It’s the first week of February and pouring rain in the Bay Area, but NPB spring training camps are kicking into full gear. Here are some news and notes from around the league. All of the below articles are in Japanese.
Let the wear and tear begin: new Chiba Lotte Marine Takumi Nasunothrew a 300 pitch bullpen session the other day, bringing his total for the four days he’s spent in camp to 646. In what Sponichi referred to as “Bobby-free” Lotte had six pitchers throw over 200 pitches on Feb 5. The article explains that this was in contrast to Bobby Valentine’s practice of limited bullpen sessions to 20 minutes at a time. I have to question the wisdom of working pitchers like that this early in camp, after several years of getting more rest under Valentine.
Chiba Lotte also signed former Hanshin infielder Makoto Imaoka after a brief trial in camp. Imaoka gets a 15m yen salary for 2010.
Having so far failed to attract any offers, 38 year-old infielder Toshihisa Nishi is planning on working out in front of MLB scouts in the near future.
Chunichi rookie Ryoji Nakata, who was already chunky at 115 kg, has put on 3 kg since getting into camp.
Kyuji Fujikawa has finally signed for 2010, getting a 400m yen salary. Kyuji paid his own way ｔhrough camp up to this point.
And finally, Brandon Siefken of Japan Baseball News is kicking off a monthly newsletter in April. Each month’s issue will include a spreadsheet of statistical data. You can get the full details here and subscribe here.
Patrick » 08 December 2009 » In npb » Comments Off
Yu Darvish has signed his 2010 contract. In 2009, the heralded righty went 15-5 with a 1.73 era over 182 innings, taking home the MVP award at the end of the season. In return, the Nippon Ham corporation is bumping his salary up 60m yen ($678k in the currently weak US currency) to 330m yen ($3.729m).
Darvish bumps Hisashi Iwakuma from the top spot as the highest paid pitcher in the Pacific League, though he’ll still trail Central Leaguers Kyuji Fujikawa and Hitoki Iwase for the overall lead. Darvish also crosses the 300m yen mark at a younger age (age 24 season) than any other player in NPB history, though Ichiro took home over 400m yen at age 25.
Hat tip to the unintentionally prophetic EWC: Nikkan Sports is reporting noted fat toad Hideki Irabu is working out in LA and aiming to resume his career in the US independent leagues some time this season. The article says that he’s played in amateur games and is hitting 90 mph on the gun in his workouts. There’s also a lengthy quote from someone associated with Irabu:
That he’s aiming for a comeback is true. Because he’s gotten back into shape*, he came to want play again. He’s playing with a cheerful demeanor. He wants to get tryouts and find a club he can play for. He’s looking to make a comeback in the independent leagues during the season. Looking to the future, the thinking is that if possible he wants to return to a high level, like MLB or NPB.
*the original Japanese translates more directly as “his condition has returned”, which I think is really more of an assertion that Irabu has recovered from the injuries that forced him to retire. Keep in mind that this is a guy who was known as “jellyfish” in Japan before he was ever called a toad. The jellyfish moniker was an affectionate one though.
I wonder if that’s Don Nomura talking.
Nikkan Sports provides us with a picture of him throwing, but I think that it was taken before the WBC, when Kyuji Fujikawa was working out in LA and happened to bump into Irabu in Compton. That sounds too ridiculous to be true, but it’s what was reported. Irabu is a US green card holder and returned to the US earlier in the year. Putting two and two together, I’d say he’s looking for a spot in the Golden League.
Notable departures are Nobuhiko Matsunaka (achilles problem), Kenta Kurihara (affected by elbow surgery last year), Toru Hosokawa (right shoulder pain), Tsuyoshi Wada, and Takayuki Kishi. Health reasons were not cited for Wada and Kishi.
Overall, the roster looks pretty good to me, though it’s somewhat short on power.The inclusion of Yoshiyuki Kamei makes no obvious sense to me, but I could see him as a defensive replacement/pinch runner. The only other questionable pick I see is Shunsuke Watanabe. He’s been hit or miss in NPB, and as I recall he wasn’t that great in the 2006 WBC.
Patrick » 15 February 2009 » In npb » Comments Off
By the time MLB pitchers and catchers hit camps this week, NPB teams will have had their full squads in camp for two full weeks. Here are some highlights, courtesy of fans on YouTube.
The first practice game of the spring training season, Hanshin vs Nippon Ham. Yu Darvishstarted for the Fighters, while Kyuji Fujikawa pitched the first few innings for the Tigers. Note that Kyuji surrenders a walk to Jason Botts after being called for stalling on his third pitch. I’m no fan of that rule, but Kyuji should be the last guy breaking it as he only throws two pitches.
