Shohei Otani preparing to come to MLB as early as next season

Although it would cost him a large sum of money, Japanese sensation Shohei Otani is preparing to come to MLB next season.

It was a matter of when, not if. Shohei Otani, the Babe Ruth of Japan, is preparing to make the leap to MLB. In a 60 Minutes interview set to air Sunday, Otani revealed that he will sign with an MLB team after this season ends.

With the new CBA capping bonus money that can be paid to international free agents under the age of 25, Otani will be leaving millions of dollars on the table by coming to the big leagues now. He’ll turn 23 in July, but is unwilling to wait two more years to leave Japan.

Otani has developed a reputation as the best two-way player not in the big leagues. He has played four years of professional baseball for the Nippon Ham Fighters, and has batted .279/.352/.502 with 42 home runs and 138 RBI in 345 games. On the mound, he is 39-13 with a 2.49 ERA in 517.2 innings with 595 strikeouts. Otani is coming off a season in which he posted a 1.004 OPS and 1.86 ERA.

Here he is with the stick:

And now, on the mound, tossing an easy 101 mph:

When Otani does sign in the United States, he’s expected to seek a team that will allow him to hit and pitch. There’s nothing not to like about his profile as the best pitcher not currently in the major leagues. He backs up his power fastball with a devastating splitter, curve and changeup. Otani also has an excellent makeup off the field. He lives frugally, and shies away from drinking and partying with his teammates.

"Major league scouts, a species trained to go about their work with skepticism and discernment, struggle to find glaring weaknesses in Ohtani’s game. Now a partner in 2080baseball.com, Dave DeFreitas began scouting Ohtani for the Yankees when the kid was in high school. He believes, like most, that Ohtani’s “high octane” pitching is ahead of his hitting, likening him to Mets ace Noah Syndergaard. But, DeFreitas adds, “He could hit home runs in the majors tomorrow.”"

Otani is the best prospect to come out of Japan in years, but he will not be paid like his countrymen Yu Darvish and Masahiro Tanaka, who came over before the changes to the collective bargaining agreement. Darvish will make $11 million this season, Tanaka, $22 million. Otani will not be in line to match the $31.5-million signing bonus Yoan Moncada received coming out of Cuba, but that seems to be fine with him.

"“As long as I have enough money to be able to play baseball and am enjoying baseball,” he says, “that’s all I’m asking for right now.” This is more than lip service: Ohtani is not exactly Babe Ruth’s equal in the Department of Sybaritic Living. Fighters sources say that Ohtani spends virtually nothing, lodging at the drab team dorms and reportedly living on less than the $1,000 a month his parents send him from his earnings."

There will be a fierce bidding war for Otani this winter. Look for him to sign with a team like the New York Yankees, Texas Rangers, Seattle Mariners or Boston Red Sox. The DH spot would allow him to more easily hit and pitch, and he would not have to worry about playing the outfield between starts. In Japan, he has taken the day off from hitting the day before a scheduled start.

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The hype train has been rolling full speed ahead on Otani for years, and MLB fans are only a few months away from getting to experience the closest thing to Babe Ruth in decades in person.