Controversial Shohei Ohtani rival heaps mighty praise on LA Angels' two-way sensation

Earlier this month, Carlos Correa spoke on his previous rival on the LA Angels, Shohei Ohtani on FOX Sports MLB Analyst Ben Verlander's "Flippin' Bats" podcast. The two were of course rivals when Correa was with Houston for the first seven years of his career.

Correa is with the Twins now, but still carries some baggage when it comes to his reputation around the league. Many players and fans are not big on his character due to his extended role in the Astros' 2017-2019 sign-stealing cheating scandal, and his lack of accountability for what transpired.

And in fairness to those players and fans, Correa has performed terribly since leaving Houston--hitting .192/.288/.288 (.577 OPS) with just six runs scored, one home run hit, and three runs driven in in 14 games. One player who may want to go light on the criticism, however, is Ohtani. Check out what Correa had to say about his former rival on the pod here:

Correa, like LA Angels fans, can't get enough of Shohei Ohtani.

It's hard to blame Correa for his admiration of LA Angels' megastar Shohei Ohtani. The Twins' starting shortstop said it himself. To be able to dominate on one side of the ball is already hard enough. It's already something that really wears down on the body, so to be able to excel in both the offensive side of the game along with the pitching aspect of baseball is absolutely unheard of.

The best part about the interview was when Correa gave some insight into just how respected Ohtani is around the game.

"It's hard to not be a fan of what he's doing," said Correa. "When you put Shohei Ohtani into the equation, there hasn't been anybody as talented in the game...So it's hard not to be a fan...Everybody in the league is a fan of him. Everybody in the league loves the guy."

Correa may have some enemies around the league. Heck, Anaheim's own Noah Syndergaard has sounded off on him publicly. He certainly doesn't have an enemy in ShoTime, though, and ShoTime's got a No. 1 fan in Correa.