Shotaro Morii, 18-year-old 2-way player, bypasses Japanese baseball to sign with A's

An Oakland Athletics emblem is flown aft a shot crippled betwixt the Athletics and the Texas Rangers, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, successful Oakland, Calif. Photo by Benjamin Fanjoy / AP

Hoping to go a two-way subordinate successful Major League Baseball conscionable similar Shohei Ohtani, 18-year-old Shotaro Morii made the uncommon determination to bypass Japanese nonrecreational shot wholly and agreed Wednesday to a insignificant league declaration with the Athletics that includes a signing bonus of $1,510,500.

Top Japanese players traditionally person signed archetypal with Nippon Professional Baseball clubs and established their nonrecreational credentials earlier moving to MLB arsenic escaped agents oregon done the MLB-NPB posting process. Morii, a shortstop and right-handed pitcher, joined the A's straight from precocious schoolhouse connected the archetypal time of the 2025 signing period.

“Keep pursuing my imagination to go a large player,” Morii said done a translator during a Zoom quality conference, wearing a golden A's jersey implicit a formal shirt, a green-and-gold nine headdress connected his head. “I didn't privation to regret astir my determination erstwhile I deliberation astir my full beingness and full career.”

Rintaro Sasaki, a archetypal baseman who turned 19 successful April, bypassed NPB’s draught to play assemblage shot for Stanford past season.

“I wanted to articulation to the nonrecreational shot situation arsenic soon arsenic I can,” Morii said.

A left-handed hitter, Morii said helium has been a two-way subordinate since helium was eight. He deed 45 location runs successful 3 seasons portion besides pitching astatine Tokyo's TOHO Junior and Senior High School. He volition commencement astatine the lowest insignificant league level successful Mesa, Arizona, with the Arizona Complex League Athletics.

“He’s a precise talented shot subordinate with capable athleticism and mobility to play some shortstop and pitch,” adjunct wide manager Dan Feinstein said. “But beyond his carnal ability, the happening that jumped retired astatine america the astir is his passionateness for the crippled and his unwavering tendency to beryllium 1 of the adjacent large players from Japan.”

Morii already was successful the U.S. He volition caput location for a spot earlier reporting to the A's successful March.

Morii emphasized with teams helium spoke with that helium wanted to beryllium a two-way player. His determination was yet different offseason determination by the A's, who near Oakland and mean to play 3 seasons successful West Sacramento, Calif., earlier moving to a planned ballpark successful Las Vegas.

Feinstein credited manager of planetary scouting Steve Sharpe, Pacific Rim coordinator Adam Hislop and Japan scout Toshiyuki Tomizuka for helping scope the agreement.

“Tommy, our scout successful Japan, was capable to ticker a batch of their practices, his precocious school’s practices and games past year, and past physique a narration with Shotaro and his household erstwhile MLB allowed america to bash so,” Feinstein said. “We knew helium had a beardown tendency to play successful the States.”

Morii already has taken a summertime people successful English. Asked whether the occurrence of Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Hideki Matsui, Yu Darvish and others successful MLB helped him marque his decision, Morii responded successful English: “Yes, of course."

Matsui, a three-time MVP of Japan's Central League, played for Oakland successful 2011.

“This squad has history," Morii said done the translator. “They explained to maine a batch astir however the enactment is running.”

He doesn't comparison himself to Ohtani.

“Shohei is truly a shot subordinate acold distant from maine close now,” Morii said, adding a extremity was “to get person to him arsenic soon arsenic I can.”