With a deal between Major League Baseball and WWE recently inked, we started this hypothetical series meshing MLB and WWE by looking at the five MLB players who would make great “heels” in the professional wrestling ring. From Jose Altuve to Amir Garrett, each player had their own reason for making our list of potential in-ring villains.
But, of course, every villain needs a hero to battle. With that in mind, let’s scour the MLB ranks to find five players who could be “the face,” stepping into the ring and doing battle while upholding truth, justice, and all good things.
Why MLB superstar Shohei Ohtani would be a great professional wrestling “face”
Let’s start with the man who has taken MLB by storm this season, and that’s Shohei Ohtani. Not only does Ohtani have the impressive statistics on the mound and at the plate, but he also has displayed a joy about playing the game and embraced his moment in the spotlight while staying humble.
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Ohtani has an entire country (Japan) of baseball fans watching his every move, and that list has grown to include even the casual baseball fan around the world who checks the box score to see if he hit a home run the previous night. The legion of fans, including the next generation, continues to grow as he wowed Little Leaguers earlier this month by spending time with them in Williamsport, Pa., and did it all with a smile on his face rather than looking at his watch to see how soon he could leave.
As ESPN’s Doug Glanville wrote in this article, “Ohtani has renewed that sense of awe — a chance to be awed again — tugging at the childhood of perennial All-Stars and season-ticket holders alike.” It’s a rarity in sports today, which is one of the reasons why so many are drawn to Ohtani, and would be in the wrestling ring as well.