11 Players I’m Looking Forward to Following this Year

» 16 February 2010 » In npb »

I didn’t set out to order these guys in any specific way, but looking at the list, there are basically three groups of players: young breakout candidates, veterans coming back from injury problems, and a couple of veteran ni-gun imports.

Sho Nakata (IF/OF, Nippon Ham): Nakata hit 30 home runs in 322 ni-gun at-bats last year, but every time I’ve seen him at the ichi-gun level he’s looked overmatched. Supposedly he’s a butcher at first base, but this spring Ham is giving him a look in left field. If he can stick with the big team he should get enough at-bats to get comfortable.

Romash Tasuku Dass (P, Nippon Ham): I’ll admit that only real reason Dass has caught my eye is that he’s half Indian. I didn’t really follow him at all last year, but apparently he only saw 15 innings of work at ni-gun.

Kohei Hasebe (P, Rakuten): Hasebe was heavily hyped as an amateur but has so far had two lackluster seasons as a pro. Rakuten has a deep rotation, and we’ll see if he can flourish under Marty Brown.

Yoshinori Sato (P, Yakult): Yoshinori has a great arm, but is basically a two-pitch pitcher with command problems. If his command improves I think he’d be as good or better than Wirfin Obispo, who has a similar arsenal.

Shota Ohba (P, SoftBank): Ohba has shown that he can get NPB hitters out, but has yet to put together a complete season. The talent is there.

Yasuhiro Ichiba (P, Yakult): Ichiba was another highly regarded amateur who has failed to make an impact as a pro. I thought a change of scenery would help Ichiba last year, but it didn’t. This year, he’s experimenting with a new, three-quarters delivery.

Makoto Imaoka (IF, Lotte): From 2002-05, Imaoka was one of the most competent, productive hitters in Japan. From 2006-09, he got progressively more horrific until Hanshin finally released him. The Marines are giving him a chance to contribute this year, and hopefully he’ll play like he has something to prove.

Yoshinobu Takahashi (OF/IF, Yomiuri): Takahashi is a guy that Hanshin fans love to hate, but I’ve always thought he was a very good player, perhaps even a little underrated. In my eyes, he should have been the Central League MVP in 2007, instead of Michihiro Ogasawara. He’s been battered an ineffective over the last two years, and even if he’s healthy this year he’ll have to compete for playing time.

Nagisa Arakaki (P, SoftBank): Seven years ago, I thought Arakaki was Japan’s next great pitcher. And he was pretty good for a while, before catching Steve Blass Disease and dealing with shoulder injuries (two problems which are probably not mutually exclusive). Arakaki has been indefinitely relegated to ni-gun, which suggests he has a long way back.

Aarom Baldiris (IF, Orix) & Juan Muniz (IF, Lotte): Baldiris and Muniz have a few things in common — they are both veteran minor leaguers, both started in Japan on ikusei contracts, and both led their respective farm leagues in batting last year. Baldiris is younger and has gotten time at the top level, where he hasn’t hit enough to stick despite strong defense. We’ll see if either break through this year.

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  1. Patrick
    John Brooks
    16/02/2010 at 2:05 am Permalink

    Takahashi is a guy that Hanshin fans love to hate, but I’ve always thought he was a very good player, perhaps even a little underrated. In my eyes, he should have been the Central League MVP in 2007, instead of Michihiro Ogasawara.

    It’s good to know I wasn’t the only one who thought he should been MVP in 2007.

  2. Patrick
    nomarfan
    19/02/2010 at 5:48 pm Permalink

    i know it is nothing to do with this post, but how about sharing your thoughts regarding to the communication issues between Dice-K and Red Sox/American baseball culture? thanks.

  3. Patrick
    nomarfan
    19/02/2010 at 5:54 pm Permalink

    i know it is nothing to do with this post, but how about sharing your thoughts regarding to the communication issues between Dice-K and Red Sox/American baseball culture? it seems that new england media rarely say anthing good about Dice-K? thanks.

  4. Patrick
    Tom Dubberke
    20/02/2010 at 7:18 pm Permalink

    Patrick — Any thoughts on John Bale signing with the Carp?

  5. Patrick
    Patrick
    20/02/2010 at 9:55 pm Permalink

    Nomarfan — I’ll get to Matsuzaka at some point. Had some thoughts on this when the story broke, but couldn’t really come to a conclusion and now that post is past its sell-by date.

    Tom — I find the Bale move kind of uninspired, which is a little bit of a rarity as I usually like the moves the Carp make. Lefthanded pitching was a real weakness for Hiroshima last year, and Bale at least offers some depth beyond the returning Ken Takahashi at a low price.

  6. Patrick
    Deanna
    24/02/2010 at 4:58 pm Permalink

    Dass sucks. I hope he can stop sucking, but every time I’ve seen him pitch he’s been awful, which is part of why he doesn’t get a lot of time in official games (I think half the times I’ve seen him have been in exhibition games like the Futures stuff, even). But he’s tall and he’s young and I guess they’re hoping they can get something out of him, and he’s certainly still got time and potential, but for now… yikes.

    Nakata IS terrible at defense. I have no clue how he’s going to run enough to cover any space in the outfield, but I guess we’ll see… I should be catching some Fighters games once they make it to Kanto, now that I’m back in Japan.