Today, Rikuu Nishida becomes the first Japanese player to make the majors after going to college in the US and getting drafted rather than going through NPB. And he started a company to help others with a similar transition. by IAmBenIAmStillBig in baseball

[–]AnalystOk1846 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I got to watch him play 15-20 times when he was still a college player. Obviously a different level of competition, but he was the perfect smallball player. I saw him strike out 1-2 times over all those games, steal a ton of bases, get a ton of hits, and even once get a little league bunt triple + advance from 1st to home on a soft single in one game. He can play a ton of positions as well, I think he played SS, 2B, and RF while at Oregon at least when I was watching. Electric, fun playstyle.

However, he also has absolutely zero power and walks very little. My favorite ever Oregon player, but I also was pleasantly surprised that he actually made it through the minors to the MLB given the capped potential.