So everyone's writing everything Shohei Ohtani, and with good reason. This guy has invigorated baseball in a way I've not seen in my 36 years of life (granted, only twenty of those were spent paying any meaningful attention to baseball...), and the situation surrounding him is (superlative of your choice) fascinating.
It's probably unsurprising to discover that I, too, am going to write about Shohei Ohtani. Why? Because he's interesting, and because he's made me think about baseball again. For that, he (and his representation, if I'm being cynical) has my gratitude.
You all know the basics, but I thought it might be interesting to delve into some of the lesser known details about his situation. I thought I'd boil what little I know down to a simple hypothesis: it is my opinion that, simply from an ACTIVE recruiting perspective, the San Diego Padres have the inside track on signing Ohtani. Before you clap me in irons and hoist that guillotine, hear me out...
San Diego has the Nippon Ham Fighters' former trainer, Seiichiro Nakagaki, on staff. For those who weren't aware, Nakagaki was with the Fighters earlier in Ohtani's NPB career. San Diego has also added Hideo Nomo and Takashi Saito to their front office, and they were supposed to have played a big role in the recruiting process. Thirdly, until last season, the Padres had a deal worked out with the Fighters to let Nippon Ham use their (our) Peoria training complex. Ohtani is supposed to have been clear that he prefers to train in Arizona (which is where all seven of the teams on his short list train, if memory serves).
Combine all of that, and it's pretty obvious that the Padres have been serious about courting Ohtani, and that they've been building toward this moment for quite some time. But wait--there's more!
Meet Christian Bethancourt.
There's a good picture of him throwing a pitch. Pretty good picture, really. Here's another one of him throwing a pit--hey, wait a minute.
Since when did MLB allow pitchers to wear body armor? What gives?
Well, it turns out the Padres carried Bethancourt as a two-way player coming out of spring training last year! He didn't stick in the role, probably because he wasn't quite polished enough in either his hitting or his pitching to warrant the roster spot, but the few quotes I've found in a couple minutes' search returned nothing but effusive praise for his process of adapting to the role of two-way player, along with incessant and unabridged support for the idea of a two-way player.
Yes, dear friends, it seems the Padres have been playing a long, LONG recruiting game when it comes to Ohtani--which is why I put their ACTIVE recruiting efforts higher than Seattle's, even counting all the int'l bonus money contortions JeDi's gone through this offseason.
I still think the M's are favored to land Ohtani, which might be more homerism than anything, but whatever advantage they have--over the Padres at least--will be limited to their geographic, historic, and cultural appeal to Ohtani specifically, and to Japanese players in general.
In the end, I think this thing is down to Seattle and San Diego, and I do think Seattle ends up getting their guy. The DH slot is going to be HUGE, given Ohtani's concern with his recovery timetables which require minimal stress to be put on his body during his non-pitching days. But it wouldn't surprise me to see him go to San Diego--whereas pretty much any other team on his list would leave me scratching my head.
Add to that the fact that the Padres were given the final interview of the seven 'finalist' teams, and it's hard to deny that they appear to be in good shape competing for Ohtani's services.
