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Born: Foster City, California
Age: 21 (8/16/97)
Height/Weight: 5’11”/195 lbs.
Position: OF
Bats/Throws: L/L
School: University of Illinois Chicago
Playing for Junipero Serra High School in San Mateo, California, Scott Ota earned MVP honors in his senior year, hitting .489/.528/.680 in 28 games. After graduating, he attended the University of Illinois Chicago. In his first year there, he appeared in 21 games and hit .254/.313/.475. In 2017, his sophomore year, he appeared in all 56 games the Flames played and hit .281/.331/.424. In 2018, he hit a career-best .283/.351/.481 in 48 games, leading the team in hits and triples. After going undrafted in the 2018 MLB Draft, Ota returned to the University of Illinois Chicago for his senior year. The 22-year-old went off on the Horizon League, hitting .356 /.451/.761 with 19 home runs, becoming the first player in the league to hit that many home runs since 2000.
The left-hander stands coiled at the plate with a slightly open stance, holding his hands high near his head. He has a compact swing, uncoiling and putting a jolt in the ball when he is able to barrel up on it. There is a bit of uppercut to his swing, and a hitch in his swing results in the plane of his bat still traveling downwards as it moves through the zone. He is able to muscle a lot of these kinds of hits for dying quails, but often rolls into groundballs because of this.
Defensively, Ota is primarily a right-hander. His arm profiles well, capable of hitting the mid-to-high-80s. He has a sturdy, dependable glove, making very few errors over his four years at the University of Illinois Chicago