Indians to Sign College Righty Nakamura

» 31 October 2009 » In mlb prospects, nichibei »

Sponichi is reporting that the Indians have agreed to a minor-league contract with Chuo University righthander Takafumi Nakamura.

Nakamura wasn’t a high-profile draft prospect, so I headed over to Draft Reports to get the scoop on him. Nakamura has got a big frame at 195 cm, 89kg (6’5, 195lbs), and throws from a three-quarter delivery. His heater tops out on the gun at 149 km/h (92mph), but he mostly sits at about 140 km/h (86 mph) with both his fastball and slider. He also has a curve, forkball, and shuuto. Looking at his stats, he shown an ability to strike his college competition out, but walks have been an issue.

Sponichi says that the Indians’ goal is to get him in shape in Rookie Ball, and then give him a look at Single-A after a couple of months. An official contract is expected in November.

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  1. Patrick
    Deanna
    02/11/2009 at 9:19 am Permalink

    Yeah, he wasn’t a big draft prospect because he never plays 🙂

    I happened to see him once by complete random chance, but basically Chuo’s pitching duties have mostly been shared by (now 3rd-years) Hirokazu Sawamura and Yuuhi Yamasaki these last two years. I saw Yamasaki throw 6.2 perfect innings a few weeks back… NEXT year is going to be the insane draft year for college pitchers, I’m pretty sure (what with the Chuo aces, Toyo ace Kanuma, Waseda’s Saitoh and Ohishi, maybe Hosei’s Kagami, etc).

    Then again, I know there has to be more to scouting these guys than just seeing them play in league games and tournaments. It’s just… if a guy isn’t good enough to be playing in the games, how is he going to be good enough to go pro? That’s the part I don’t get.

  2. Patrick
    Patrick
    02/11/2009 at 10:00 am Permalink

    The stats from Draft Reports indicate that he played for the ni-bu team until the autumn of his third year, where he had a pretty high walk rate. That may explain why he didn’t get many innings.

    “It’s just… if a guy isn’t good enough to be playing in the games, how is he going to be good enough to go pro?”

    College coaches are going to use the guys that give them the best chance to win. Professional teams, particularly MLB teams, and are going to get guys that they think they can develop. So I would guess that the Indians like Nakamura’s frame and velocity, and think there’s enough of a chance that he’ll improve under their direction.

    “NEXT year is going to be the insane draft year for college pitchers, I’m pretty sure (what with the Chuo aces, Toyo ace Kanuma, Waseda’s Saitoh and Ohishi, maybe Hosei’s Kagami, etc).”

    You’re right. There’s already news about nichibei scouts watching that Hifumi kid.

  3. Patrick
    Deanna
    02/11/2009 at 7:42 pm Permalink

    Ni-bu actually refers to when Chuo was a 2nd-tier team, not to a separate minor-league squad. The Tohto League has 4 levels and relegation, and Chuo didn’t make it back into the 1st-tier until fall 2008.

    So that means those stats on Draftrepo, he was pitching for the actual team, just in a lower league, and was still walking all those guys.

    Anyway, I finally put up some photos of him I took at a game in April. He walked in a run that day too 🙂

    I guess it’ll be interesting to see what the Indians do with him, though unless he has any significant success it’s unlikely we’ll hear much about him back here.

  4. Patrick
    Patrick
    02/11/2009 at 10:37 pm Permalink

    I see. Thanks for pointing that out. I guess the observation that he struggled with his command even against less than top-notch competition is still valid though.

Trackbacks

  1. [...] didn’t have much luck with Masahide Kobayashi so the Indians will go younger.  Per http://www.npbtracker.com/2009/10/indians-tosign-college-righty-nakamura/#content the Indians have signed Takafumi…