Japanese Baseball Draft Analysis NPB - Kenta Imamiya - Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks

Kenta Imamiya - Second Base - Meito High School 

Kenta Imamiya - SoftBank Hawks

   DOB : 7/15/91  
   age : 18  
   throws / hits : R / R  
   height cm : 171  
   weight kg : 70  
   height inch : 67.3                SoftBank Hawks 
   weight lbs : 154.3                   round 1

Kenta Imamiya was a double-duty threat in high school, playing infield and pitcher. I always felt he was over-hyped by Japanese scouts. He could throw 154km but seemed to always give up a lot of runs to poor competition. He hit 62 home runs in high school, but the level of baseball in Oita Prefecture is very poor, so I never gave credence to those numbers. At Koshien, he was average at best and he is also slightly undersized. Imamiya has good foot speed and good mechanics with his swing. I see him developing into a dependable hitter for average, but I do not see any possibility of his power translating to NPB. He should develop into an above average fielder as well, if he decides he wants to play in the field. Imamiya has a lot of potential to be a lead-off hitter type 2B.

Outlook: Imamiya has expressed his desire to pitch, but SoftBank has him pegged as their future 2B. He has the skills to be a lead-off type player, but I do not see him sending balls long with power as SoftBanks envisions. Imamiya was a great player against poor competition, and a very mediocre player on the national stage. I see him playing 2B for SoftBank in 2013 or 2014 if he sets into playing 2B and works to develop into a fielder/hitter. He needs to drop the pitcher mentality now. With his swing and mechanics, he could develop into a all-star level singles hitter with good feet and a dependable glove. Just don’t expect the home runs.

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.