Japanese Born MLB Pitchers: Can you trust them?
by Brandon C. on Jan 11, 2010 10:00 AM EST
in New York Yankees Analysis
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PrintIt seems that Yankees fans love to hate Kei Igawa more than they love to hate Sergio Mitre. Igawa, who was signed to a five-year $20 miliion contract, with the $26 million bidders fee, has a career record of 2-4 and a career ERA of 6.66. Igawa used to play for the Hanshin Tigers, where he had outstanding numbers. (86-60 3.14 ERA) So, can you really trust a pitcher out of Japan? Let's take a look.
Japanese pitchers with good numbers in MLB:
-Hideo Nomo (4.24 ERA, two no-hitters)
-Kazuhiro Sasaki (129 saves, 3.14 ERA)
-Akinori Otsuka (2.44 ERA, 39 Saves)
-Hideki Okajima (12-4, 2.72 ERA)
-Daisuke Matsusaka (37-21, 4.00 ERA)
-Hiroki Kuroda (17-17, 3.74 ERA)
Middle of the pack:
-Masato Yoshii (4.62 ERA)
-Tomo Ohka (4.20 ERA)
-Kazuhisa Ishii (4.44 ERA)
Below Average:
Hideki Irabu (34-35, 5.15 ERA)
Kei Igawa (2-4, 6.66 ERA)
Obviously these are not ALL the pitchers that have pitched in the MLB and are from Japan, but it is very interesting how many of the good Japanese pitchers are relievers. Many of the Japanese pitchers that struggled were starters. Also, it seems the Red Sox are much better at judging Japanese talent than the Yankees. Would you take a chance on a "highly-touted" Japanese pitcher in the future?
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Of course
It is a bit disturbing that the Yankees have signed 2 Japanese starters and those have been the 2 biggest busts on the list.
Still it would be crazy to say “we’re never going to sign another Japanese pitcher.” Carl Pavano was a bum, are we not going to sign any more Italians? Irabu was an honest mistake, I think his problems were more mental than based on ability. Igawa was a horrible signing which the Yankees made as a reaction to the Red Sox beating them out for Dice-K. If you watched 5 minutes of video from him in Japan you could tell that he got hitters out on junk pitches that major leaguers won’t chase.
But you can’t write off a whole country with a population of 150 million because of 2 bad pitchers. When Yu Darvish becomes available you can bet the Yankees will be in on him.
by Let's Talk About Tex Baby on Jan 11, 2010 11:22 AM EST reply actions
Hold on.
Irabu wanted to pitch for the Yanks so badly that he forced a trade here from San Diego.
In his time in pinstripes he put together a 1.36 WHIP over 3 seasons. He was rushed to the bigs in ’97 and posted a 7.09 ERA in 50 innings.
But in ’98 and ’99, Irabu pitched 1.315 WHIP, a 4.44 ERA, a 2:1 K:BB ratio and less than a hit per inning.
After he was traded from the Yanks, the wheels really fell off. Maybe they moved a ticking time bomb at just the right time.
Or maybe he got run out of town because spoiled Yankee fans and their spoiled owner wanted a team of All-Stars like juicers Pettitte and Clemens, and a league average starter at the back of the rotation just wasn’t good enough.
"Have faith in the Yankees, my son. Think of the great DiMaggio."
They're no different
from any pitcher of any nationality. Some prospects succeed, others flop. Many pitchers, and position players alike, have been highly touted only to flop. So with any player, properly scout and hope for the best. Doesn’t always work out.
Hard to give the Red Sox too much credit.
They signed a $100M pitcher sight unseen, and brought in Okajima as a Spring Training caddy to help Dice-K adjust.
They got lucky that Okajima figured out that his change up is more effective using MLB balls than it had been using the ones from the Japanese league.
"Have faith in the Yankees, my son. Think of the great DiMaggio."
They only signed 2...
and really, there hasn’t been all that many to get a good feel.
Also…pretty much all of them are signed to pro teams and not allowed to leave to the US for a certain period of time.
The Yanks should definitely not be swayed by Irabu or Igawa.
Maybe just sign one without and “I” in front of their last name…..
Like Yu Darvish for examle.
How come China can't vote David Lee for All-Star?
Isn't he
the guy that could supposedly throw 100mph, and is a freakish athlete at 21, and no control issues? ahem
Sounds good, but I think he said he wanted to stay in Japan.
by Vancouverguy on Jan 11, 2010 1:54 PM EST up reply actions
no Darvish isn't a power pitcher
hecan hit 95+ occasionally but the thing that makes him exceptionally better than any other Japanese pitcher in the mlb is his impeccable control and very sharp breaking pitches. Additionally i read that the thing that differentiates him from guys like Dice-K is that he has “balls”, where dice-k works the corners(high pitch count high walk rate and WHIP and low innings) darvish is not afraid to go at batters early.
but your right on that he wants to stay in japan for now
however i beleive he left it open for the future and the yanks have been seriosuly interested in him.
More Japanese: Yes. More Italians: No.
There has never been a successful Italian on the Yanks- lots of Italian- Americans, but no one from Italy. Was the Giambino a success or a bust?
by designatedquitter on Jan 11, 2010 1:28 PM EST reply actions
If I'm not mistaken, Cervelli is half italian
so you hold your tongue sir.
This sticker is dangerous and inconvenient, but I do love Fig Newtons.
Cervelli is god
so therefore he really does not have a nationality because he is devine and creator of all things.Or maybe because he is the almighty he is a little bit of them all?
Let the Panic bloom
by cashman bashman on Jan 11, 2010 2:57 PM EST up reply actions
Cervelli created all baseball teams in his image
except for the Royals and Red Sox.
This sticker is dangerous and inconvenient, but I do love Fig Newtons.
Whoa....
shoulda quit on that idea before you typed…
How come China can't vote David Lee for All-Star?
by FreeBradshaw on Jan 11, 2010 7:21 PM EST up reply actions
I don't.
"He wasn't an astronaut, he was a tv comedian! And he was just using space travel as a metaphor for beating his wife!"
Trust ????
I don’t trust my son to take in the trash cans, or my buddy to pay me back the $20 he owes me. This isn’t really about trust so much as do Japanese pitchers posses the talent to be in a major league starting rotation?
From what I’ve seen over the last 10 years or so, I’d say very few have the ability and the stamina to be consistent.
"Baseball is the background music of my life." -George Will
Forgot
A few good players, Hashegawa of the Mariners back in ’03 I forgot, also. Sorry about that
Writer for Pinstripe Alley.
"Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth."
"So I close in saying that I may have had a tough break, but I have an awful lot to live for."
The Japanese league is so different from ours. It’s really hard to judge players from there. They throw different pitches, and the whole game is just entirely different.
Strike zone is larger and the actual baseball used is marginally smaller.
by Scooby Snacks on Jan 11, 2010 8:43 PM EST up reply actions
Yu Darvish
Yu Darvish is actually not full Japanese. He is half Japanese and half Iraninan. My friends over in Japan who have watched him pitch say that he is very different from most Japanese pitchers and that he has excellent control and is not afraid to go after batters. He also has expressed interest in playing in the majors. I played high school baseball in Japan and in the U.S. The coaching and training is very different. In Japan, they don’t really care about how fast you can pitch. They are more interested in the technique of how to mix up your pitches and get batters out. The training is a lot more intense in Japan too.6
.
Dice K
I think Boston has not maximized the potential of Dice K. And now they are relegating him to Starter No. 4 or 5. I think the fault on Dice K’s bad outings lie on the catcher (so in this case Varitek). Because of his command of numerous pitches, Varitek overthinks and ask him to do too many different pitch types.
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