チェン特番

シーズン後の行き先が話題の中日チェン投手、この特番は一見の価値ありです。

2009年8月16日　 スポスタ　 台湾出身のサウスポーチェンの物語　　 出演：陳偉殷　 故郷の大先輩 郭源治　 二軍時代の恩師 小林聖始　 元同僚 樋口龍美　 協力：チェンの家族　　 スポスタは企画自体もそうですが、編集もなんつーか面白いですね 。

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AL Preseason Shorts + Ichiro

• Oji Eagles and Nippon Paper Cranes played a pair of free admission preseason games in Tomakomai, Hokkaido over the weekend. Results were 3-2 and 4-1 for an Oji sweep.

• Tohoku Free Blades were officially admitted into the league on 5 September. Well, this was just a rubber stamping process since the club is starting out its life on stable grounds.

• Blades will host their first ever official (preseason) game on 12 September against the Nikko Ice Bucks. Faceoff at 13:00 in Hachinohe, Aomori. All tickets are general admission and 1000 yen each.

• Ex-Seibu Prince Rabbit D Ryuichi Kawai and (probably) his younger brother and ex-Gatineau Olympique Takuma Kawai are going to be on the ice for the University of Lethbridge team’s tryouts, even though they’re both not enrolled with the university. Apparently the training camp has guys trying to crack AHL and ECHL clubs, so it’ll be interesting to see how they fare. The brothers are staying and training with ex-Seibu Ryan Fujita whose home is about a 40 minute drive from Lethbridge, Alberta.

• The immortal Ichiro earned his 2000th Major League hit in style with a double against the A’s. Always a showman who marks special occasions with crafty hits or big bombs more often than his usual slap and dash.

インド人プロ野球投手の史上初勝利

Singh gets first victory

LAKELAND, Fla. — Pittsburgh Pirates farmhand and reality show contestant Rinku Singh earned his first win Monday in the second game of a Gulf Coast League doubleheader.

Singh struck out the only batter he faced in the Bradenton Pirates’ 10-5 victory over theDetroit Tigers‘ affiliate He is believed to be the first India-born player to win a professional baseball game in the United States.

インドで開催された、プロ野球選手発掘プロジェクトの「１００万ドルの腕」コンテストの結果により、ピッツバーグ・パイレーツと契約した投手の一人リンク・シンが、野球人生初勝利をリリーフで挙げました、おめでとう！インド人メジャーリーガー誕生に向けて、また新たな一歩ですね。

インド人初のプロ野球選手のデビュー戦

インドで開催された「１００万ドルの腕」（ブログにビデオもあります）選手権で権利を勝ち取ったリンク・シン（Rinku Singh）とディネシュ・パテル（Dinesh Patel）がピッツバーグ・パイレーツのGulf Coast League （シングルＡの下）のチームでデビューしました。フルボッコにされなかっただけでも上出来です。共に１イニングを投げ、シンは１失点、パテル三者凡退に抑え、二人とも１奪三振でした。メジャーの育成システムでどこまで行けるか、見ものですね、頑張れ！

MLB equivalencies for NPB players

Nothing remotely close to data crunching here, just observations over the years (so, obviously, there will be mistakes and omissions).

The art of predicting can be tricky. Nobody knows exactly how to predict the future. I was curious how some Japanese pitchers would project to MLB so I created an index based upon past Japanese pitcher performances.

http://www.japanesebaseball.com/forum/thread.gsp?forum=21&thread=59243

There’s of course the big x-factor, the cultural and environmental and mental adaptation process that players crossing the Pacific (in both directions) have to endure. Some thrive (Nomo, Okajima, Saito, etc. with the latter two outperforming their NPB records), some fail (Kobayashi, Fukumori, Igawa, etc.), some fluctuate (Irabu, Matsuzaka, etc.), some thrive then fade (Sasaki, Takatsu, etc. though this might be due to more age and wear and tear) and others meander (a little early to tell but Kawakami and Uehara seem to be adapting well). I don’t think there’s a large enough sample size yet for reliable equivalencies when it comes to pitchers.

