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Japanese Baseball Notes
Posted by: | CommentsSeibu Lions rookie phenom lefty pitcher Yusei Kikuchi started his first farm game on Wednesday. He finished with 3 innings, no hits and 2 walks. Not a bad outing but the concerns are he only hit 135km on the radar gun, as he was clocked at 155km in high school . It seems his NPB debut might be delayed. He only gave up one unearned run in the outing.
photo courtesy of yahoo.co.jp
Trade: Yokohama Bay Stars have traded pitcher Yuya Ishii to the Nippon Ham Fighters for Shintaro Ejiri. In 2009 with 26 1/3 innings of work Ishii had an ERA of 4.26 and a WHIP of 1.50 and 6.39 strike outs per 9 innings. Ejiri had 45 innings with a 3.20 ERA and a 1.49 WHIP. He struck out 7.80 batters per 9 innings. I believe Yokohama got the better of this trade. Barely…
Brandon Siefken has covered Japanese pro and amateur baseball since 1991. He is currently provides services to a Major League Baseball team and has been quoted in The New York Times, Bloomberg, The Japan Times, the Japan Pro Baseball Fan Handbook and Media Guide and other publications regarding Japanese baseball. Brandon has appeared on Will Carroll’s Baseball Prospectus radio show ( http://www.baseballprospectus.com/radio/audio/bpr_100316_1.mp3 ) and is a regular writer for Bob Bavasi’s JapanBall.com site. Brandon has also authored several articles including “The Kuroda Index” and “Yu Darvish: A 315 Pitch Scouting Report.”
Each year Brandon publishes the “Japan Baseball News Weekly”( http://www.japanbaseballnews.com/?page_id=1543 ) newsletter with updated weekly stats for every player and weekly scouting analysis from April to October. Brandon can be contacted at brandon@japanball.com.
3/29/10 Japanese High School Baseball Senbatsu Tournament Recap
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Koryo High School (Hiroshima) 2 - 1 Miyazakiko High School (Miyazaki)
Koryo High Scho, Ganekool's Tatsuya Sanda on Monday 3/29/10 (asahi.com)
After a pitching duel for 8 1/2 innings, Koryo High School’s Tatsuya Sanda knocked in the run that won the game in the bottom of the 9th, carrying Koryo to a 1-0 win. The game was a pitching duel throughout. Koryo pitcher Kohei Arihara, one of the top pro prospects in the tournament, pitched a complete game shut-out. He had a perfect game going into the 5th inning and finished 9IP 2 hits, 2 walks and 10 strikeouts. His counterpart, Tomohiro Hamada, pitched valiantly for under-matched Miyazakiko High School. Hamada ended up going 8IP, 8 hits, 4 walks, 5 strikeouts and 1 earned run. Highly regarded Koryo 1B Tatsuya Maruko was held to 1 for 4.
Chukyodai Chukyo High School (Aichi) 2 - 1 Shinko High School (Hyogo)
2009 Koshine Champion Chukyodai Chukyo High School barely got by a frisky Shinko high School team on Monday 2-1. SS Kawamoto got on and OF Ogiso knocked him in to go up 2-1 and Chukyo never looked back. The story of the game was the pitching duel between Chukyo pitcher Junpei Morimoto and the less hyped Shiko pitcher Masashi Maenaka. Morimoto went 9 innings giving up 6 hits, 3 walks and striking out 9. Maenaka was also impressive going 9 innings giving up 7 hits, 3 walks and notching 4 Ks. Chukyo will face Kohei Arihara and Koryo high School on Wednesday.
Konan high School (Okinawa) 7 - 2 Chiben Wakayama High School (Wakayama)
Chiben coach had to pick between the steady pitcher who got him through the year or the flashy youngster who tossed a shut-out in the first round. He chose the steady pitcher Yoshimoto, and it worked until he decided to put the youngster, Fujii, in the game in the 5th inning where he promptly surrendered the 2-1 lead and Chiben never recovered.
