Otani mate: He can be a one-man Sho’
IMAGINE the Yankee Stadium crowd witnessing back-to-back titanic home runs by Aaron Judge and Shohei Otani during a game, and then having the two-way Japanese star take the mound a day later to blow heat past opposing batters.
One of Otani’s Nippon Ham Fighters teammates the last two years says he has no doubt the pitcher-outfielder phenom can excel on baseball’s biggest stage.
“Everyone’s saying will it translate in the major leagues? He’s 23. The guy’s got some of the best tools I’ve ever seen. I think he’s going to do just fine,” Chris Martin, who pitched for the Yankees in 2015 and was Otani’s Ham Fighters teammate in the Japanese League from 2016-17, told the Daily News Thursday. “Hitting homers and throwing 100 (mph) at the Tokyo Dome, that draws a pretty big crowd.”
Otani could be posted Friday, provided the baseball owners approve rules regarding that provision. Once posted, Otani is expected to garner attention from all 30 Major League Baseball clubs, with the Yankees a strong favorite to land the baseball prodigy.
“He throws a 100 (mph), has a nasty splitter, nasty slider,” said Martin of Otani. “His power — he’s hitting 500-foot home runs in batting practice. The talent and tools are there. Just knowing him as a person, I think he’s going to do just fine. If he does struggle, I don’t think it’s going to bother him. He’s going to keep working hard and those tools are going to come into play.”
Otani could potentially be part of a Yankee rotation that would include fellow Japanese pitcher Masahiro Tanaka, ace Luis Severino, Sonny Gray and Jordan Montgomery. And Otani’s bat could complement an already potent Bombers’ offense led by Judge, Didi Gregorius and Gary Sanchez. Martin said Otani was itching to play in the majors, even though he stands to make far less money due to his age. Since he is under 25, Otani can only sign for around $3.5 million due to signing caps on international players (the Ham Fighters would get a $20 million posting fee once that provision is ratified).
But apparently money isn’t what drives Otani to want to test his talents overseas.
“Guy is driven, and he’s got his sights set on something bigger. I don’t think he’s really worried about the dollars,” said Martin.
Martin said Otani is “pretty quiet” as a teammate, but that he got to know Otani a little despite the language barrier. Late this past season, Martin said he was unable to fool hitters with his fastball as he had done earlier in the year. He went to Otani to seek pitching advice.
“I was kind of overpowering these guys with fastballs, but then they started to kind of put the ball in play, foul the ball off,” said Martin, 31. “I went to ask about his splitter and what his mindset is. He said he tries to throw as hard as he can, get on top of it as much as he can. He showed me his grip, and I went with it and started getting swings and misses with a splitter.”
The grind of a 162-game season can wear any player down, but Martin said he thinks Otani is mentally strong enough to not only excel in the majors, but do so in two roles.
“I think he’ll do everything in his power to do both (positions). Is it possible? Is he going to wear down? Time will tell,” said Martin.
Will the Yankees win the Otani sweepstakes? Martin said Otani was overwhelmed just thinking about all the possible places he could land.
“I tried to pry in there, but honestly he didn’t even know. He said he’s going to have a hard time breaking it down, because he knows everyone’s going to be interested in him,” said Martin, who turned down an extension from the Ham Fighters to try and make a return to the majors. “He’s just kind of overwhelmed with trying to figure out how to break it down and get it narrowed down to a few teams he can make a decision on.”