Ochiai Hiromitsu Gets ¥2M for Samurai Japan Commentary on Amazon Prime
My Style of Commentary Returns
Baseball fans were stirred. On November 9th, during a warm-up match against the Czech Republic, which serves as a prelude to the ongoing “3rd WBSC Premier 12,” former Chunichi Dragons manager Hiromichi Ochiai (70) served as a special guest commentator for the live broadcast on Amazon Prime Video.
Hiromichi Ochiai, who served as the manager of the Chunichi Dragons until 2011, worked as a double commentator alongside former Seibu Lions manager Hatsuhiko Tsuji (66) for the game.
“During the broadcast, Ochiai shared an interesting behind-the-scenes story from his time as GM of Chunichi’s front office, revealing that he had tried to acquire Sōsuke Genda (currently with Seibu), who was a college student at the time, but ultimately didn’t pursue him because Genda had already decided to join the corporate league. Ochiai, with his white beard and almost sage-like appearance, was called ‘Manager Ochiai’ rather than just ‘Ochiai-san’ by the announcers and Tsuji, which clearly showed the high level of respect and tension in the atmosphere,” said a reporter who was on-site.
Recently, Ochiai has been active on his YouTube channel, Ochiai Hiromichi’s My Style Channel, where he talks about a wide range of topics, from baseball to conversations with his grandson. However, his appearances on terrestrial television have been limited to programs like Sunday Morning (TBS) and Saturday Sports and Sunday Sports (both on NHK). These are mostly corner segments, and sometimes pre-recorded material is aired, so it’s been a while since he last provided commentary for a live baseball broadcast.
