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.
Rintaro Sasaki, a first baseman who turned 19 in April, bypassed NPB's draft to play college ball for Stanford last season.
A left-handed hitter, Morii said he has been a two-way player since he was eight. He hit 45 home runs in three seasons while also pitching at Tokyo's TOHO Junior and Senior High School. He will start at the lowest minor league level in Mesa, Arizona, with the Arizona Complex League Athletics.
Morii already was in the U.S. He will head home for a bit before reporting to the A's in March.
Feinstein credited director of international scouting Steve Sharpe, Pacific Rim coordinator Adam Hislop and Japan scout Toshiyuki Tomizuka for helping reach the agreement.
Morii already has taken a summer class in English. Asked whether the success of Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Hideki Matsui, Yu Darvish and others in MLB helped him make his decision, Morii responded in English: "Yes, of course."
"This team has history," Morii said through the translator. "They explained to me a lot about how the organization is running."
"Shohei is really a baseball player far away from me right now," Morii said, adding a goal was "to get closer to him as soon as I can."
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