Bio
OF Scott Ota returns for a second season with the X’s in 2024. Ota originally joined the Explorers on July 20, 2023, as a free agent after his release from the New York Mets organization. The California native hit .265 over his first 10 games then became one of the American Association’s best hitters the rest of the season. Over the final 28 games of the season, Ota hit .325 (37-for-114) with five home runs and 20 RBI. He would lead the X’s in home runs the final two months (5) and the 20 RBI over the same stretch tied him with Matt Lloyd and Vince Fernandez.
For the season, Ota would play in 38 games while slashing a line of .311/.371/.520 with the Explorers. His .520 slugging percentage placed him second on the club for the season. He would have 15 multi-hit games out of his 38 games with the X’s, including his last three regular season games from August 31 to September 2 where he went 6-for-12. Ota had a four-game stretch of multi-hit games on August 19 to 23, going 9-for-20 for Sioux City. He would add a 12-game hitting streak from July 30 to August 17 with 16 hits in 43 at bats, hitting .372 in that span.
Ota joined Sioux City from the New York Mets organization where he hit .242 in 23 games at A level St. Lucie and seven games at high A Brooklyn in 2023 with one home run and eight RBI. He would put up a slash line of .242/.304/.352 in 30 games. In 2022 Ota would be limited to four games due to injury while at the Mets rookie-level club, Florida Complex League, hitting .143 with one RBI. His 2021 season was also limited to a handful of games after initially injuring his elbow. Ota would play in three games at Brooklyn with one RBI going 3-for-11. The 2020 season was cancelled due to the worldwide pandemic, but he played 51 games at rookie level while at Kingsport in 2019.
A native of Foster City, California, Ota was drafted in the 10th round in the 2019 MLB June Amateur Draft out of the University of Illinois at Chicago. In four collegiate seasons, Ota played in 206 games, hitting .301 (.301/.374/.530) with 33 home runs and 163 RBI. In his final season on campus, Ota was named to the All-Horizon League Second Team, Horizon League All-Tournament Team and Horizon League All-Academic Team. He was named Horizon League Player-of-the-Week three times during his senior season and set the conference’s record for most career weekly awards for a hitter at seven. Ota set UIC single-season home run record with 20 and ranked 15th nationally in that category in 2019. His 20 home runs and 64 RBI led the Flames in 2019, while he finished second on the team in RBI in 2018 with 34 and 42 in 2017. Ota graduated from the University of Illinois Chicago with a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing.
Ota, 26, was born in Burlingame, California and was named MVP of Serra High School where he played infield/outfield and pitcher. He was named a Max Preps California large school All-State Second Team selection his senior season, leading the team and league in average (.489), hits (46), on base percentage (.528) and slugging percentage (.680).