This morning, I got my first extended look at heralded Giants rookie Hirokazu Sawamura; a 55-pitch open sen appearance against Seibu. I liked what I saw. Sawamura was quick the to the plate, showed good spring time velocity, and managed to hit Shinnosuke Abe’s target with his breaking pitches a good chunk of the time.
Seibu countered with its own touted young ‘uns. 2010 top draft pick Tatsuya Ohishi got the start, 2nd year man Yusei Kikuchi followed with an inning of relief work, and 2010 2nd-rounder Kazuhisa Makita put in two innings. I was a little underwhelmed by Ohishi, but it’s still early in the spring. Kikuchi, on the other hand, was something of a pleasant surprise. He only got an inning of work but he showed a smooth delivery, worked quickly and threw right to the catcher’s target on all but one of his pitches. I had never seen Makita before at any level, and submariners are always fun. I like his 95 kmph curveball, but if this guy gets the ball up in the zone, watch out.
And on a somber note, the game opened with a moment of silence for former Yomiuri Giant, Chunichi Dragon and San Francisco 49er Wally Yonamine, who passed away earlier this week.
As you can see below I’ve embedded the video of the game, or if you prefer you can surf on over to justin.tv and watch there.
Patrick » 08 November 2008 » In npb » Comments Off on Wally Yonamine & Rob Fitts Appearance in Tokyo
Re-posting this since the event is tomorrow (later today in Tokyo).
Japanese baseball card and history guru Rob Fitts emailed me this morning to let me know of appearance he’s making in Tokyo to promote his new biography of baseball legend Wally Yonamine. Here’s the headline:
Please join Wally Yonamine and author Robert Fitts at the Tokyo American Club on November 9 from 11 AM to 2 PM for a book reading and signing of the new book Wally Yonamine: The Man Who Changed Japanese Baseball. All are welcome. It will be a great chance to meet Wally, ask him questions, and talk baseball with a member of the Japan Baseball Hall of Fame.