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Ohtani signs with the Angels


southsider2k5

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QUOTE (bmags @ Dec 8, 2017 -> 05:02 PM)
LOL, and also the idea that that is "pulling out all the stops".

 

Maybe I'm crazy, and admittedly I have never seen him play, but are these japanese league stats THAT impressive to warrant such lofty scouting reports? I mean Eric Thames absolutely destroyed japanese league pitching, far more than Otani ever has.

 

I'm not knocking pro japanese baseball, but the competition level is far below the MLB. His 3.3 BB/9 is merely average supposedly for japanese league pitchers as well.

 

Pitching grades: Fastball: 80 | Slider: 65 | Curveball: 50 | Splitter: 65 | Changeup: 50 | Control: 50 | Overall: 70

 

Hitting grades: Hit: 50 | Power: 65 | Run: 65 | Arm: 80 | Field: 50 | Overall: 60

 

I'm by no means calling him a bust, but I think there will be much more of a learning curve for him than is being projected.

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QUOTE (steveno89 @ Dec 8, 2017 -> 04:40 PM)
Maybe I'm crazy, and admittedly I have never seen him play, but are these japanese league stats THAT impressive to warrant such lofty scouting reports? I mean Eric Thames absolutely destroyed japanese league pitching, far more than Otani ever has.

 

I'm not knocking pro japanese baseball, but the competition level is far below the MLB. His 3.3 BB/9 is merely average supposedly for japanese league pitchers as well.

 

Pitching grades: Fastball: 80 | Slider: 65 | Curveball: 50 | Splitter: 65 | Changeup: 50 | Control: 50 | Overall: 70

 

Hitting grades: Hit: 50 | Power: 65 | Run: 65 | Arm: 80 | Field: 50 | Overall: 60

 

I'm by no means calling him a bust, but I think there will be much more of a learning curve for him than is being projected.

 

Eric Thames did not destroy Japanese league pitching as he has never played in the Japanese league.

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QUOTE (steveno89 @ Dec 8, 2017 -> 05:40 PM)
Maybe I'm crazy, and admittedly I have never seen him play, but are these japanese league stats THAT impressive to warrant such lofty scouting reports? I mean Eric Thames absolutely destroyed japanese league pitching, far more than Otani ever has.

 

I'm not knocking pro japanese baseball, but the competition level is far below the MLB. His 3.3 BB/9 is merely average supposedly for japanese league pitchers as well.

 

Pitching grades: Fastball: 80 | Slider: 65 | Curveball: 50 | Splitter: 65 | Changeup: 50 | Control: 50 | Overall: 70

 

Hitting grades: Hit: 50 | Power: 65 | Run: 65 | Arm: 80 | Field: 50 | Overall: 60

 

I'm by no means calling him a bust, but I think there will be much more of a learning curve for him than is being projected.

 

You're crossing up the KBO, which is usually seen as between A+ and AA, and NPB, which is usually considered to be between AAA and MLB caliber. Thames annihilated the KBO, but offense is generally high in that league. Ohtani is an amazing talent, bar none.

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QUOTE (steveno89 @ Dec 8, 2017 -> 04:40 PM)
Maybe I'm crazy, and admittedly I have never seen him play, but are these japanese league stats THAT impressive to warrant such lofty scouting reports? I mean Eric Thames absolutely destroyed japanese league pitching, far more than Otani ever has.

 

I'm not knocking pro japanese baseball, but the competition level is far below the MLB. His 3.3 BB/9 is merely average supposedly for japanese league pitchers as well.

 

Pitching grades: Fastball: 80 | Slider: 65 | Curveball: 50 | Splitter: 65 | Changeup: 50 | Control: 50 | Overall: 70

 

Hitting grades: Hit: 50 | Power: 65 | Run: 65 | Arm: 80 | Field: 50 | Overall: 60

 

I'm by no means calling him a bust, but I think there will be much more of a learning curve for him than is being projected.

Put it this way, Ohtani was destroying the league and won the MVP when he was only 21! He is probably going to get better in the coming years.

 

From a stats translation perspective, at a younger age he was better at pitching than Darvish or Tanaka and was a better hitter than Matsui.

 

From a tools perspective he has legit 80 grade pure speed (rated at 65 due to being slow out of the box and not a great base stealer), huge power (literally hit a ball out of the roof), and has hit 102mph while pitching.

 

There are obviously some risks: he has a history of soft tissue injuries, some think his fastball runs too straight, and people wonder if the bat will be able to develop taking so many days off. But from a talent perspective, he is the best all around player to come into the MLB in a long time. Its possible he fails (sure thing prospects fail all the time) but the excitement over what he can do is totally justified.

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QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Dec 8, 2017 -> 01:21 PM)
Jon Morosi‏

@jonmorosi

 

#Cubs fans, know that Theo Epstein and his staff did all they could to impress Shohei Ohtani: Their presentation included a Virtual Reality experience of his possible life as a Cub. @MLB @MLBNetwork

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/jonmorosi/status/939240097077190656

Hah - what a trip

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QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 11, 2017 -> 03:21 PM)

 

Lets be honest, there was no chance Otani was going to sign with the Orioles anyway

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QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Dec 11, 2017 -> 03:44 PM)
Same goes for about 20 other teams that actually made presentations.

 

Everyone had to figure West Coast teams had a huge advantage. The Angels are a surprising winner, especially when the Astros have a stranglehold on that division moving forward.

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QUOTE (Tony @ Dec 12, 2017 -> 09:58 PM)
News: Los Angeles Angels star Shohei Ohtani has a damaged ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow, according to a physical obtained by Yahoo Sports. Details: yhoo.it/2C9PDCe

 

Did he pitch in that big high school tourney that the whole country follows? If so, an injury would be expected given how much they overwork them in that tourney.

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