NPB Tracker

The SoftBank Hawks have signed Andrew Toussaint to an ikusui contract. Toussaint spent four years in the Angels system, but never advanced higher than 2A ball.

For more on the ikusei system, please see Ryo’s article on the subject.

According to links found on Yahoo Japan, Hiroshima is making some moves with its foreign roster. Righthanded reliever Scott Dohmann has been released. Dohmann had posted a 17.28 in 16 games with the Carp.

Word from the Kyodo grapevine is that the Carp are also looking to import Andy Phillips, who spent time in the White Sox system this season but is currently a free agent. Phillips would be the Carp’s third foreign corner infielder, joining Scott McClain and Scott Seabol. The two Scotts are struggling with identical .216 averages, but then again no one on the Carp is hitting. One of them figures to lose roster time if Phillips joins the team. The Carp have had bad luck with guys named Scott this year.

Like Todd Linden, Phillips is a 4A guy who I always thought would end up in Japan. But Wily Mo Pena was released by the Mets yesterday, and I’d like to see what he could do in Japan. Certainly he’s shown more power at the MLB level than Phillips.

Among a number of other moves, the Mets demoted 40 year-old lefty Ken Takahashi on June 22. Said Takahashi: “I was called in by the manager and GM, and I thought it might be this. In the minors I’ll probably start, and I’ll probably be able to throw a lot”. Takahashi had posted a 3.00 era with 16 strikeouts in 18 innings for the Mets.

田沢純一選手はアメリカの野球に上手く対応しているようで現在2-Aポートランドで67回を投げ63三振を奪い、防御率2.67を保持しています。田沢選手の成績についてもう少し具体的な内容を得るべく、ポートランド・プレスヘールドで記者をしていらっしゃるケビン・トーマスさんにお話を伺いました。

ケビンさんはポートランド・プレスヘールド/メイーンサンデーで野球を取材している記者です。彼が始めに野球に関わったのは1978年にセイントピーターズバーグ・タイムズの記者としてスプリング・トレーニングの取材をした時です。彼は1994年にメイン州へ移り、現在はリトル・リーグでコーチをしていない時にはポートランド・シードッグスとボストン・レッドソックスについて書いています。

ケビンさんのブログはmainetoday.comにてご覧できます。

NPB TRACKER: 田沢選手はローテーションの順番を守り、決め球を捉える能力のある打者に対応していかなくてはいけません。どれほどまでに順応できているでしょうか。

Kevin Thomas: 大変良く順応出来ています。投球ミスは少ないですし、ボールを低く狙ったところに投げられています。すでに今シーズンはイースタン・リーグ屈指の投手となっています。

NPBT: レッドソックスに加わるまでは常にセットポジションから投げていました。ワインドアップから同じ投球を続けることは出来ていますか。

KT: 本人曰くワインドアップから投げることで直球が生きてくるようですが、当初は変化球を安定させるのに苦労をしていたようです。最近では安定した変化球をコントロール問題なく投げれるようになってきています。

NPBT: 田沢選手のどういった部分に感心をしていますか？

KT: どんな状況に陥ってもぶれない姿勢ですね。逆にランナーを塁に出した方が良くなっていくように感じます。

NPBT: どういった部分を上達させる必要がありますか？

KT: このレベルで投げる投手はみな安定感を求められます。とは言っても彼はすでに投球を上手く織り交ぜており、直球でストライクを取って上手くスライダー、カーブ、そしてSFFを活かしています。

NPBT: シードッグスの有力選手の中でどの辺りの位置づけですか？

KT: レッドソックスはクレイ・バックホールズやマイケル・ボーデンを含めてすでにマイナーで有望な投手はいくらか存在しています。私自身は彼らのすぐ後に田沢選手を位置づけており、今年中にでもトリプル3-Aのパータケットに合流するのではと予想しています。

NPBT: ケビンさんありがとうございました！

Todd Linden and Kazuo Fukumori are officially in the fold for Rakuten, and Sanspo has the pics to prove it. There are no guarantees for Fukumori, he’ll have to prove himself with the farm team before getting a chance with the top club.

Mazda is taking advantage of the popularity of the newly-built stadium it sponsors to show off some its newest products.

Mazda utilized the concourses and the big screen of the ballpark to promote their new Mazda AXELA. Mazda is showing a little bit of innovative thinking in finding this way to leverage the naming rights they hold for the stadium. Sometimes you’ll see a car exhibited in American ballparks, or a section or suite sponsored by a car company, but I personally never heard of a car show being held at a ballpark.

The ballparks in Japan are not mostly owned by individual teams, instead they are owned by the cities. The teams pay usage fees to the city in most cases, so it’s hard for the teams to be creative and conduct their own events like many of the professional teams do here in the United States. It would be nice to see non-sporting events conducted at the ballparks and arenas rather than having them sit silent and dark on days when there are no home games.

