Yankees should exercise due diligence on Shohei Ohtani

I was sold on Shohei Ohtani. Until I actually looked at his stats. The Yankees seriously need to do their due diligence before launching a bid.

Shohei Ohtani’s hitting was very good in 2017. In 231 plate appearances, he had a .332 average with an OBP of .403 and OPS of .942. But remember, that’s against Japanese pitching, which is somewhere between Triple-A and the Yankees. How would that stack up against the best shooters in the world?

Then I went to the pitching — where he had a very good ERA of 3.20. Again, that comes against Japanese hitters. And the Nippon Ham Fighters dominated their league with ease.

Then I see only 25 1/3 innings pitched in 2017. Seriously!? He threw about the same as Tommy Kahnle for the Yankees last season. A reliever picked up at the trade deadline!

In 2016, Ohtani had a minuscule 1.86 ERA over 140.0 innings. Why the huge disparity between the two years?

An ankle injury had him sidelined toward the end of the season, but only for a few weeks. Was Ohtani’s club hiding some serious ailment we don’t know about? You know, similar to what happened with Masahiro Tanaka.

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I have no idea why Ohtani’s pitching total for last season was so low. But this should be a huge red flag for whoever is going to shell out a $20 million posting fee, plus exhaust their international pool money — if they have any of it available.

I’d want clarification. And maybe an MRI and assurance that there isn’t something wrong if I’m shelling out $20 million.

Granted, his cost over the posting fee is only a minor league salary, which is inexpensive, but the fact that he only threw 25 1/3 innings last year demands further investigation. That’s almost a million dollars per inning thrown!

Ohtani is willing to forego millions to come to America at age 23. He’s sent a request for American teams to answer to their methods, how they would use him in their organization and even asked about their minor league systems. This young man has certainly shown that he is serious about making the trip to the States.

If I was evaluating him, I’d ask about last year. The numbers are good for a starter. The batting awesome, but the reason he threw less than three full games is definitely an issue. There are 20 million reasons to make sure that Ohtani is able to deliver on what he claims.

And also, remember that like with any international prospect, there’s the adjustment period to major league AMERICAN baseball. Some have not been able to make the transition (Kei Igawa, Hideki Irabu).

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Ohtani has shown his eagerness to join MLB. However, with only 25+ innings pitched in 2017, any team willing to put out over $20 million deserves answers. I hope he can provide them. With his posting anticipated in the next few days, it’ll be interesting. Stay tuned.

I was sold on Shohei Ohtani. Until I actually looked at his stats. The Yankees seriously need to do their due diligence before launching a bid.

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