Pete Alonso reveals his recruiting speech for bringing Shohei Ohtani to Mets: "New York's a great city"

As Shohei Ohtani's free agency approaches, teams are gearing up to put their foot forward in order to land the legendary two-way player's services.

During the All-Star break, New York Mets' Pete Alonso did his best to motivate Ohtani into considering moving to the Big Apple.

Ohtani has been with the Los Angeles Angels since he made his way to the MLB. He has shown his exemplary prowess with the bat and on the mound. Even this season he has been recording historic stats. He is currently the league leader for home runs.

Currently, everyone's attention is fixed on Seattle where the All-Star Game will take place. Alonso, who will be Ohtani's opponent in the game, was asked by reporters to make a small advertisement to lure the 29-year-old to their franchise:

"Honestly it is a great city to live in. The city is a really fun place to play and New York's a great city, we have an excellent fanbase. It's an incredible place to play, it's the number one thing," Alonso said.

Does Shohei Ohtani want to move to New York?

In 2018 when Japan's star two-way player was weighing his options, New York wasn't in the final seven options with most of them being West Coast teams.

At the time, the New York media had written off Ohtani as someone who is scared to play in the limelight of a big market like New York.

To be fair, not many teams can afford to acquire the services of the two-way player as they do not have enough financial backing. But for those who do, like the New York Mets, the challenge remains in getting 'the Sho' to the metropolis.

Ohtani has maintained for a long time that he came to the USA just to play baseball. Given his caliber and determination, he could play for any team or even re-sign with the Halos.

But what he will look for is the comfort of going out and playing baseball with minimal risks. Is New York the right place for him to do that? Only time will tell.