Japanese Baseball NPB Draft Analysis - Tomohiro Tsuchiya - Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles

Tomohiro Tsuchiya - Pitcher - City Light Okayama
 
   DOB : 8/18/85  
   age : 24  
   throws / hits : R / R  
   height cm : 178  
   weight kg : 70  
   height inch : 70.1                Rakuten Golden Eagles 
   weight lbs : 154.3                  round 5

Tomohiro Tsuchiya has a very nice slider but he is undersized and does not have much more room to develop. He is fairly good at most things and not great at anything. He also throws a cutter, change and curve, but none of them are extremely good. His velocity hovers around 142km. On the good side, Tsuchiya is an iron man who can eat up tons of innings with his stamina. He is not a dominator, note even at the industrial league level. I do not see him developing into anything more than an average pitcher who can perhaps spot start here or there. That is if he is lucky enough to make a pro roster.

Outlook: Rakuten is taking a chance that this rounded pitcher can develop into an expert at something. If Tsuchiya can work on his cutter and develop that into his out pitch, he might be able to hang around and spot pitch in relief. I do not think Tsuchiya is good enough to be a solid starter in NPB, but if he can baffle batters by developing one of his so-so pitches into a weapon, he has a chance to hang around. I am not excited about Tsuchiya’s chances and I do not expect to see him make an impact at the pro level.

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” ( http://www.japanbaseballnews.com/?page_id=1543 ) with updated weekly stats for every player from April to October. Brandon can be contacted at brandon@japanball.com.