Shohei Ohtani signs multiyear deal with Rapsodo as Technology Ambassador

Rapsodo, the ball tracking tech with widespread use across big league baseball, has signed Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani as its first MLB player to be a Technology Ambassador as part of a multiyear deal. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Earlier iterations of Rapsodo technology required separate pitching and hitting monitors, but upon launching the first two-way machine in 2022, the company immediately knew Ohtani would be the epitome of the brand story. Rapsodo learned that Ohtani, then with the Angels, was already an organic user of the technology, and sponsorship conversations were finalized earlier this year.

“The reality is that I used it myself,” Ohtani said in a pre-taped video interview shared by Rapsodo. “I thought that this was such a great tool and wished that I had started using it earlier. This goes for kids and growing athletes of all ages.”

Katrina Hartwell, Rapsodo’s new GM for North America, called the relationship “authentic” because of Ohtani’s pre-existing usage. Previous ambassadors have all been college baseball and softball stars signed to NIL deals. Among them are Jac Caglianone, himself a two-way star at the University of Florida nicknamed “Jactani,” as well as Oklahoma softball slugger Tiare Jennings.

“It is a departure from what our strategy has been,” Hartwell said. “We haven't tied ourselves to true professionals before, but we see the opportunity of, obviously, what he means to the sport, his prowess in both pitching and hitting.”

The agreement came together shortly before the recent news revelation about Ohtani’s translator, Ippei Mizuhara, allegedly having stolen millions from the player to pay off gambling debts. Hartwell said of Ohtani that Rapsodo has remained “unwaveringly committed to him and our partnership with him.”

Ohtani’s use of the device has continued with the Dodgers — in a promotional photo shoot, he’s wearing blue Rapsodo gear — for both the quality of his contact when hitting and for pitch design, as well as his current work returning from Tommy John surgery.

“I check if my pitching data matches the intention that I am throwing it,” he said. “I think being able to check the data after helps smoothen out my rehab process.”

Rapsodo’s second generation hitting/pitching monitor is the Pro 2.0, for which the company is accepting pre-orders. It’s a smaller and at a more accessible price point, which is core to Rapsodo’s philosophy. Its press materials even describe themselves as “the company known for making sports technology more affordable.”

The same datapoints remain: it collects pitching velocity, spin rate, movement and more, as well as launch angle and exit velocity among the series of hitting metrics. Every MLB club has used Rapsodo and many, if not most, of all NCAA Division I college baseball and softball programs, not to mention high schoolers and even some weekend warriors.

Hartwell indicated that there are no current plans to pursue more MLB player sponsorships because Ohtani is, in every way, a one-of-one superstar.

“We feel like we've struck the jackpot, honestly, with Shohei and the alignment with the fact that he is the two-way player and just fits so well with our brand and our technology,” she said.