New Chunichi Dragons import Tony Blanco has been getting good reviews in the Japanese media, but I could see him having a great camp and then not doing much during the season. Here’s a fan-shot video of him taking batting practice.
Here’s another fan-shot Dragons video, this one of Maximo Nelsonpitching in an intrasquad game. Very high video quality on this one.
In an effort to get the average time of games down under three hours, NPB has decided to introduce a new rule requiring pitchers to deliver each pitch within 15 seconds. This is part of NPB’s Green Baseball Project, in which the league is trying to do it’s part for the environment by cutting down on energy expenditures associated with playing games. A noble goal with a laughable logo.
This rule change hasn’t gone over well with the players:
Nippon Ham ace Yu Darvish: “That’s not baseball”.
2008 Sawamura Award winner Hisashi Iwakuma: “Darvish is correct. Even now our time is pressed. If the time is going to be compressed, they should be thorough and widen the strike zone. This is how we make our living”.
Rakuten managerKatsuya Nomura: “to have a rule for that is nonsense. Baseball has always been a sport without a time limit. The fans pay a lot of money to come to the ballpark, so we should be in the park as much as possible”.
Darvish again: “I’m not going to take any kind of action. I’ll ignore it.”
Commissioner Ryozo Kato: “you’re pros so get used to it”.
NPB spring training camps broke on February 1, so it’s time to dust off the old bullet points series.
Japanese Articles
Nippon Ham’s Yu Darvish threw 125 pitches on day one of camp. Here’s a pic of him throwing lefty between workouts to relax. What is it with all these switch-pitchers lately? I guess Darvish will be prepared if his right arm falls off from overwork.
Hanshin fireballer Kyuji Fujikawa is working on a two-seam fastball for the WBC. That would be a great addition to his arsenal.
New Chunichi Dragons addition Tony Blanco took 95 swings in batting practice, hitting 15 over the fence. Blanco is taking Tyrone Woods’ spot on the foreign roster, but only earning 1/22nd of his salary.
The Giants are also working out former Houston and Texas farmhand Levi Romero. He’s never pitched above high-a ball in America, and if he passes the audition he’ll be an instructional player.
Time to revive this series… Japanese articles only today
Waseda University pitcher Yuki Saito, thought be the first top Japanese amateur player to jump straight to MLB before Junichi Tazawa beat him to the punch, says that he wants to go to the majors by age 30.
Bidding has opened on Koji Mitsui, and wraps up on December 23rd. Mitsui’s agent says there are multiple teams interested, but there’s no indication of who that might be.
Hayato Terahara is working on an original breaking pitch to aid his return to the rotation next year. It should break somewhat like a forkball and he’s about 40% ready with it.
Kyuji Fujikawa got himself into the news the other day, commenting that he intends to hang out in Japan for the time being. “I think I’m happier playing in Japan [than in the majors]“, said Kyuji, adding that he wants to beat the Giants next year. I wouldn’t have posted this, except that he asked Hanshin to post him last off-season. The team categorically denied the request.
In other news, Kyuji is aiming to hit 160 km/h (100 mph) on the gun next year. Hideki Irabu, Kazuo Yamaguchi, and Ryota Igarashi jointly hold the record for Japanese pitchers at 158 km/h, while Marc Kroon holds the NPB record at 161 162 km/h. I’m not sure what Kyuji’s personal best is, I think the hardest I’ve seen him throw is about 155 km/h.
No gold medal for Japan in baseball — the Olympic team took a 2-1 lead into the 7th, but the bullpen couldn’t hold the lead. Kyuji Fujikawa took the mound in the 7th and gave up a run on a walk and two hits to allow Korea to tie the game. Then Hitoki Iwase got the call to start the 8th and promptly gave up a single. Manager Hoshino visited Iwase after the hit, but left him in the game only to watch him give up a 2-run homer to Yomiuri Giants slugger Seung-Yeop Lee. Iwase had to give up another hit before finally being replaced with Hideaki Wakui, who gave up a couple of run-scoring doubles to make the score 6-2.
Japan went down quietly in the 9th, ending their shot at the gold. I didn’t get to watch the game, I just followed in on Yahoo Live, so I could only read what was going on. I found it strange that Hoshino used five pitchers in an 8 inning game, pulling starter Toshiya Sugiuchi for Kenshin Kawakami after Sugiuchi give up a run in the 4th inning. And I don’t understand why he went to Iwase again despite his recent struggles.
Congratulations to the Korean team – they beat every team in the tournament and deserve their chance at the gold medal.