New A’s shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima says Billy Beane is ‘extremely sexy and cool’ (Video)

On Monday, the Oakland Athletics announced the signing of Japanese shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima to a two-year, $6.5 million contract, filling the void left by Stephen Drew’s departure. It could end up being a solid signing for GM Billy Beane, but with many of the bigger names available this winter moving in recent days, the news essentially flew under the radar.

It stayed that way for another 24 hours or so, right up until Beane and the A’s introduced Nakajima to the media in Oakland on Tuesday afternoon. But by the time that press conference ended, Nakajima actually became the talk of the Twitterverse and beyond, because — let’s just say — the 30-year-old made quite the unexpected first impression by giving the furthest thing from a canned, clichéd response to the simple question of why he ultimately decided to join Beane’s club.

Yes, that was his actual answer. And to make it even better, Nakajima doesn't speak much, if any, English, so the answer actually had to be relayed through his Japanese translator. What didn't need to be translated, though, was Beane's response.

A mutual admiration society is alive and well in Oakland.

Of course, Nakajima's response led to the obvious Brad Pitt and "Moneyball" references all over social media. We'll try our best to not wear those jokes out too much here, but as Slusser suggests, if this is merely Nakajima's U.S. media debut, we may be in for a special experience with him.

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