So I finally got to see Kenshin Kawakami pitch in a big league game. Being three timezones away from the east coast makes it tough to catch most Braves games, but this week they’re here in California, so in between helping with dinner and the dishes, I got to watch Kenshin pitch against the Giants.
And he didn’t have one of his best games.
On the upside…
worked out of a couple of jams
decent velocity — hit 94 mph on the gun one time, which is harder than I would normally expect him to throw
got a sacrifice down (I wasn’t in the room when this happened, seeing in it the box score)
speed giveth: Benji Molina’s lack of pace saved a run for Kenshin
On the downside…
got into trouble in every inning he pitched
poor control — airmailed a fastball, hit Aaron Rowand, catcther had a passed ball
couldn’t get his breaking stuff over for strikes, had a hittable fastball
speed taketh away: Rowand stole home
Kenshin’s breaking stuff basically wasn’t working at all. I only saw him get a couple of swinging strikes, and he had a pattern of getting behind on guys and then coming back with very hittable fastballs.Â
Here’s a rare sighting: empty seats at Koshien. Hanshin drew fewer than 30,000 fans at Koshein for the first time in almost five years.
And In English…
The incomparable Deanna snapped a shot of the Marines fans holding up signage indicating that 63,580 fans have signed a petition requesting the team to keep Bobby Valentine around beyond this season.
My fellow Chicago ex-pat Matt of Yakyu All-Stars took a picture of Norichika Aoki’s WBC Gold Medal. I gotta say, that’s pretty underwhelming. Looks like it’s filled with chocolate.
Simon has pics of Kazuhiro ‘Daimajin’ Sasaki throwing out the first pitch to Jose Canseco at a recent BayStars game. Fresh off his failure to knock out Danny Bonaduce, Canseco wanted to take Daimajin deep, but even though he got nine pitches he couldn’t do it.
Patrick » 24 May 2009 » In npb » Comments Off on Brazell to Hanshin: Done Deal-ish
Some quotes & paraphrases from around the Japanese media on Hanshin’s impending acquisition of Craig Brazell:
“It has become known that the negotiations between Hanshin and former Seibu Lion Craig Brazell have reached a basic agreement” (Nikkei Net)
“The posibility of Brazell debuting for Hanshin on June 5Â Â against Orix has increased… Brazell is coming to Japan on May 26th for a physical” (Nikkan Sports)
According to Nikkan Sports, the Rangers had two scouts watching high school lefthander Yusei Kikuchi on May 21st. Kikuchi didn’t appear in his team’s game, the first of an Iwate Prefectural tournament, but the Rangers watched him work out with a long toss excercise. Kikuchi was quoted as saying, “I’m happy to get this attention but I can’t consider how to proceed until the end of summer”. The Dodgers had assistent GM Logan White watch Kikuchi in a practice game in March, and he appears on the draft lists of all 12 NPB teams.
Kikuchi is among the consensus top class of this year’s draft candidates. Brandon Siefken has brief profile of him in English, and Draft Reports has more on him in Japanese. The Nikkan Sports Draft Guide gave him a “BA” rating, a rating that we would normally denote in English as “a/b”, saying that his fastball is good but he can work on his delivery to get a more movement on his pitches.
Kenshin Kawakami had the first really good game of his MLB career, putting up a 0 R/3 H/7 K/0 BB line against Roy Halladay and the Blue Jays. Here’s a video clip of some highlights that someone ripped from MLB and put on YouTube:
If you happen to be on the site right now, I highly suggest checking out the NPB Live page, where  you’ll have your choice of the Orix v Hanshin game or Lotte v Chunichi game. Orix’s Green Stadium Kobe Skymark Stadium looks great today. I can never understand why the Buffaloes don’t make that their permanent home as opposed to the drab Osaka Kyocera Dome (relative inconvenience notwithstanding).
It’s being widely reported that Hanshin is ready to negotiate with/sign former Seibu Lion Craig Brazell. Brazell hit .234 with 27 homers and 87 rbis. He’s currently playing with the St. Paul Saints of the Northern League. Honestly this comes across as a knee-jerk reaction.
Rakuten manager Katsuya Nomura seems to agree. “Hanshin is really bad at acquiring foreign players,” he said, before adding, “they’re in 5th place and six games under .500? That sucks. When I was there, the media would start with the “quit, quit” articles. Don’t just do that to me, do that to (Hanshin manager Akinobu) Mayumi too”.
Meanwhile, Seibu is also looking to add an import, due the loss of Brazell and now the shoulder injury of relief ace Alex Graman. Graman is hoping to return before the second half of the season, but surgey hasn’t been ruled out as a possibility. Team president Maeda was quoted as saying “it’s not just hitter, we’re looking into pitching too”.
Shingo Takatsu is in the news again, at least if you read Nikkan Sports. The 40-year old former closer took part in a work out for college-level MLB draft candidates, auditioning before scouts from the SF Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks. Giants Far East Scouting Director John Cox was gave him a good evaluation: “his breaking stuff and the movement of his pitches was good. He’s not a young guy, he’s a major leaguer. He was very impressive and passed the test”. Shingo’s fastest pitch was clocked at 86 mph, which isn’t that far off what he was throwing with the White Sox a few years ago.
Whether this leads to a contract for Shingo remains to be seen. For his part, Shingo wants to keep playing: “I’m probably being indecisive. But, it’s easy to quit and difficult to continue. As long as I can move my body, and as long there is the possibility, I want to play even at 45 or 46”.
Shingo spent last season with the (Woori) Heroes of the Korean Baseball Organization. He had an offer to return before the team pulled it due to foreign player restrictions. He was pretty good in Korea, posting an 0.86 era in 21 innings with an 18/6 k/bb ratio.
