Post by nutsberryfarm 🏜 on Oct 24, 2017 2:52:19 GMT
www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/shohei-otani-will-break-the-mold-in-fantasy-and-video-games-when-he-gets-to-mlb/
The World Series hasn't yet started, but the biggest story of baseball's offseason has already been decided -- the fate of Japanese phenom Shohei Otani. For the unaware, Otani is the best player who isn't under big-league employ. At 23 years old, he is perhaps the world's most complete talent: A two-way player with a career 2.56 ERA and .859 OPS whose precociousness has lured comparisons to Yu Darvish, Justin Verlander, and Curtis Granderson -- a proverbial smoothie of all stars at the plate and on the rubber, all at once.
Every indicator has Otani relocating in the coming months to pursue Major League Baseball. Whether or not his next team permits him to play both ways is anyone's guess. If he is granted the opportunity, he will threaten the clean, longstanding demarcation lines between pitchers and hitters. In doing so, he will also challenge conventional wisdom about the viability of a modern-day two-way major-leaguer. It is Otani who could provide the chorus sampled by young two-way hopefuls, such as Tampa Bay Rays first baseman-slash-pitcher Brendan McKay.
Baseball's reputation as an old, stodgy sport unwilling to try new things is mistaken. The sport is old and can be stubborn, but new ideas are co-opted constantly -- normally just as soon as a daring team or individual proves they work. Otani, then, could disrupt baseball -- not only the real thing, but the fantasy and video-game versions, too. Programmers must solve the riddle: How do you account for a player who seems borne from users' wildest imaginations?
The World Series hasn't yet started, but the biggest story of baseball's offseason has already been decided -- the fate of Japanese phenom Shohei Otani. For the unaware, Otani is the best player who isn't under big-league employ. At 23 years old, he is perhaps the world's most complete talent: A two-way player with a career 2.56 ERA and .859 OPS whose precociousness has lured comparisons to Yu Darvish, Justin Verlander, and Curtis Granderson -- a proverbial smoothie of all stars at the plate and on the rubber, all at once.
Every indicator has Otani relocating in the coming months to pursue Major League Baseball. Whether or not his next team permits him to play both ways is anyone's guess. If he is granted the opportunity, he will threaten the clean, longstanding demarcation lines between pitchers and hitters. In doing so, he will also challenge conventional wisdom about the viability of a modern-day two-way major-leaguer. It is Otani who could provide the chorus sampled by young two-way hopefuls, such as Tampa Bay Rays first baseman-slash-pitcher Brendan McKay.
Baseball's reputation as an old, stodgy sport unwilling to try new things is mistaken. The sport is old and can be stubborn, but new ideas are co-opted constantly -- normally just as soon as a daring team or individual proves they work. Otani, then, could disrupt baseball -- not only the real thing, but the fantasy and video-game versions, too. Programmers must solve the riddle: How do you account for a player who seems borne from users' wildest imaginations?
