'So grateful' - Dodgers star Ohtani and wife welcome first child

Los Angeles Dodgers’s Shohei Ohtani enters the field ahead of the exhibition baseball game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Yomiuri Giants during the MLB Tokyo Series at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo on March 15, 2025. Philip Fong, AFP/File

LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani announced on Saturday that he and his wife, Mamiko, have welcomed their first child.

"I am so grateful to my loving wife who gave birth to our healthy and beautiful daughter," Ohtani wrote in an Instagram post. "To my daughter, thank you for making us very nervous yet super anxious parents."

The Dodgers had placed the three-time Most Valuable Player on Major League Baseball's paternity list on Friday, and Ohtani had stayed behind when the team travelled to Texas for a three-game series against the Rangers.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Friday he wasn't sure when Ohtani -- who can remain on paternity leave for three days -- would rejoin the team. If not in Texas it could be when the Dodgers play the Cubs in Chicago on Tuesday.

Ohtani also thanked the Dodgers organization and teammates, as well as his legion of fans, "for their constant support and kind words of encouragement."

Ohtani had announced on Instagram in January that he and Mamiko were expecting their first child, posting a picture of their dog, Decoy, posing along with a pink onesie infant's outfit.

The reigning National League MVP has six home runs through the Dodgers first 20 games of the season.

He is also continuing his rehabilitation in the wake of a second elbow surgery as he eyes a return to the pitcher's mound.

Roberts said on Friday that he and Ohtani hadn't discussed the 30-year-old's impending fatherhood.

"He's a very good compartmentalizer, but he loves his sleep," Roberts said. "It'll be interesting to see how the sleep wins out or doesn't win out when you have a baby."

© Agence France-Presse