Is he a pitcher or a hitter?

The short answer is that he is both. Ohtani was a starting pitcher for the Fighters and also served as the designated hitter. He has had as many as 382 plate appearances in a season and started as many as 20 games as a pitcher in a single season. It was an unusual setup, as the other starting pitchers on Ohtani’s Japanese team had a handful of at-bats each.

So which is he better at, pitching or hitting?

That is where it gets more interesting. In 2016, his last full season, he managed to be named to two different spots on the Pacific League’s “Best 9,” which honors the best player at each position. It is not hard to see why, considering Ohtani’s batting (.322/.416/.588, 22 home runs) and pitching (10-4, 1.86 E.R.A., 174 strikeouts) lines that year. While it is not a perfect measure of his quality at either skill, Ohtani received 190 of the 245 votes at designated hitter and 111 at pitcher.

“If you ask Ohtani, he likes pitching better,” Fighters Manager Hideki Kuriyama told reporters in April. “If you ask me, I would say hitting. At this point, he’s a better hitter than pitcher. He’s still not a complete pitcher yet. He hits very naturally. He throws the ball very hard, but he’s not a complete pitcher yet.”

Despite that, many talent evaluators believe Ohtani’s best bet in the majors is to succeed as a pitcher.

Can he hit for power?

Ohtani had a .500 career slugging percentage in Japan, and 66 of his 171 hits over the last two years went for extra bases, but it would be surprising for him to be much of a power hitter in the majors. For reference, Hideki Matsui’s career slugging percentage went from .582 in Japan to .462 in the United States, and Ichiro Suzuki’s declined from .522 to .403.