Japanese Baseball NPB Draft Analysis - Yoshitomo Tsutsugo - Yokohama BayStars
ByYoshitomo Tsutsugo - 3rd Base - Yokohama High School
DOB : 11/26/91 
age : 17
throws / hits : RL / RL
height cm : 184
weight kg : 88
height inch : 72.4 Yokohama BayStars
weight lbs : 194.0 round 1
Yoshitomo Tsutsugo clubbed 69 home runs in his high school career. He is a burly physical specimen who hits for a high average and puts them out of the yard often. He feasted on high school pitching from day 1. He certainly should develop into a top-level pro power hitter. He already is good enough to play today at 17 years old. Tsutsugo needs to work on his mental game and his defense. His fielding has improved over the last year and he is still only 17. He will develop these aspects of his game and become a mainstay in the Yokohama infield. As a hitter, he should be an all-star in a few years.
Outlook: The BayStars need help everywhere but made a nice choice picking the local talent who many have pegged to start right away. Yokohama does not seem to have many infield holes right now, but Murata is 30 and not getting younger. He has also been injury prone lately. Look for Yokohama to develop Tsutsugo this year and start plugging him in the line-up in 2011. He is already good enough to spot start in NPB, and if Yokohama get the injury bug again Tsutsugo could see his debut in 2010 to plug a hole. Whenever the inevitable day comes, Tsutsugo will start for a very long time, develop into an all-star level hitter and be a mainstay in NPB for a long time to come.
Brandon Siefken has covered Japanese pro and 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 other publications regarding Japanese baseball. Brandon is a regular writer for Bob Bavasi’s JapanBall.com site and has authored several articles including “The Kuroda Index” and “Yu Darvish: A 315 Pitch Scouting Report.” Each year Brandon publishes the “Japan Baseball News Weekly” newsletter with updated weekly stats for every player from April to October. Brandon can be contacted at brandon@japanball.com.
