Babe Ruth is coming back to Major League
Baseball but it's probably not the one
you're thinking of
with his path now clear Shohei Otani the
23 year old phenom known as Japan's Babe
Ruth is looking to play in the MLB in
2018 teams believe Otani has unique
value because he can produce as both a
pitcher and a hitter which is pretty
rare in the MLB for context in 2016 o
Thani won the MVP award in Japan's best
league racking up top 10 numbers in
almost every major stat category yeah
that's both pitching and hitting that
hasn't been done a major league baseball
at least in the last century athletes
like Otani who both pitch and hit are
known as two-way players the only person
in the MLB to ever see this kind of
success as a two-way player was none
other than the Bambino himself
Babe Ruth almost 100 years ago in fact
is pointed out by sports on earth we've
only seen nine seasons since 1900 in
which a player has put up solid numbers
while shouldering that kind of load of
those seasons two were Ruth's
and none were within the last 50 years
so Otani clearly has the talent but
there are still a lot of questions
around him including will a major league
team even let this expensive asset do
both this is an issue that pitching
coaches are talking about and I can see
it being a novel to the beginning but in
the end you have to pick one of the
other that being said Otani has made it
clear he wants to stay a two-way player
and some commentators think he could
usher in a new era in the MLB
a Tampa Bay raised used last year's top
take to draft Brennan McKay a two-way
player in the minor leagues it's a role
both Club and play are interested in
carrying through to the majors no matter
how he's used whichever team gets Otani
will have to pay up they'll owe his old
team 20 million dollars and that's just
the release feat Otani salary will be
about half a million dollars and
depending on the team e picks he could
also pocket a signing bonus worth around
3.5 million dollars