Shohei Otani in The Show

[Rob_NYY]

Re: Shohei Otani in The Show

Otani is 3-28 at the plate in Cactus league play and has an ERA of 27.00 with 2.2 innings pitched and yet I just read that SDS has rated him as an 86 OVR in the game. Now perhaps the article that says he will 86 OVR is wrong, but will the guy even be on the Angels 25-man Opening Day roster in the real world? Not saying he can't get his act together in the future, I am sure he is trying his best. But he seems more hype than substance at least at this stage of Spring Training.

After he spurned the Yankees, seeing him struggle as much as he has does put a big Evil Empire grin across my face.

He has looked hopeless at the plate, and he has pitched horrendously, but he does have good "stuff" just from watching him pitch a couple of times. Whether he is able to put it all together and get big leaguers out remains to be seen. If I was the GM, I would for sure start him in AAA and bring him along slowly. See if he can build confidence as he gets comfortable. But it seems the Angels are going to throw him right into the fire and start him in the bigs.

[My993C2]

Re: Shohei Otani in The Show

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2...e-shaky-spring

He's going to be the DH on Opening Day, and is going to be the starting pitcher 2 days later. So he absolutely is going to be a 2-way player.

If the Angels want to play him, that's their call. I am just confused (if it is true) that SDS says he is an above average MLB player.

But I am just shooting the #### here. It does not matter to me at least this year because I will be carrying forward an existing MLB 17 Season I started a few months ago from a OSFM roster without Otani as well as carrying forward a RTTS player using a different OSFM roster. So Otani's above average player status will have no effect on me. Carry on ...

[forme95]

Re: Shohei Otani in The Show

Depending what his actual rating is, he is definitely going to be lowered at least 10 in every attribute. No way he is a 86 (from what I have seen).


I really don't see the Angels doing the 2 way thing long if he doesn't improve. Now, I have over spring only seen him hit.... well at bat. I haven't seen him pitch yet, so I really cant say how he is doing there. Could just be "in the big time" jitters.

[gamer052001]

Re: Shohei Otani in The Show

The hot takes and amateur scouting reports continue, lol.

[legacyme3]

Re: Shohei Otani in The Show

The hot takes and amateur scouting reports continue, lol.

It's worth noting that even professional scouts have been a bit low as well.

By all accounts that matter, his hitting looks absolutely atrocious, he can't see breaking stuff basically at all, can't hit a major league curveball (he's used to Japan's pitching, which is a totally different style, with less looping curveballs), and is basically a below average hitter against everything that isn't a fastball.

His power is legitimate, and when he takes batting practice, you can see easy opposite field power. His raw talent isn't in question. His skill set that would allow that to transition to game power is lacking however.

His pitching has looked alright, supposedly. Outside of one disaster outing where his fastball lacked life, he's showcased all of his pitches to some effectiveness, and is only lacking experience in the major leagues. His stuff is major league ready, if he was going to be JUST a pitcher.

The issue is, he and the Angels want him to be a two way player. And by all accounts, he's not starting as strong as people might like, primarily due to his underwhelming hitting skill set.

If they were committed to the two way thing working long term, they should probably put him in AAA for a few months at least, where the curveballs don't loop so much, and the hitting isn't as top tier.

I don't know how committed the Angels are to the two way thing. To me it screams that they are going to let him try, wait till he fails, and then smile behind his back once he switches to pitching full-time.

[bkrich83]

Re: Shohei Otani in The Show

After he spurned the Yankees, seeing him struggle as much as he has does put a big Evil Empire grin across my face.

He has looked hopeless at the plate, and he has pitched horrendously, but he does have good "stuff" just from watching him pitch a couple of times. Whether he is able to put it all together and get big leaguers out remains to be seen. If I was the GM, I would for sure start him in AAA and bring him along slowly. See if he can build confidence as he gets comfortable. But it seems the Angels are going to throw him right into the fire and start him in the bigs.

First of he's 23, not sure what people are expecting. Second it's Spring Training, we have no idea what they're working on from at bat to at bat or appearance to appearance. At the end of his first spring training all of the hot take fans/media out there, all declared Ichiro unfit for major league baseball, we all know how that turned out.

[bkrich83]

Re: Shohei Otani in The Show

The hot takes and amateur scouting reports continue, lol.

based on ST at bats and outings even.

[GoDucks1224]

Shohei Otani in The Show

The hot takes and amateur scouting reports continue, lol.

Haha yeah. This thread has been lol worthy half the time. 23 year old who missed almost the entire 2017 season is having some trouble getting back to form in his first MLB spring training. ‘BUST! CAREER IS OVER! JAPANESE PLAYERS SUCK!’ [emoji23]🤣

[Caulfield]

Re: Shohei Otani in The Show

Otani is 3-28 at the plate in Cactus league play

That's pretty good for an american league pitcher

and has an ERA of 27.00 with 2.2 innings

That's pretty good for a designated hitter

[1908_Cubs]

Re: Shohei Otani in The Show

I think there's a few things that's happening here from some regarding Ohtani, and that's that people are ignoring not only the jump from the NPB to the majors and the time Ohtani missed as a SP last year.

The first is that there's a pretty massive jump from the NPB to the MLB. It's believed that the NPB is around on par with the AA level at the MLB level. While players sometimes make the jump from AA to the MLB with success, it's also not like it's a simple jump, either. That's a two-level jump. Ohtani's bat is a bit more suspect than his arm in terms of his MLB projectivity. There are scouts who are all over the board on his bat. And I'm fairly certain teams were willing to give him the ability to hit (be it as a DH or a LF) because they needed a sales pitch that enticed him (Ohtani wanted to hit). With how IFA spending occurs with the CBA currently, there was little separation in what a team could or couldn't offer him.

Secondly, Ohtani barely pitched last year. Ohtani's arm was hurt and he threw 25.1 IP last season. He's thrown more in the past (he averaged around 150 IP the years prior), but he essentially missed all of last year on the mound. On top of that, he's making the large talent jump. It really shouldn't surprise anyone that someone who missed most of last year and is making a large jump in talent, has struggled a bit.

In the end, I think he'll be fine. He's got the stuff. Not many SP's can hit the velocity levels that Ohtani can. He may need to be babied a bit (6 man rotation, especially. He threw once a week in Japan. In America he'll be asked to throw, eventually, once every five days) but I think he'll build back on the mound. Offensively, he'll likely be on the merit system eventually. If he hits, he'll remain as a potential DH option. If he doesn't, he'll be slowly phased out now that the Angels have his rights for 6 years and it'll be hard for him to complain as long as he was given a fair shot and others are out preforming him.

[kehlis]

Re: Shohei Otani in The Show

Let's keep this about the game please. Getting way off track here.

There is an entire separate forum to discuss real life baseball if anyone would like.

[EnigmaNemesis]

Shohei Otani in The Show

That's pretty good for an american league pitcher





That's pretty good for a designated hitter

This gave me a good chuckle, lol.

Does anyone know if we will be able to make 2 way players like him?


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[The Kid 24]

Re: Shohei Otani in The Show

So have we found out if Ohtani can DH in the game?

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[ninertravel]

Re: Shohei Otani in The Show

So have we found out if Ohtani can DH in the game?

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my guess would have to be yes, otherwise what is the point of the secondary position. but we need someone to 100% confirm it

someone should export Jason Lane too and see if he can be a 2 way player in the lineups. then we have a exportable 2 way player we can use for anyone

[ShowTyme15]

Re: Shohei Otani in The Show

So have we found out if Ohtani can DH in the game?

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No, he can be subbed in as a PH and will stay in the rest of the game from what I was told.