2 hours ago
1
Could the next Shohei Ohtani be on the Athletics?
The A’s signed 18-year-old Japanese two-way player Shotaro Morii to a minor league contract, which included a $1,510,500 million bonus, on Wednesday.
The bonus is the largest ever for a Japanese amateur outside of the Nippon Professional Baseball league, per MLB Pipeline.
The high-priced import adds to an offseason spending spree that includes a $60 million deal for Brent Rooker and $67 million for pitcher Luis Severino.
The shortstop/right-handed pitcher had 45 home runs during his three seasons playing at TOHO Junior and Senior High School in Tokyo, while also clocking as high as 95 mph on the mound.
Morii is forgoing the more traditional path for Japanese players who end up playing for an NPB team before making the leap to Major League Baseball as a free agent or through the MLB-NPB posting process.
“I wanted to join to the professional baseball environment as soon as I can,” Morii said during a virtual news conference.
With the credentials Morii already had, he was considered to be a top-10 prospect in the NPB draft and has been a two-way player since he was 8 years old.
The teen phenom comes in at 6-foot-1 and on the mound, his curveball hits 74 mph while hitting 77 on his slider and 78 on his forkball, according to NBC Sports Bay Area.
He fashions his game after the likes of Jacob deGrom on the mound and Elly De La Cruz as a hitter.
“Elly De La Cruz of the Cincinnati Reds is my favorite player,” Morii said. “He runs very fast, he has power and I love him because of his personality.”
The A’s will take it.
“He’s a very talented baseball player with enough athleticism and mobility to play both shortstop and pitch,” Athletics’ assistant general manager Dan Feinstein said. “But beyond his physical ability, the thing that jumped out at us the most is his passion for the game and his unwavering desire to be one of the next great players from Japan.”
An Athletics flag is flown after a baseball game between the Athletics and the Texas Rangers. APMorii told reporters that the success of Ohtani and other Japanese stars had factored into his decision, but didn’t want to compare himself to the superstar two-way player calling him a “baseball player far away from me right now.”
Reports surfaced in October that several MLB teams, including the Cardinals and Athletics, had been in a bidding war over Morii.
English (US)