Could the next Shohei Ohtani be on the Athletics?
The A’s signed 18-year-old Japanese two-way player Shotaro Morii to a minor league contract on Wednesday, which included a $1,510,500 million bonus.
The bonus is the largest ever given to a Japanese amateur outside of the Nippon Professional Baseball league, according to MLB Pipeline.
The high-priced import adds to an offseason spending spree that includes a $60 million deal for Brent Rooker and $67 million for pitcher Luis Severino.
The right-handed shortstop/pitcher hit 45 home runs during his three seasons at TOHO Junior and Senior High School in Tokyo, while also hitting 95 mph on the mound.
Morii forgoes the more traditional route for Japanese players who end up playing for an NPB team before making the jump to Major League Baseball as a free agent or through the MLB-NPB posting process.
“I wanted to join the professional baseball environment as soon as possible,” Morii said during a virtual press conference.
With the credentials Morii already possessed, he was considered a top 10 prospect in the NPB draft and has been a two-way player since he was 8 years old.
The teenage phenom comes in at 6-foot-1 and on the mound, his curveball hits 74 mph while hitting 77 on his slider and 78 on his forkball, according to NBC Sports Bay Area.
He models his game after Jacob deGrom on the mound and Elly De La Cruz as a hitter.
“Elly De La Cruz of the Cincinnati Reds is my favorite player,” Morii said. “He runs very fast, he has power and I like him because of his personality.”
The A’s will take it.
“He is a very talented baseball player with enough athleticism and mobility to play both shortstop and pitching,” Athletics Assistant General Manager Dan Feinstein said. “But beyond his physical abilities, what struck us most was his passion for the game and his unwavering desire to be one of the next great Japanese players.”
Morii told reporters that the success of Ohtani and other Japanese stars factored into his decision, but he didn’t want to compare himself to the superstar two-way player calling him “a baseball player far from me right now “.
Reports surfaced in October that several MLB teams, including the Cardinals and Athletics, were engaged in a bidding war for Morii.