Konan 3B Ganeko continued swinging a blistering bat, going 5 for 5 and lifting his tournament average to .889 as Konan High School pounded Chiben Wakayama High School 7-2 on Monday. Highly touted pitching prospect Yosuke Shimabukuro was shaky, but still managed to strike out 11 batters and allowed only 2 runs to one of the most potent line-ups in Japan. Shimabukuro held the Chiben bats of 1B Yamamoto and catcher Michibata in check all day. Konan will face the winner between Teikyo and Mie.
Japanese Baseball Research Archive Added to Japan Baseball News!
Posted by: | CommentsBrandon Siefken’s Japanese baseball research archive has now been added to Japan Baseball News. Just click this link to see the page:
http://www.japanbaseballnews.com/?page_id=1651
You can also click the Baseball81 image to the right. This research includes the 315 pitch plot scouting report of Yu Darvish as well as the Kuroda Index report projecting Japanese pitchers to MLB. A Masahiro Tanaka pitch plot report is also available.
More research being added continuously.
NPB Japanese Baseball Draft Analysis - Mitsugu Ishikawa, Seibu Lions
Posted by: | CommentsMitsugu Ishikawa - Outfield - Toho High School
DOB : 6/16/91 
age : 18
throws / hits : R / L
height cm : 180
weight kg : 80
height inch : 70.9 Seibu Lions
weight lbs : 176.4 round 4
Ishikawa can run the 50 meter dash in less than 6 seconds and is a lead-off hitter in the making. In 2009 he played 3B as well and he has a good head for the game. Ishikawa also has very good fielding mechanics and is best known for his solid fielding, footwork and smart defensive play in the outfield. His already solid defense and ground ball hitting have room to improve and should develop nicely. Ishikawa is not a power hitter and that side of his hitting will probably not develop, nor does it really need to if his hitting for average, defense and speed continue to improve.
Outlook: Ishikawa’s quick and smart defensive play in the outfield should translate even better to the infield, and Seibu most likely has him pegged as a future lead-off hitting infielder. Kataoka, Ishii and Nakamura currently man the infield for Seibu and Ishii is already 32 years old. Look for Ishikawa to challenge for a 2B or 3B spot in 2012 or 2013 (depending on where Nakamura is moved to in the infield) after developing his skills at the farm level. He will never be a power hitter, but he could be an average ground ball hitter who can steal bases and be relied on for solid fielding at the pro level. He could be a player who is not flashy but gets the job done day in and day out for Seibu.
Brandon Siefken can be contacted at brandon@japanball.com. Brandon has covered Japanese amateur baseball since 1991. He is currently an intern for a Major League Baseball team and has been quoted in Bloomberg, The New York Times and The Seattle Times regarding Japanese baseball. Brandon has authored several articles including “The Kuroda Index” and “Yu Darvish: A 315 Pitch Scouting Report.”
Welcome to Japan Baseball News
Posted by: | CommentsJapanBaseballNews.com is the new sister site to JapanBall.com.
While JapanBall is an introductory site to the Japanese game with updated news, JapanBaseballNews is a place that not only offers updated news, but analysis as well.
Toward that end, we welcome to Brandon Siekfen to JapanBaseballNews.
A resident of Japan since 1991, Brandon is the Senior Writer for JapanBaseballNews.com and a regular contributor to JapanBall.com.
Brandon has extensively followed Japanese amateur baseball. He covers high school, university and industrial league baseball in his analytical writings.
In addition, he provides scouting services to support the international scouting staff of the Arizona Diamondbacks. He reports to the Vice President of Player Personnel and the Director of Pacific Rim Operations.
Brandon annually releases a draft preview, followed by a draft analysis including “Undrafted Japanese Gems” and other reports.
He’s also the author of “The Kuroda Index,” a continuing endeavor that projects the performance of Japanese players in MLB. His most recent project is the “Video Scout” that endeavors to graphically and statistically plot player performance.
Along with his baseball efforts, Brandon provides marketing services for both Japanese and multi-national businesses in Japan.
