Source: http://ift.tt/1qmll7A --- Wednesday, November 29, 2017
By Ship1231 via Wikimedia Commons Tuesday on the “Baseball Tonight with Buster Olney” podcast , reporter and prospect expert Keith Law said the Phillies were his “sleeper team” for acquiring Japanese pitcher/hitter Shohei Ohtani. Law noted the Phils have enormous payroll flexibility and a young team, which could draw Ohtani, and said that while the Phils aren’t a favorite, they probably have better odds at landing Ohtani than the average fan would tend to believe. This makes sense. While the Phils don’t have the drawing power of the Yankees, Dodgers or Mariners – three of the four favorites with the Rangers – they might actually be just a step down from them in the running. So what would it take for the Phils to land the Japanese Babe Ruth? First off, Ohtani is worth it. A 23-year-old pitcher who throws three to four plus pitches, he has a career 2.52 ERA with 624 strikeouts and 200 walks in 543 innings for the Nippon Ham Fighters. Scouts would say he’s an ace right now in the major leagues. He’s also a hitter, and for the Fighters hit .286/.358/.500 in 1,170 career plate appearances. He has pop (22 home runs in 2016) and carries a good strikeout-to-walk ratio (better than 3-to-1 last year). He was injured last season but still put together a solid season, mostly from the plate. While he wouldn’t be a stud hitter in the majors, it’s likely he’d be worth plugging into a lineup a few times a week. This works better in the American ...
from Baseball http://ift.tt/2ncDEA4
No comments:
Post a Comment