Rikuu Nishida Stats & Scouting Report

AB	98
AVG	.337
OBP	.436
SLG	.357
HR	0

Full name Rikuu Nishida
Born 05/06/2001 in Osaka, Japan
Profile Ht.: 5'6" / Wt.: 150 / Bats: L / Throws: R
School Oregon
Drafted in the 11th round (329th overall) by the Chicago White Sox in 2023 (signed for $170,000).

View Draft Report

School: Oregon Source: 4YR

Commit/Drafted: Never Drafted
Age At Draft: 22.2
Nishida is an outlier in many ways in the 2023 draft class. It starts with his physique, which is one of the smallest in the class—high school or college—at just 5-foot-6, 150 pounds. Next is his setup at the plate, where he starts with an extremely open stance before taking a large leg kick to get back toward an even setup. He’s very active in the box and will constantly shuffle his feet and move back toward the catcher or further up in the box toward the pitcher in the middle of a delivery. Despite all the moving parts, Nishida has excellent pure bat-to-ball skills and struck out at just an 8.7% rate through 63 games, while slashing .312/.394/.443. His overall miss rate was just 16%. Nishida has 20-grade raw power and will be more likely to bunt for a hit than hit a ball over the fence in pro ball. He is an expert at bunting, and has plus speed that could allow a slap-and-dash approach to be viable when paired with his contact ability. He’s an aggressive base runner who went 25-for-33 (75.8%) in stolen base attempts this spring and scouts praise both his defensive ability at second base and his overall instincts on the diamond. The list of successful big leaguers at Nishida’s size is exceedingly small, and because of that he faces an uphill battle and is unlikely to command anything greater than day three draft stock.

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Draft Prospects

School: Oregon Source: 4YR

Commit/Drafted: Never Drafted
Age At Draft: 22.2
Nishida is an outlier in many ways in the 2023 draft class. It starts with his physique, which is one of the smallest in the class—high school or college—at just 5-foot-6, 150 pounds. Next is his setup at the plate, where he starts with an extremely open stance before taking a large leg kick to get back toward an even setup. He’s very active in the box and will constantly shuffle his feet and move back toward the catcher or further up in the box toward the pitcher in the middle of a delivery. Despite all the moving parts, Nishida has excellent pure bat-to-ball skills and struck out at just an 8.7% rate through 63 games, while slashing .312/.394/.443. His overall miss rate was just 16%. Nishida has 20-grade raw power and will be more likely to bunt for a hit than hit a ball over the fence in pro ball. He is an expert at bunting, and has plus speed that could allow a slap-and-dash approach to be viable when paired with his contact ability. He’s an aggressive base runner who went 25-for-33 (75.8%) in stolen base attempts this spring and scouts praise both his defensive ability at second base and his overall instincts on the diamond. The list of successful big leaguers at Nishida’s size is exceedingly small, and because of that he faces an uphill battle and is unlikely to command anything greater than day three draft stock.