Photo: Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani Reveals Signature New Balance Cleat and Release Date

Major League Baseball showed off Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Shohei Ohtani’s new signature cleat by New Balance on Friday.  The cleat, which is white with gold accents, will officially launch as part of Ohtani’s New Balance collection on July 15:

Shohei Ohtani has announced that he’s launching his signature New Balance collection on July 15th 👀 pic.twitter.com/ShySfMR5ot

— MLB (@MLB) June 21, 2024

Ohtani, 29, is one of baseball’s biggest stars, and he is in the midst of the first season of the record 10-year, $700 million contract he signed with the Dodgers back in December.  While Ohtani has not been able to pitch this season due to an elbow injury suffered during his final campaign with the Los Angeles Angels in 2023, he has maintained his status as one of the top players in baseball.

In 74 games with the Dodgers, exclusively as a designated hitter, Ohtani is slashing .318/.391/.615 with a National League-leading 21 home runs and 59 runs scored, plus 53 RBI and 16 stolen bases on 17 attempts.  During his previous six seasons with the Angels, Ohtani established himself as a true anomaly in present-day baseball due to his ability to serve as both a middle-of-the-order hitter and the ace of a starting pitching rotation.

As a result, Ohtani was a three-time All-Star and won the American League MVP Award in both 2021 and 2023, while finishing second in the voting in 2022, as well as fourth in the Cy Young Award voting that same year.  Ohtani is arguably the NL MVP front-runner so far this season, and if he wins it, he will join Frank Robinson as the only players to be named MVP of both the American and National Leagues.

While the Dodgers signed Ohtani to a massive contract with designs of him contributing as both a hitter and pitcher for many years to come, he has delivered on his deal so far this season even without the ability to pitch.  Because of his unique skill set and elite level of production, few MLB players in recent memory have garnered the type of fanfare that Ohtani has.  It can be argued that the only current player in the same stratosphere as Ohtani in terms of star power is New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge.  Because of Ohtani’s popularity, his New Balance cleats and other products figure to be hot sellers this summer.