NPB Tracker

Sanspo reports that Yakult fireballer Ryota Igarashi has now officially met the service time requirements for international free agency. Cue standard remarks from Igarashi: “Right now I’m only thinking about staying in shape and winning. I want to think it (free agency) over carefully in the offseason”… and from Yakult’s front office: “it’s his decision so we don’t know what will happen, but he is one person that is needed on our team”.

In any event, expect Igarashi to get a raise from the 8.4m yen ($840k) he’s making this year.

It’s now been a year since my first post on NPB Tracker.

It’s been a fun year of blogging, it’s gone by quickly. I’ve been able to reach far more people with the site than I expected, and the response I’ve gotten has been overwhelming positive. NPB Tracker is a tiny pixel on 200-inch HDTV that is blogosphere, but considering the nichieness of the content, I’m happy with the audience the site has built. I hope to continue to produce content that people will enjoy.

The positive reaction I’ve gotten to the site has motivated me to write more. When I started this site, I anticipated posting three to five times a week, but looking back now we’ve published over 400 articles. I say “we” because Ryo has contributed a couple dozen posts – Thanks Ryo!

Another unexpected outcome of this blog is that I’ve gotten to see my work and occasionally my name in some more mainstream media outlets. Here are a few of my favorites:

• Both Rob Neyer and Will Carroll picked up my news about Ichiro pitching earlier in the year. I’ve enjoyed reading both Rob and Will for years so it was very exciting having them link to NPB Tracker.
• The baseball blogger at the Washington Post mentioned my work a number of times, including this blurb about Junichi Tazawa.
• The Boston Score asked me some questions last autumn, also on Tazawa.
• My busted translation of a Nikkan Sports piece on Hideki Irabu’s comeback got picked up by NBC New York. This was one of the best because the writer gave EWC a nod as well.
• Links to NPB Tracker have started showing up on Wikipedia.

I think my overall favorite was my interview with Ted Berg of sny.tv. An inaccurate article that Ted wrote back in 2007 was part of my motivation for starting the site, and I shared the story in a thread on EWC, which Ted then found and contacted me after reading. Getting to take part in that interview was like coming full circle in a way.

I hope this doesn’t come across as self promoting; the attention this site has gotten has definitely exceeded my expectations and it’s a great honor to have been acknowledged by this group of people.

So, what does the next year hold for NPB Tracker? Mostly more of the same. The majority of the content will still be about Japanese baseball, and it will mostly be in English. I’m planning to have some content on baseball in other countries as well. Outside of that, I’m hoping to find some time to add some additional functionality to the site, mostly with the goal of making it more interactive (suggestions are always welcome).

So thanks for reading everyone, the pleasure has been all on this side of the ‘net.

I’m watching Hiroshima vs Seibu on the NPB Live page if anyone wants to join me. When I turned on the game, it struck me that Hiroshima and Seibu played each other in the 1986 Japan Series. Then I realized that yesterday I watched Hanshin vs Lotte, and they played in the 2005 Japan Series. And it turns out that we’ve seen all of today’s interleague matchups except one in previous Japan Series’.

• Seibu vs Hiroshima, 1986
• Hanshin vs Lotte, 2005
• Nippon Ham vs Chunichi, 2006 & 2007
• Orix vs Yakult, 2001 (Yakult vs Kintetsu) & 1995 (Yakult vs Orix)
• Yomiuri vs SoftBank, 2000 (when the Hawks were still owned by Daiei)
• Yokohama vs Rakuten… I think it will be a while before we see this one

Hat tip to commenter John Brooks, who left a response on another post pointing out that the Rakuten Eagles have acquired Yankees AAA outfielder Todd Linden. I saw Linden play some when he was with the Giants and to me he always kind of looked the part, but for whatever reason he couldn’t perform well enough to stick with the MLB team. Jason Ellison was another guy who was around at the same time who I’d put in the same category.

In other Rakuten news, Kazuo Fukumori’s release from the Rangers is official enough for him to have headed back to Japan for a tryout with the Eagles. Manager Katsuya Nomura has given his blessing to signing Fukumori, should he pass the audition. Nomura originally expressed some resentment toward Fukumori for leaving the Eagles to join the Rangers in the first place, but has apparently backed down. While we’re here, I’ll share this scouting report on Fukumori from 2007, which anticipated his failure to impress in American ball.

In addition to quietly selecting some guy named Strasburg in this week’s MLB draft, the Nationals took Japan native Naoya Washiya in the 14th round, out of a junior college in the Palm Springs, California area.

Probably the most interesting thing in the Nikkan Sports story on him is that he was a high school teammate of current Rakuten ace Masahiro Tanaka. Washington selected Washiya in the 42nd round of last year’s draft as well, but he elected to stay in school. This time around he’s decided to sign, rather than continuing on to a four-year school as he had originally planned.

Washiya is a speedy outfielder and will start his pro career in either short-season or single-A ball.

