MLB’s annual international signing period opened Wednesday and while the baseball world awaits Roki Sasaki’s decision, the Athletics swooped in to sign a touted Japanese two-way player. The A’s signed 18-year-old Shotaro Morii to a minor-league contract with a $1,510,500 signing bonus, per the Associated Press.
“I wanted to join to the professional baseball environment as soon as I can,” Morii said in his introductory Zoom call (per the Associated Press). “… Keep following my dream to become a great player. I didn’t want to regret about my decision when I think about my whole life and whole career.”
Typically Japanese players are drafted or sign with teams in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball after high school, then later come to MLB as free agents or through the posting system (like Sasaki). Morii took the rare step of skipping NPB entirely. He signed with the A’s right out of high school, where he played shortstop and was also a right-handed pitcher.
That $1.5 million bonus is a record for an amateur Japanese player not coming from NPB, according to Yakyu Cosmopolitan.
Baseball America ranked Morii the 25th-best prospect in this year’s international free agent class. Here’s a snippet of their scouting report:
Morii has a simple, low-effort swing from the left side of the plate … (He has a) knack for making contact along with the bat speed to square up good velocity and drive balls out of the park to his pull side. An average runner, Morii moves around well at shortstop, with fluid actions and a plus arm. He could stick at the position, though if he does continue as a two-way player, that could present a challenge. On the mound, he has been up to 94 mph and shown feel for both a slider and splitter, with a curveball as a show-me pitch as well. He will need to tighten his control, but he has the stuff to be a legitimate pitching prospect if that was his only position.
“He’s a very talented baseball player with enough athleticism and mobility to play both shortstop and pitch,” A’s AGM Dan Feinstein said on Zoom (per the Associated Press). “But beyond his physical ability, the thing that jumped out at us the most is his passion for the game and his unwavering desire to be one of the next great players from Japan.”
Rintaro Sasaki, a Japanese high school phenom projected to go No. 1 overall in the 2024 NPB draft, skipped NPB entirely and instead committed to Stanford last June. The 19-year-old hit .257/.439/.505 with seven home runs in 35 summer league games last year. He will join Stanford’s baseball team this spring, and will be eligible for MLB’s amateur draft in 2026.
The annual amateur draft includes players from the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. All others can sign as international free agents. The 30 MLB teams are each given a bonus pool to spend on international amateurs each signing period. The A’s have a $7,555,500 bonus pool this year, plus teams are allowed to trade for additional 60% of their original pool.
Because he is younger than 25, the 23-year-old Roki Sasaki is subject to the international bonus pools and limited to a minor-league contract. Yoshinobu Yamamoto was free to sign his record $325 million contract last offseason because he was 25 and no longer subject to the bonus pools.
