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Otani earning Strasburg comparisons, creating Griffey-level buzz

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Two-way Japanese sensation Shohei Otani is set to become the most-talked-about topic of the offseason after a report last week indicated the 23-year-old would be posted this winter and sign with a Major League Baseball club before next season.

Otani, who owns the ability to both hit and pitch at a high level, has been scouted by several big-league clubs, and those scouts shared their enthusiasm with MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo.

"I saw (Ken) Griffey (Jr.) in the minor leagues and A-Rod as an amateur," one international scouting director told Mayo. "The buzz about Otani is similar to those guys and guys like (Stephen) Strasburg. Compared to Griffey and A-Rod, he isn't as polished a hitter and probably doesn't have the same upside. But he does have the chance to be a Strasburg. What is unique is that he does both."

The hard-throwing Otani can touch more than 100 mph with his fastball. Scouts mostly told Mayo they liked him more as a pitcher, but his raw power at the plate (47 career home runs, .502 career slugging) is fascinating too.

"I've been doing this 26 years, seen as many players as anybody, but I've never seen a skill set like this," the scouting director explained to Mayo. "This guy is polished like (Brendan) McKay with (Hunter) Greene's tools, but he's faster than Greene. There should be giddiness; no one has ever seen it. We'll see how it turns out."

Otani has only appeared in 56 games this season while recovering from injury, but at least 15 teams reportedly traveled overseas to watch him play recently.

Over the course of his five-year career in Nippon Professional Baseball, Otani is 40-15 with a 2.57 ERA and a rate of 10.3 strikeouts per nine innings, while also hitting .287/.358/.502 with 164 RBIs.

Strasburg, for his part, just saw his 35-inning streak of shutout ball for the Washington Nationals end Sunday. He's compiled a 2.60 ERA and a 1.03 WHIP this season.

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