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Dodgers bat boy on saving Shohei Ohtani from line drive: 'Just doing my job'

Mike DiGiovanna, Los Angeles Times on

Published in Baseball

SAN FRANCISCO — Javier Herrera set the snooze alarm on his 15 minutes of fame, the Dodgers bat boy soaking up the spotlight for one more day in the wake of his Shohei Ohtani-saving catch of a blistering line drive off the bat of Kiké Hernández during Wednesday night's 4-0 win over the White Sox in Chicago.

About two dozen reporters from Japanese and Southern California-based news outlets surrounded Herrera, 38, as he conducted an interview with SportsNet LA in the tunnel below the team's Oracle Park dugout before Friday night's series opener against the San Francisco Giants.

How did it feel to shield the Dodgers' $700 million man, a two-time American League most valuable player and one of baseball's best all-around players, from potential harm when he made a bare-handed catch of a drive that appeared headed for Ohtani's head?

"I don't know," a reluctant Herrera said. "I was just doing my job."

Asked about his quick reaction time, Herrera, who is in his 18th year with the club, said, "I saw the pitch all the way through. It hit the bat, and the ball pretty much found me. I was able to grab it."

Did it hurt?

 

"Not at all," Herrera said.

Does Herrera have the softest hands of any clubhouse attendant in the league?

"We use a lot of lotion," he said.

What did Ohtani, who was walking behind Herrera toward the bat rack and did not even see the ball coming toward the dugout, say to him?

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