Ryo Ota

Ryo Ota (太田 椋)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 167 lb.

• High School Tenri High School

• Born February 14, 2001 in Habikino, Osaka Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Ryo Ota has played in Nippon Pro Baseball. His father Satoru Ota also played in NPB.

Ota was drafted by the Orix Buffaloes in the first round of the 2018 NPB draft; the scout was Etsuji Taniguchi. He was 0-for-13 in 2019, then he crushed his first home run against Rick Vanden Hurk on July 16, 2020. Ota was the first player who was born in the 21st century to hit a home run in NPB. He then blasted another home run against Wataru Matsumoto the next day, and he was the first Orix player to hit a homer in back-to-back games when under 20 years old. However, Ota collided with Christian Villanueva while trying to slide to third on July 25, and his season ended. He hit .259/.322/.463 with 3 homers in the 2020 season.

The Osaka native struggled in 2021, and he played 53 games with a .172/.194/.245 batting line and 3 homers. In the 2021 Nippon Series, Ota stayed in the bench in the first four games, and he started at second in Game 5. He collected a hit against Juri Hara in the 5th inning, and he contributed a go-ahead RBI triple against Taichi Ishiyama in the 7th inning. He was 0-for-2 in Game 6, and the Yakult Swallows beat the Buffaloes in 6 games. Ota only played 32 games in 2022, and he hit .196/.245/.293 with a homer. He was 4-for-10 in the first 6 games of the 2022 Nippon Series, and he took Cy Sneed's first pitch deep in Game 7. He was the first player to hit a home run in the first pitch of a Nippon Series Game. The Buffaloes beat the Swallows, and Ota won his first title.

Ota suffered from a left hand injury in 2023, so he only played 18 games with a .250/.318/.400 batting line. He returned in 2024, and he crushed 6 homers with a .288/.340/.408 batting line in 91 games.

Sources

• Wiki Japan