7 years agoLos Angeles Angels starting pitcher/designated hitter Shohei Ohtani was a huge free agent addition for the Angels this offseason and is set to contribute both with his bat and arm. In Japan, Ohtani had a 42-15 record and 2.52 ERA in 543 innings, striking out 624 batters, and also had an .859 OPS and back-to-back seasons with a batting average over .320. At 23, Ohtani has already shown that he can thrive in professional baseball. In 2017, Ohtani hit .332 in 65 games, posting a .942 OPS while finishing 3-2 with a 3.20 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 25 1/3. While this was a pedestrian season, he was 10-4 with a 1.86 ERA in 2016, clubbing 22 home runs and striking out 174 batters in 140 innings. It is tough to translate Japanese stats for the MLB, but Daisuke Matsuzaka was yet another Japanese pitcher that was quite heralded coming to the major leagues. For reference, Matsuzaka put up the following in his final season before coming stateside: 2.13 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 9.7 K/9, and 5.88 K/BB in 186.1 innings. While Matsuzaka struggled after his first two seasons, remember that he was 33-15 with a 3.72 ERA in his first two MLB seasons and Ohtani is three years younger than Matsuzaka. Ohtani is a potential SP2 this season, and can be drafted solely as a pitcher, but he will have added value on CBS Sports where his batting statistics will count as well.--Chris Zolli