanese elementary schools.

Ohtani, a free agent who has spent the past six seasons with the Los Angeles Angels, announced Wednesday on Instagram that he’s donating the youth gloves to schools throughout Japan.

"I’m happy to announce that I will be donating approximately 60,000 youth gloves to every elementary school in Japan," Ohtani said. "That comes out to around 20,000 elementary schools. I’m hoping the kids can spend their days happily with a lot of energy through baseball."

The gloves Ohtani is donating are from New Balance, one of his corporate partners.

The 29-year-old Ohtani is coming off a season in which he batted .304 with 44 homers and also went 10-5 on the mound with a 3.14 ERA. He had Tommy John surgery in September for the second time in six years.