If a Japanese baseball player outside of Japan interests you, post away. Anyone can post news, commentary, videos, and questions about baseball in Japan. “And he’s really, really good.All about Professional Baseball in Japan, and Japanese baseball players worldwide. It would put a lot of pressure on Lotte to post it,” Whiting said. “Interest in him in the majors would be monumental. “Most of the best pitchers in Japan who go to the States will succeed,” said Robert Whiting, who has written several books on Japanese baseball, including The Samurai Way of Baseball.īut Sasaki is undoubtedly the “once in a generation” choice. Japan’s other top pitcher is Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who has twice won the top starting pitcher award in Japanese baseball. Murakami, at 22, also became the youngest person to win the league’s Triple Crown last season. The Japanese league record is 60 by Wladimir Balentien. Japan’s most promising hitter is probably Munetaka Murakami, who hit 56 homers last season and surpassed Sadaharu Oh’s 55. They’ve had more success than the hitters in North America in the past, with a few exceptions including Ichiro Suzuki, Ohtani and Hideki Matsui. Pitchers in Japan are trained early, spurred by the popularity of the country’s high school tournaments. “I want them to appreciate the things they have now and the precious people around them and not take them for granted,” he said. He then spoke to young children about his loss. “It’s been 11 years, but I can’t just erase the agony and sadness I felt then,” Sasaki said at a press conference a year ago. His house was swept away and his father and grandparents died. But in 2011, the region was hit by an earthquake and tsunami, followed by the meltdown of three nuclear reactors. He grew up in Iwate Prefecture, the same northern area of Japan as Ohtani. “There are many reasons why being a global player brings benefits in terms of viewership and ultimately revenue,” added Kaval.ĭespite all the early successes, Sasaki also has to deal with death and tragedy. So that’s a big selling point,” Oakland Athletics president Dave Kaval told The Associated Press. “What we’ve seen in Japanese pitchers is their ability to multi-pitch, which is really beneficial in the major league system. It’s a showcase of world baseball, and in Japan, the focus of scouts is mostly on the pitchers. The World Baseball Classic, which opens in Taiwan on Wednesday, will be followed by two weeks of games in Taiwan, Japan and the United States. The most likely scenario is after Sasaki turns 25, which could mean the 2027 season at the earliest. They can leave earlier under a special system called ‘posting’, where the Japanese club agrees to let a player leave. Japanese professional baseball players generally do not become free agents until they have played for almost a decade. That means that Sasaki’s promotion could start earlier than it did for Ohtani. Ohtani finalized his contract with the Angels in late 2017 when he was just 23 years old. “It’s my dream,” Sasaki said of being a major league player. The bad news for Major League Baseball fans is that although Sasaki is reportedly working on his English, he probably won’t be heading to North America any time soon. Last week, his fastball was clocked at 102.5 mph in a WBC preseason game, equaling a record in Japan held by Ohtani. Sasaki has the fastball, the wipeout forkball, and an evolving slider-and he just turned 21.
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