Slugging ace Shohei Otani threw his first official pitches since last autumn, working one inning in a minor league game on Saturday.The hard-throwing right-hander, who will turn 23 on Wednesday, allowed a run in the first inning of the Nippon Ham Fighters' 5-2 Eastern League win over the Seibu Lions at the Fighters' minor league facility outside Tokyo in Chiba Prefecture.
Otani was able to locate his fastball reasonably well, although it lacked some of its usual life, while it hovered around 152 kilometers per hour. His breaking pitches, however, rarely came anywhere near their mark."I thoug…READ FULL ARTICLE
