He’s being hyped as the Japanese answer to Babe Ruth, so there’s little question that Shohei Ohtani is a huge deal for Major League Baseball. He’s also already proven to be a big deal for fantasy baseball, where fantasy league providers have had to spend the offseason trying to figure out how to handle a player who projects to make a significant impact both from the pitcher’s mound and the batter’s box.

But just how valuable will Ohtani be in fantasy leagues in 2018? The answer depends not only on your league format — as it does for all players — but also on which provider you use.

In 2018 Yahoo leagues, there will be “two distinct Ohtanis,” one for his pitching stats and the other for his offensive numbers. By contrast, other providers, like CBS, ESPN, and Fleaflicker, have opted to provide a single Ohtani with dual eligibility and leave it up to fantasy managers whether to deploy him in a starting pitcher or utility hitter slot in their lineups. 

I prefer the “one Ohtani” solution, but that’s neither here nor there. Fantasy sports are about winning within the rules of the game, and the fact that those rules vary from league to league is part of the challenge — and part of the fun.

The best fantasy managers adjust their rankings to account for their league settings, whether it be league depth, roster management and waiver wire rules, or scoring (roto, head-to-head categories, or points). Ohtani’s eligibility adds a whole new dimension to the equation, so let’s take a look at how to approach him in different types of fantasy leagues.

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One Ohtani vs. Two Ohtanis
It stands to reason that if you separate Ohtani into two different players in the player pool, as Yahoo is doing, it will reduce his value. But to understand how much it reduces his value, we need to get a sense of his likely pitching and hitting output.

It’s always tough to project the performance of players who have never played in the Major Leagues, whether they’re coming from the minors or overseas. But here’s how one reputable projection system, Steamer, predicts Ohtani will perform in the standard roto categories, courtesy of FanGraphs:

Pitching: 148 innings, 10 wins, 183 strikeouts, 3.55 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 0 saves
Hitting: 182 at-bats, .261 avg., nine home runs, 27 runs, 27 RBIs, two stolen bases

To put those pitching numbers in some perspective, Steamer projects that Ohtani’s strikeout rate (11.12 K/9) will trail only three other starting pitchers: Chris Sale, Robbie Ray, and Max Scherzer. That’s not a bad neighborhood to be in! 

Steamer doesn’t expect Ohtani’s ERA and WHIP to be in the same ballpark as Sale and Scherzer, but they would compare favorably to Ray’s, albeit in fewer innings. Ohtani’s fellow countryman Yu Darvish is another logical comp on a per-start basis — Steamer projects Darvish for a 3.60 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, and 10.46 K/9 in 173 innings.

Durability could be an issue for Ohtani. He never threw more than 160.2 innings in a professional season in Japan, and he will reportedly pitch this season with a damaged ligament in his elbow that puts him at some risk of eventually requiring Tommy John surgery. It’s not surprising then that the Angels will go with a six-man rotation to limit Ohtani’s innings and replicate the schedule he pitched on in Japan.

As such, Steamer’s projection for 148 innings seems like a reasonable, middle-of-the-road outcome. How much that limited workload matters depends on whether or not you play in a league with an innings cap.

In terms of Ohtani’s hitting numbers, Steamer expects that he will bat in a little less than a third of the Angels’ games and that his numbers will look very similar to those of part-time sluggers Matt Adams and Stephen Vogt. In leagues where you could get Ohtani’s pitching and hitting stats simultaneously, that hitting production would be a huge bonus, but thankfully, all of the significant providers seem to recognize that would give Ohtani owners an unfair advantage.

In leagues like Yahoo where there are two Ohtanis, the Steamer projections give you a straightforward idea of how to value each Ohtani. The pitcher Ohtani should be evaluated like Darvish, but with about 30 fewer innings pitched and marginally higher injury risk. The hitter Ohtani should be viewed as a marginal asset in standard leagues, displaying a bit of pop but little else of value — unless you believe he can far exceed his projections.

In leagues where you have to decide whether to use Ohtani as a pitcher or hitter (CBS, ESPN, Fleaflicker, etc.), these projections show that using him as a pitcher is usually the obvious choice. A more complicated question is whether you’ll want to deploy him as a hitter on the days when he isn’t pitching.

Daily Lineups vs. Weekly Lineups
In “one Ohtani” leagues where you set your lineup weekly, the decision is pretty clear-cut. If Ohtani is pitching that week, you’re almost always going to want to use him as a pitcher, not a hitter. The only exception would be if he is struggling from the mound and facing a tough matchup — or if he’s really hot at the plate. 

If you own Ohtani in a weekly lineup league and he’s not scheduled to pitch that week, you can consider using him as a hitter. But given that he will likely get only two-to-three starts per week, you may have better options available to fill your starting lineup.

In leagues with daily lineups, Ohtani’s dual eligibility is a bit more valuable — particularly in leagues that don’t have a cap on games played for each roster spot. You may not want to use Ohtani every single time he’s in the Angels’ lineup, but he will give you some added flexibility if one of your primary hitters has a day off or is hurt. 

Based on his Steamer projection, Ohtani’s offensive production is unlikely to be a huge difference-maker even in these formats, but it’ll be like having Adams or Vogt on your team without having to devote a roster spot to them. Every bit helps, right?

Roto Leagues vs. Points Leagues
Rotisserie leagues are more likely than points leagues to feature innings caps, and many points leagues provide points for innings pitched. Ohtani’s durability issues and likely innings limit are therefore more significant concerns in points leagues than in roto leagues, where rate stats (ERA, WHIP, and K/9) are king.

Ohtani’s heightened injury risk is also less of a concern in roto leagues because they typically don’t have playoffs. The Angels plan to pace Ohtani’s innings rather than shut him down early, but roto owners wouldn’t suffer too badly if Ohtani got hurt and threw his final pitch in August. In points leagues and head-to-head categories leagues with playoffs, that would obviously be a much bigger loss.

The value of Ohtani’s hitting stats shouldn’t vary too much between roto and points leagues, particularly when you consider that most of his overall value is expected to come from his pitching numbers. As a hitter, he is projected to have a decent walk rate, which helps him a bit in points leagues, but he is also likely to strike out a lot, which hurts him a bit in points leagues. In the end, it’s probably a wash.

What It All Means
The bottom line is that Ohtani will need to significantly outproduce his offensive projections for him to have a lot more value in “one Ohtani” leagues than in “two Ohtani” leagues. Is that possible?

Of course it is. This is a guy who has combined to hit .326 with 30 HRs and 98 RBIs in 525 at-bats over the last two seasons in Japan.

Still, if you’re drafting Ohtani in a league where he has dual eligibility, it has to primarily be as a pitcher — you should consider the offensive production you get as a bonus. Ohtani deserves a bump up the rankings in dual eligibility leagues for his unknown upside at the plate — just don’t go too crazy.

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Andrew Seifter is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Andrew, check out his archive and follow him @andrew_seifter.