Chinks in Shohei Ohtani's Armor?
wow, lots of reasons here for skepticism about Sosh and his ilk

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The videos on Shohei Ohtani's pitches are wicked scary.  The kinetics on his swing are Bryce Harper-class, and then some.  That's Point A.

Dr. D has been pleasantly surprised to find that there do exist Points B, C, and D.  He would still give the fillings in his teeth for Ohtani, but ... there is a counter-perspective also, and we're only too glad to run it down for yer.

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(B) Earlier, our NPB superfan IcebreakerX had warned, Ohtani has never done both things, pitching and hitting, very well at the same time.

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(C) The Angels grabbed Ohtani, practically free, in the knowledge that the star's right elbow has a sprained UCL.  It doesn't mean that Ohtani is not the best player in the world, perhaps, but it opens the door to a Stephen Strasburg-type TJ interruption to his career.

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(D) You have this from Bill James, who has rolled his eyes over "the great Shohei Ohtani" who "will make everybody forget Brooks Kieschnick":

You seem not too enthused about Shohei Ohtani.  As an Angel fan I'm hopeful.  One of my cousins on Maui is married to an Ohtani.  Japanese/Portuguese.  Not Shohei's family.  Are you just skeptical about the hype, or do you have some inside information.
Asked by: mauimike

Answered: 3/6/2018
 Good to hear from you.  My view is, let's see whether he is GOOD before we worry about whether he is GREAT.  What he is trying to do would be SO difficult--and he pitched only 25 innings in 2017, walking 19 batters.  It seems to me that there's more noise here than music.  

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(E) The Angels have to adjust their roster, and their team, to a 6-man rotation and in other ways.  MLB players don't have a great history when it comes to accepting hyped NPB stars in the first place.  We'll see how it goes.  Here is a Fangraphs piece that flat predicts a failure for a 6-man rotation in LA, based on the assessment that the Angels do not have anywhere near the pitching talent to support the #5-#6 starting pitcher slots.  A good read, which will bring you up to speed on the Angels and .... from a skeptical point of view ;- )

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I'd be crossing circuits to say anything other than I'd love to have the kid.  But for an M's fan, points (B) through (E) provide a little emotional shelter.

Let's just hope we're not hit by any subsequent bombshells, such as any involving Jake Arrieta.

BABVA,

Dr D

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But Ichiro was a done product, a sports-tuned Nissan GT-R ready to be dropped on the track.

This one's an untested prototype design with a new wing geometry.

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