With the draft over in the United States, the next focus will be on teams negotiating with agents to reach agreements for the players starting their professional careers. Agents occasionally get the national spotlight for some negotiations and have become a big part of sports business and the baseball world, which has led to a paradigm shift in professional sports. For those with a passion for other sports, items like Bushnell packages may be worth exploring.

On the other hand, in NPB, player agents are still a fairly new idea, and agents are known as Dairinin (representative). One agent that comes to mind, having received national attention, is Don Nomura (the son of Sachiyo Nomura, and step-son of Rakuten Golden Eagles manager Katsuya Nomura). He was involved in negotiating a minor-league deal for Mac Suzuki and played a key role in Hideo Nomo crossing the Pacific.

Although agents are starting to gain recognition, NPB still has a closed culture toward accepting the role of agents. An agent needs to be a licensed lawyer or certified as an agent by MLB, or pass the exam provided by the Players Association. They also need to register with NPB in order to take part in a player’s contract negotiation. In order to register as an agent, the candidate must read the rules and apply downloading the materials from this page.

The biggest difference in the role of agents between MLB and NPB is that an agent can only represent a single player. This restriction reduces the appeal to become a player  agent as not many people will be able to live off of the five percent commission from one player.

Surveys have been taken by the Players Association in the past to look at what the players actually think about agents and if they would like to utilize an agent in the future (The Results from 2000). Players were still hesitant to embrace the idea of using agents, as only 2.2 % (14/633) of the players answering the surveys stated they would definitely like to use one.

However, in recent years, as agents have become well-known for representing players negotiating for major league deals, the idea of agents is gaining ground with players. A new development we’ve seen is established lawyers adding player representation to their resumes. “Lawyer Kitamura Joining the Baseball World” is one famous recent example.

Unless the rules change to allow agents to play a larger role in the sport, it’s hard to imagine an icon like Scott Boras appearing in the NPB world. However, as agents become more trusted by players, opportunities for sports agencies should grow. Notably, Hisashi Iwakuma signed a deal with IMG in December, 2007.

While Hosei University righthander Kazuhito Futagami has gotten some attention from MLB scouts, apparently the pitcher isn’t reciprocating the interest. Futagami addressed the issue in a brief Q&A wite Livedoor.

-It seems like Hanshin is very keen on you.

“I’m from Kochi, and I go to Hanshin’s camp (in Aki, Kochi), so that’s a team that’s near to my heart.”

-Major League teams have interest in you.

“I don’t have much intrest in the Major Leagues. You know, I like Japan (laughter). I think it’s off to go to America without succeeding in Japan.”

-Do you have a team that you would like to go to?

“There isn’t any team that I especially want to go to. But I’m paying attention to the Pacific League teams. Pitchers in my age group like Yu Darvish (Nippon Ham), who is one year older than me, and Masahiro Tanaka (Rakuten), who is one year younger, are competing and maturing there.”

The other day, Sponichi ran some comments from Hideki Matsui in response to the revelation that Hanshin might be interested in signing him after the season. Here’s what he had to say:

When told about Hanshin’s interest…

“I’m happy that they would say that, I have to appreciate it. Because I was a Hanshin fan when I was a kid.”

When asked if he’d prefer to finish his career in the States…

“Basically that’s right, but since I don’t know what will come up I don’t know what will happen.”

It’s worth noting that Sponichi put the “I don’t know what will happen” quote in the headline, which I find a little out of character for the ultra-speculative Japanese media.

Sponichi has more from after the Yankees’ June 17 game against Washington:

“I flat-out can’t have this discussion now. But I appreciate that they have interest. I was a Hanshin fan when I was a kid.”

So there you have it. Keep an eye on this space come November.

While we’re here, to give you an idea of how analytical the Japanese press can be, the same blurb points out that Matsui’s batting average in games after he’s hit a home run is .111.

NPB teams still have a closed culture regarding new hires and job openings usually do not go open to the public. Although some teams are changing their mentality and internship opportunities are becoming a popular way to be involved with academics, the idea has not yet been fully embraced throughout the league.

During the off-season if you browse on some of the team’s websites you might be lucky enough to come across a job opening that the team is trying to fill. That was why I was actually suprised to come across this opening with the Hanshin Tigers at this time during the season. Applications are due by June 30th for this ballpark operations opportunity and the qualifications listed are that you need to have at least graduated high school, must have a strong interest in sports business, and must have a sense of leadership and responsibility among other things.

I will be looking for a full-time opportunity in the off-season myself hoping to stay in the sports industry, but I will not be applying for this obviously, so I thought I’d share this opening with the readers here who might be looking for an opportunity with a NPB team like the Hanshin Tigers.