REPORTS: Braves Utility Infielder Connected to Shohei Ohtani Gambling Scandal

The Atlanta Braves are about to be mentioned in one of the biggest baseball stories of the year. 

Los Angeles Dodgers Shohei Ohtani was defrauded of nearly $17M dollars by his former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara, who has pled guilty to a litany of federal charges including federal bank fraud and submitting a false tax return in connection with his usage of an illegal bookmaking operation based in Southern California. The news broke while Ohtani and the Dodgers were in South Korea for a two-game series against the San Diego Padres in the week before MLB’s Opening Day.

New reporting tonight from ESPN’s Tisha Thompson has unearthed a Braves connection – utilityman David Fletcher, currently in Triple-A Gwinnett but formerly a member of the Los Angeles Angels during Ohtani’s time with the team. 

Per Thompson’s report, both Fletcher and a friend who was in the minor leagues also used that same bookmaker, Mathew Bowyer, to place illicit bets on various sports. Fletcher’s bets were not on baseball, while the friend, identified as Colby Schultz, not only bet on baseball but on games that Fletcher played in while on the Angels major league roster. 

According to Thompson, MLB, the Atlanta Braves, Fletcher, and the US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, who is prosecuting Mizuhara, all declined comment. A league source confirmed to Thompson that Fletcher had not been a subject of investigation prior to her reporting but that he is “now expected to be” investigated by the league. 

Fletcher had previously been mentioned in this story in passing, as he was in attendance at the 2021 poker game where the bookmaker Bowyer first met Mizuhara. Fletcher reportedly had no active role in introducing the two, he explained during a March interview with ESPN, but he was aware that Bowyer was a bookie and claimed at that time to have never used Bowyer’s services. 

Thompson’s reporting connects some dots in the initial Mizuhara investigation – one mention in the federal complaint against Mizuhara mentioned an individual, named only “Bookmaker 3”, was involved in using Mizuhara’s wire information to facilitate transfers of money that turned out to belong to Ohtani. Per Thompson, “Bookmaker 3” was in fact Schultz, the friend of Fletcher’s. 

Fletcher is currently playing for Atlanta’s Triple-A affiliate the Gwinnett Stripers, where he is batting .250/.315/.268. He was called up to the major leagues during the injury absence of Ozzie Albies, going 2-8 while making three starts at second base.

He is still owed $14M for the final two seasons of his contract extension signed with the Angels in April of 2021. 

This story will be updated.