Hoping to become a two-way player in Major League Baseball just like Shohei Ohtani, 18-year-old Shotaro Morii made the rare decision to bypass Japanese professional baseball entirely and agreed Wednesday to a minor league contract with the Athletics that includes a signing bonus of $1,510,500.
Top Japanese players traditionally have signed first with Nippon Professional Baseball clubs and established their professional credentials before moving to MLB as free agents or through the MLB-NPB posting process. Morii, a shortstop and right-handed pitcher, joined the A’s directly from high school on the first day of the 2025 signing period.
