Dodgers prank Shohei Ohtani with fake pinch hitter

Kyle Madson

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Dodgers prank Shohei Ohtani with fake pinch hitter image

It's almost impossible to imagine a scenario where the Dodgers are pinch-hitting for Shohei Ohtani. Ohtani's teammates used that to their advantage Tuesday night to prank their star designated hitter. 

Despite trailing the Diamondbacks 7-3 in the bottom of the 8th inning, the Dodgers found some levity during a pitching change by their foe. With Ohtani coming up, the Diamondbacks went to their bullpen for left-hander Joe Mantiply.

While Ohtani was in the dugout during the pitching change, the Dodgers had right-handed hitting Miguel Rojas put on a helmet and walk up the dugout steps as though he were pinch-hitting for Ohtani. 

The two-time MVP's reaction is priceless:

The best part of this is the genuine confusion, followed by an acceptance as to not offend his teammate. But there's a clear "you're joking, right?" to his entire reaction. Eventually Teoscar Hernandez let Ohtani in on the joke, and after what appeared to be a sigh of relief, Ohtani went and took his at-bat. He flew out to right field and LA lost 7-3. 

While the Dodgers lost, we all won because this Ohtani video is hilarious.

Kyle Madson

Kyle Madson Photo

Kyle Madson neither likes writing about himself nor writing in the third person. Nevertheless, he persists. While Kyle has spent most of his writing career covering the NFL’s Tennessee Titans and San Francisco 49ers, he’s never lost the love of baseball that has resided in the deepest recesses of his soul since he began playing T-ball at 4 years old (no matter how hard John Fisher has tried). Aside from writing, Kyle also hosts a radio show, the Insiders, with James Ham on ESPN 1320 in Sacramento. When he’s not being a sports dork, Kyle loves being a normal dork and traveling, visiting museums, diving further into K-Pop fandom (#SKZ) and hanging out with his wife and cats. Don’t follow him on Twitter or Instagram at @KyleAMadson.