The Tampa Bay Rays will not be signing Japanese two-way star Shohei Ohtani, as the “Babe Ruth” of Japan seems to have narrowed his search to west coast teams.
The Rays were an early frontrunner for the phenom on the strength of their recent investment of Brendan McKay, a two-way star from college who has been given the support and development plan to continue that talent in professional baseball.
In fact, the Japanese media sought out the Rays officials at the recent, annual GM meetings to discuss that very topic. Ohtani, is also from a small market and has chosen to sign with an MLB club at age 23 — when he would still receive a rookie contract, as opposed to requiring free agent dollars to sign.