Position players, on the other hand, are more predictable creatures, so their production are more predictable when making the NPB=>MLB move. BA/OBP drops somewhat, HR gets cut in half (and SLG drops accordingly), defence is usually above par (except whatever happened to Kaz Matsui), and many hitters change their approach at the plate (Godzilla not swinging for the fences, Iwamura exchanging power for on base ability, Little Matsui exchanging power for speed, Ichiro becoming more or less a slap hitter, etc.)

So, predicting Darvish? Well, he pitches half his games in the most pitcher friendly park in Japan (Sapporo Dome) in front of a solid defence, so right there are strikes one and two against him if he makes the move across the pond, unless he ends up in Petco with the Pads, Safeco with the Mariners (only possibility?), or at the Coliseum with the A’s, since most modern and ancient MLB parks are of the hitter friendly variety.

So, as the usual caveat goes, pitching is much less predictable than hitting, on a season by season basis.

Just my rambling 2 yen late at night when I should be sleeping.

大学エースの実力？

結局メジャーでは（完全に）開花しなかった大学のスーパー・エース達は結構いる（？）

さて、どうなるか。スティーブン・ストラスバーグとワシントン・ナショナルズとスコット・ボラス？ｗ 

YEAR PITCHER SCHOOL W-L G IP BB SO ERA 

2007 David Price Vanderbilt 11-1 18 133.1 31 194 2.63 

2004 Jered Weaver LB St. 15-1 19 144 21 213 1.62 

2001 Mark Prior USC 15-1 20 138.2 18 202 1.69 

1996 Kris Benson Clemson 14-2 19 156 27 204 2.02 

1989 Ben McDonald LSU 14-4 26 152.1 n/a 202 3.49 

1986 Mike Loynd Fla. St. 20-3 25 164.2 48 223 2.45 

1985 Greg Swindell Texas 19-2 26 172 n/a 204 1.67 

1979 Derek Tatsuno Hawaii 20-1 22 174.1 n/a 234 1.86 

1976 Floyd Bannister Ariz. St. 19-2 25 186 66 213 1.45 

1975 Floyd Bannister Ariz. St. 15-4 21 157.1 42 217 1.66 

1973 Eddie Bane Ariz. St. 15-1 18 140 46 192 1.93 

1972 Eddie Bane Ariz. St. 14-1 20 144.2 42 213 0.99 

1971 Burt Hooton Texas 11-1 n/a 97.1 24 153 1.11 

1966 Steve Arlin Ohio St. 11-1 n/a 104.1 n/a 129 1.72 

1965 Steve Arlin Ohio St. 13-2 n/a 141.1 n/a 165 2.48 

Japanese baseball SI Vault

More for my archival purposes than anything, the link to all Japanese baseball related Sports Illustrated articles going back to the 50’s! You can read how Japanese baseball itself and how it is viewed by Americans have gradually and significantly changed over the decades. (via Japanesebaseball.com)

Guiel’s ceremonial at bat

Today, and of course he gets hit by the ceremonial first pitch, very Aaron  😛  He got hit by FC Tokyo striker Sota Hirayama, the Swallows and FC Tokyo have a working agreement.

MLB 2K9 のバグ

こんなバグ入りの状態で出荷しちゃっていいの？ｗｗ

Canseco v Daimajin

Prior to the start of the interleague game at Yokohama between the BayStars and the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles on Sunday 24 May, infamous former slugger Jose Canseco faced off against former BayStar and Seattle Mariner closer Kazuhiro “Daimajin” Sasaki in a ceremonial “at bat”.

Because Canseco wanted to launch a homerun into the stands at the expense of Daimajin, he repeatedly asked for “one more pitch” resulting in a 9 pitch ceremonial at bat (which is reminiscient of Tsuyoshi Shinjo’s ceremonial first at bat against Hichori Morimoto last season in Fukuoka), but the attention seeking PED whistleblower could not reach the short porch of Yokohama Stadium.

Canseco had faced Sasaki 3 times during their MLB careers, and after the ceremonial at bat Canseco commented that “Sasaki’s fastball and forkball were just as I remembered from our playing days, I should’ve practiced more for this occasion”.

(Canseco is in Japan to participate in his first MMA tournament (aside from celebrity boxing matches), the DREAM Super Hulk Tournament in Yokohama Arena on Tuesday 26 May, his first match will be against former MMA novice and Korean giant Choi Hong-man who stands 218cm (7’2″) tall.)

Original Japanese article after the break