Japanese Two-Way Player Shohei Otani Continues to Impress
Japanese player Shohei Otani has a 30-inning scoreless streak as a pitcher and is hitting a robust .339/.452/.661 at the plate.
He’s like the best player in Little League that can do everything on the baseball diamond. He recently had a game in which he pitched eight scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts while also hitting a home run to lead off the game. Shohei Otani of the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters in the Japan Pacific League is not only one of the best pitchers in the league; he’s also one of the best hitters.
Imagine a major league pitcher batting leadoff. The world of social media would explode. Otani walked in three other plate appearances in that game, including a sixth inning free pass that loaded the bases. The next batter was hit by a pitch, driving in a run to make it 2-0. That was all the scoring Otani would need. After throwing 120 pitches through eight innings, he was replaced by the team’s closer, Chris Martin, who shut the door for the save.
When I last wrote about Otani, he had a 2.42 ERA through 12 starts. He had recently been clocked at 101 mph. His ERA is now down to 1.90 through 15 starts. He is currently riding a 30-inning scoreless streak. He has a 1.00 WHIP and has struck out 132 batters in 108.2 innings (10.9 K/9). He leads the Japan Pacific League in innings pitched and strikeouts. Simply put, Otani has been terrific on the mound. Here’s video of him carving up big league hitters two years ago, when he was just 20 years old.
But wait, there’s more! Otani has also been one of the best hitters in the league. In fact, he leads the league in OPS, although he doesn’t have as many plate appearances as the other hitters near him in that category. Otani is hitting .339/.452/.661 with 10 homers in 146 plate appearances. Among hitters with 100 or more plate appearances, Otani is second in batting average, second in on-base percentage and has a commanding lead in slugging percentage. Here he is hitting a home run to the opposite field.
Otani has been so good with the bat that his team has waived the DH rule to keep him in the lineup. The drawback to this is that any relief pitcher who replaces Otani in the game would then have to hit, which would put the team at a disadvantage. Otani’s bat has been so productive that his manager has chosen to do this anyway.
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Here in the U.S., Madison Bumgarner gets credit for being a good hitter for a pitcher. There was even talk of allowing Bumgarner to participate in the Home Run Derby during the All-Star Game festivities (he won’t). As good a hitter as Bumgarner is, he’s not even close to Otani. The Giants allowed Bumgarner to hit for himself when they used the DH in a recent game in Oakland, but they wouldn’t have him DH on a regular basis as Otani does.
For comparison purposes, let’s look at how Bumgarner has hit over the last three years, which is when he really came into his own as a hitter. In 209 plate appearances since the beginning of the 2014 season, Bumgarner has hit .235/.275/.444. He’s struck out 35 percent of the time and walked five percent of the time.
In that same time period, Otani has hit .273/.351/.515, while striking out 25 percent of the time and walking 11 percent of the time. It should be noted that Bumgarner has done this at the ages of 24, 25, and 26, while Otani only recently turned 22.
Otani has been so good that he’s making life difficult for his manager, Hideki Kuriyama, who doesn’t want to wear out his young star. It’s great having a productive bat in the lineup, but Kuriyama needs to make sure Otami can continue to be sharp throughout the season.
Otani likely won’t be playing in the major leagues for some time, but he should be one of the most exciting players to watch on the mound and at the plate in next year’s World Baseball Classic.