NPB Tracker

Japanese:

• Kazuhiro Kiyohara made his first appearance in a Seibu uniform in a while, swinging through the ceremonial first pitch on August 22.I’m not sure what Kiyohara’s been up to since retiring, but it looks like it involves getting a tan.
• Hanshin is scouting Korea, reportedly looking at Kim Tae-Gyun of Hanwha and Lee Taek-Keun of the Heroes as potential acquisition targets for this offseason. Lee Bum-Ho and Kim Dong-Ju are also drawing interest from NPB teams. Someone who knows better should check my Romanization of these names.
• Yakult’s Norichika Aoki, in the midst of his worst season as a pro, had his first four-hit game of the year, bringing his average up to .278. Yakult lost the game 7-3 to the Giants.
• Draft Reports has a list of the hardest-throwing pitchers in this year’s Koshien Tournament.Yusei Kikuchi, Takumi Akiyama, and Kenta Imamiya.

English:

• We tweeted the news that Yu Darvish will skip his next start.
• Matt visited Starfin Stadium in Hokkaido recently.
• Deanna went to an Island League game, and sends pictures.
• Gen gives us a look at Japan’s entry in to this year’s Asia AAA Tournament.
• Jim Allen finds out what makes Takuro Ishii tick.
• Non-baseball item du jour: researchers at Tokyo University have developed tangible holograms. Graphics are the area of computer science that I find the most challenging so I’m quite impressed by this.

Hanamaki Higashi has advanced to the semi-finals at Koshien, but not without a little scare — ace pitcher and current MLB scout darling Yusei Kikuchi left the mound in the fifth inning with back pain. Third baseman Takuro Sarukawa took to the hill and finished the game as Hanamaki won in extra innings.

Kikuchi did not appear to be seriously hurt as he watched the game from the top step of the dugout and even joined the team for a conference on the mound. He had his back x-rayed, but no irregularities were found. Said Kikuchi,”there was pain, so just in case, I had it checked. Tomorrow I’m going to take care of my body and not throw. I will consult with my manager about the semi-final game.” I’d be surprised if he doesn’t play.

Meanwhile, Mets GM Omar Minaya has commented on having some interest in the lefty.Gossipy publication ZakZak quotes Minaya as saying, “I haven’t seen him throw myself, but I’ve heard his name. He wants to come to the majors? If so we’ll continue watching him”. Mets Pacific Rim Scout Isao Ojimi commented “I don’t thoughtlessly tell high school students ‘come to the majors’. However he [Kikuchi] is different. If his hope it is to take the challenge, it would be a waste not to.”

I’m going to shelve this topic until the end of Koshien, and just enjoy the rest of the tournament. We’ll see what happens after that.

Japanese

• Yokohama dai-veteran Kimiyasu Kudoh was assessed with the first ever ball called due to the 15-second rule. He got hit with the call while shaking off signs in the 7th inning of Yokohama’s 10-3 loss to the Giants on the 18th.
• Kudoh’s fellow geezer Hideki Irabu has made his first appearance for Kochi, throwing one inning in a practice game against Shikoku Bank. Gen relays a report that Yokohama might kick the tires on Irabu this offseason.
• The Hiroshima Carp are holding a tryout on September 19 at Mazda Stadium. To qualify you must be between ages 17 and 24 and be at least 175cm (5’8) tall.
• Hiroki Kuroda is playing catch again after his horrific accident. He joked, “I’m glad I didn’t forget how to throw”, though he is still experiencing headaches.

English

• If you haven’t seen the Goro Shigeno Koko Yakyu blog, you should check it out — its easily the best way to follow the Koshien tournament in English.
• Bloomberg ran a story on Yusei Kikuchi.
• Tsuyoshi Wada is looking to return to SoftBank some time in September.
• Brandon Siefken breaks down some of the hardest working starters in Japan.
• This isn’t baseball related but it illustrates the differences between Japanese and English as well as the challenges of machine translation.

I put Justin.tv’s archive feature to good use yesterday, and got video for four games:

• Chukyo vs Tohoku at Koshien
• Hanamaki-Higashi vs Nagano at Koshien
• Chiben Wakayama vs Tosho at Koshien
• Yomiuri vs Yokohama

Justin.tv keeps archived footage around for about a week, so enjoy this footage while it’s around.

Note: these links aren’t too likely to work correctly if you’re in Europe or Asia — vagaries of Justin.tv’s archival system.