IT’S SHO’ AND TELL

THERE IS A GREAT deal of unknown when a player comes from abroad to play in the major leagues, and Shohei Otani, the Japanese Babe Ruth, is no exception. So the Daily News reached out to Japan Times journalist Kaz Nagatsuka, who covered the ace pitcher and power bat during his final season in Japan with the Nippon Ham Fighters, and asked him 10 questions to help shed some light on the mysterious talent. You’ll notice that Nagatsuka spells Otani’s name without the “H,” as that is the style of the Japan Times, and the style The News has subsequently adopted. The use of the “H,” when converting Japanese names into English, is based on adding a long vowel sound, but according to Nagatsuka, it is arbitrary and since it does little to alter the pronunciation of Otani, and is more confusing to read than without it, they leave it out.

How would you describe his skill set on the mound?

He’s got picture-perfect mechanics. Great pitchers usually have great mechanics and I think that is one of the things Otani has been aware of. And his phenomenal pitching performance has a lot to do with the flexibility of his body. He’s got really flexible shoulder blades and hip joint. And it genuinely makes it possible for him to do what he does. Obviously his fastball is great, and he’s got superb slider and forkball. His best pitch is his fastball. But he can’t win just with it. In fact, many times, hitters often made contact with 100-mile fastball as they anticipated it. He is going to need to learn more about how to mix his pitches up with his breaking balls. And he’s also going to have to have better, consistent command of them, so he won’t get behind in the count. But forkball wise, he didn’t rely on it too much this year. I think because he missed a big chunk of this past season due to ankle injury and did not have time to work on it. But instead he improved his slider this year and that was his best breaking ball. I mean, it was really biting better than previous years. His slider from a righthanded pitcher usually works effectively against right-handed hitters, but his slider can work against left-handed hitters as well. I think that his slider even works better against the lefties. I don’t know how quickly and well he will adjust to the major league ball, but I’m personally looking forward to seeing him surprise the big leaguers.

How would you describe his skill set at the plate?

I personally call Otani a baby-faced assassin because he doesn’t show his emotions much on the field, but does his job well like a sniper. But still, when he’s a pitcher and he gets out of jams against star hitters, his adrenaline pumps and you see him yell as he’s leaving the mound. But as a hitter, he doesn’t do it almost at all. He’s very calm, poised and focused at the plate. Technically, I think his swing speed is superb and he’s got a lot of power. He’s got great bat control. He hit 22 homers playing at the big Sapporo Dome in 2016 (328 down the lines,386 in the alleys and 400 to center). He has a phenomenal speed for his size, and being a left-handed hitter, he might add up some infield-hits because of that speed.

And he’s very smart as well. When he falls behind in the count, he switches his mindset to make contact and can hit to the opposite field. Just like many hitters, or Japanese position players that have played in the majors for that matter, he might struggle against high inside pitches as he’ll see better fastballs in America than in Japan.

But overall, I like him as a hitter maybe even more than as a pitcher. I don’t know how many people are thinking that way, though. But to me, every time he steps to the plate, he makes me feel like he might do something big. I like his demeanor at the plate, his mechanics. Ichiro has hinted that, on the contrary to the opinions of most people, Otani should focus on being a hitter in America because there’s so many 100-mile pitchers there and he likes his hitting as well. I have also read a major league scout say that Otani could be a 30-homer guy if he focuses on hitting. I’d be interested how well he’d do if he concentrated just on hitting.

Any concerns about him playing in the spotlight of NYC? How does he handle pressure on and off field?

I believe that it wouldn’t matter wherever he’ll end up playing at in the U.S. Sure, Sapporo is not the biggest city in the country and it is located far away from Tokyo, but at the same time, the attention has always been there for him. After Yu Darvish and Masahiro Tanaka left for the Bigs, Otani has unquestionably been the biggest superstar in the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). It was disappointing for the baseball fans here that he did not play for Japan at the WBC this year, but the Japanese team would have been “Shohei Otani and Co.” So he’s shouldered a lot of pressure. He’s played on the biggest stage of the Japan Series last year. I believe he can handle all the pressure in the majors, especially on the field. Like I said earlier, he’s a very focused guy on the diamond. Once he steps into the field, he exhibits a 100 percent concentration. So personally I have no worries there.

Off the field, it’d be interesting to see how he’d handle the pressure in the Big Apple. I know in New York you get criticized easily by the media and fans than in other cities in the country. The Hanshin Tigers in the Osaka area may be a good comparison to New York. Their fans and media are so hard when the team and players do badly. But playing in Sapporo, where the people and fans are very warm, perhaps the warmest in Japan, he has not gone through (that sort of scrutiny). Of course, if he does well, he won’t have to, but anyone coming from Japan struggles sooner or later, and it’s going to come for him as well.

It’s hard to see anyone’s brain and how he or she is feeling, but it seems he was educated well by his parents. He’s polite to everyone, looking whomever he’s talking to in the eyes. He’s very mature and calm for his age. I personally think that he’s more mature than Darvish and Tanaka were when they were his age. And he is a likable person and I’m sure his new teammates, whatever team he winds up at, would embrace him, and that’s going to help him even when he does struggle and gets some hard criticism from the media.

So overall, I think he’d be just fine playing in New York.