Japanese Baseball Draft Analysis NPB - Hiroyuki Kawahara - Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
ByHiroyuki Kawahara - Pitcher - Fukuoka Univ. High School
Hiroyuki Kawahara - SoftBank Hawks
DOB : 8/23/91 
age : 18
throws / hits : L / L
height cm : 185
weight kg : 79
height inch : 72.8 SoftBank Hawks
weight lbs : 174.2 round 2
Hiroyuki Kawahara is a lanky left-hander who has great stuff for his age. He sports a 146km fastball complimented with a great vertical slider and a rare change-up. Velocity and pitch type are not Kawahara’s problem, command is. Kawahara lets his pitches get away from him sometimes, but at only 18 years old, he has a wide open window to develop. Kawahara should develop his velocity to a top-notch level after adding some bulk, and his head for the game and array of pitches should benefit from that. I can see Kawahara sticking around in the pro ranks, but not as a starter or dominator. He should be a very reliable relief option or set-up man. It will take him two or three years to be up to the task of playing in NPB though.
Outlook: It is unclear where SoftBank want Kawahara to contribute in the future, but their rotation does not seem to have room for him. Kawahara would be a good compliment to Settsu in middle relief racking up holds. He does not seem to fit the mold of starter or closer, but could develop into a slightly better than average fill-in pitcher. He is a project, and will take some time.. Even when he does make it to NPB, he will not be the type you remember much of, but he could be dependable.
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.