Found this while Googling for more information on Shingo Takatsu’s tryout with the Giants (there is none) – my home state of Illinois officially offered their friendship to Shingo back in 2004 when he was with the White Sox. Unfortunately, I was not a resident of Illinois at time this was issued, so I wasn’t included in the 12.5 million Illinoisians Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn was representing. I hope Shingo considers me a friend anyway.

Here is the text of the declaration:

State of Illinois

Office of Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn

WHEREAS, Japan – which enjoys a rich, century-old baseball tradition – has contributed greatly to Major League Baseball in the United States; and

WHEREAS, the Chicago White Sox – who visited Japan in 1913 to play the New York Giants in a goodwill tour – recently signed their first Asian-born player – Shingo Takatsu – who is a worthy ambassador; and

WHEREAS, drafted by the Yakult Swallows in 1991, Shingo Takatsu has had an illustrious career, becoming Japan’s all-time saves leader with 260 saves and not allowing a single run in post-season play, earning him the nickname “Mr. Zero”; and

WHEREAS, Shingo Takatsu has already distinguished himself in the White Sox uniform by breaking a 17-year old record for pitching scoreless innings; and

WHEREAS, Major League Baseball has truly become global, with more than 3,100 players from 16 different nations playing professional baseball in the United States, including players from Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, China and Taiwan; and

WHEREAS, in these times of conflict, baseball’s international accent has enriched our culture, and fostered understanding and tolerance among diverse groups; and

WHEREAS, at least 28,000 persons of Japanese descent reside in Illinois and a Japanese-American community has existed continuously in Chicago for more than a century; and

WHEREAS, we are humbled to join the Consul General of Japan – the Honorable Yutaka Yoshizawa – in welcoming Shingo Takatsu to Illinois,

THEREFORE, I, Pat Quinn, Lieutenant Governor of the State of Illinois, hereby extend a hand of friendship to Shingo Takatsu on behalf of Illinois’ 12½ million people, including our growing Asian American community and baseball fans everywhere.

Dated this 24^th day of June, 2004.

Pat Quinn

Illinois Lieutenant Governor

Here it is on justin.tv

Watch live video from athletics channel on Justin.tv

Question for users of the NPB Live page: do all the channels work regularly? I only tend to watch on the weekends.

Here’s an interesting rumor: Sanspo is reporting that Hanshin wants to acquire Seibu’s GG Sato. I would be pretty surprised if this happened, not only because I don’t know if Sato is expendable for the Lions or if Hanshin is willing to give up what it would take to him, but also because only Sanspo is reporting this. Sanspo is probably the most gossipy of the sports papers I pay the most attention to, so I’ve learned to take this type of news from them with a grain or two of salt.

Still, I’m putting it up here because it begs a question of my more knowledgable readers: has a “blockbuster” trade ever happened in-season in NPB? Of the very few recent in-season trades I can recall off the top of my head, none have involved regular players. Can anyone think of one?

Meanwhile, Craig Brazell has gone 6/14 in his first four games with Hanshin, three of which the Tigers have won. I got to see a couple of his at bats over the weekend, and looked remarkably comforable at the plate considering he was just off the plane and had been in the Northern League. Even been for Hanshin is that the Brazell replica jersey is flying off the shelves at the Koshien Tigers Shop. Of the 22 player jerseys available, only Brazell’s is selling out.

Sponichi has more on Kazuo Fukumori — according to their most recent report, the Rangers are going to bit the bullet on whatever they still owe the righty and release him outright. Assuming he clears waivers he’ll be free to negotiate with NPB teams. Sponichi is speculating that a return to Rakuten is likely, which makes sense as manager Katsuya Nomura has been complaining about his bullpen all season.

Junichi Tazawa appears to be adjusting nicely to American baseball, posting a 2.67 era with 63 strikeouts in 67 innings so far at double-A Portland. To get a little more insight into how Tazawa’s performing, I contacted Portland Press Herald sports writer Kevin Thomas with a few questions.

Kevin covers baseball for the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram. He first reported on spring training games for the St. Petersburg Times in 1978. He wisely moved to Maine in 1994 and now writes about the Portland Sea Dogs and Boston Red Sox—when he’s not coaching Little League baseball.

Kevin’s blog can be found on mainetoday.com.

Kevin Thomas: Very well. He makes very few mistakes with his pitches, meaning that he keeps the ball low. He is already one of the best pitchers in the Eastern League this year.

KT: He said the windup helped his fastball, but he initially had trouble staying consistent with his breaking balls. But he seems to have adjusted and his commanding his breaking balls just fine.

KT: The way he stays poised no matter the situation. In fact, he seems to get better with runners on base.

KT: All pitchers at this level need to remain consistent. That said, he is mixing up his pitches very well, throwing the fastball for strikes, and setting up his slider, curves and split-finger.

KT: The Red Sox have several good starting pitchers in the minors, including Clay Buchholz and Michael Bowden in Triple-A Pawtucket. I would rank Tazawa right behind them, and I expect he will join them this season in Pawtucket.

NPBT: Thanks Kevin!

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