The shows that feature limited numbers of people arguing and drawing delicious salaries on ESPN, FS1 and other national outlets have this, and only this, to say about baseball:

The major leagues do a very poor job of promoting their best players.

This weekly conversation usually takes place on a Tuesday, and lately has been three minutes squeezed between the daily 10-minute segments on whether the blinking will be done by Aaron Rodgers or the Packers in the Green Bay showdown, and where Ben Simmons, who couldn't beat your 12-year-old grandkid in a game of H-O-R-S-E, will land when traded by the 76ers.

Thus: The bellowers with the entire sports mural at their disposal offer the slightest dab to baseball on rare occasions, that being to ask loudly, "Why doesn't baseball get more publicity?''

There was a tweak to this discussion last week when Stephen Argue Smith, known to his admirers simply as "Stephen A.,'' took time to discredit Shohei Ohtani's appeal since he uses an interpreter for interviews.

Mr. Smith quadrupled-down on this for several minutes, to the point ESPN felt the need to issue a non-apology apology statement from him.

By then, Argue was probably relaxed at home, bemused at the reaction and how envious former foil Skip Bayless had to be over there at Fox, stuck with a "LeBron's overrated'' schtick that has become meaningless.

As for Ohtani, no interpreter is required to absorb this as truth:

Just turned 27 on July 5, this man knows that he can do everything imaginable on a baseball field, and can't fathom a reason to keep any of those skills in mothballs.

It was a random moment in a random ballgame a month ago that made me realize this 6-foot-3, 210-pound athlete is from another universe when it comes to baseball talent.

Ohtani hit a ground ball slightly toward what used to be the shortstop hole. It was fielded smoothly and with a strong throw to first, and he beat it out.

"Dang,'' I decided. "Throws 100. Hits 480 feet. And runs like Buxton.''

Way back in 1985, my friend John Lowe came up with the definition of a quality start — minimum six innings, three earned runs or fewer allowed — between gigs as a Dodgers beat writer for the Los Angeles Daily News and his 29 years on the Tigers beat for the Detroit Free Press.

He retired in 2014 and has settled in Seal Beach, Calif., which somehow reminds me of a Ross Macdonald novel.

John's fascination with baseball remains, and his present fixation is Ohtani. In Shohei's fourth Angels season, he is now healthy, fully wise to the North American ways of baseball, involved in a 162-game schedule, and he has Lowe making notes, such as:

  • In the All-Star Game, Fernando Tatis Jr. led off the NL first by flying out against the only big leaguer who had hit more homers this season than him.
  • Ohtani recently hit 16 homers in a 21-game span. That made him the first player in American League history to hit 16 homers in a 21-game span in a single season.
  • On July 2 vs. Baltimore, Ohtani hit two home runs to lead a comeback. With the score tied 7-7 in the bottom of ninth, he walked, stole second and was sent back to first on batter's interference.

He stole second again, then on Jared Walsh's one-hop single to shallow right, he scored the winning run despite an excellent throw to the plate.

Those are a small sample of tasty tidbits from this devoted Ohtani watcher. And this was Lowe's kicker:

"I don't think we can remind ourselves often enough what he's doing. The man who leads the majors in homers started and won the All-Star Game.

"And in his perfect inning, he threw a pitch 100 miles per hour.''

Full agreement from here, and this reminder to our region's baseball followers:

You can see the Shohei show in person, presumably in all his forms, Thursday through Sunday when the Angels are at Target Field.