Japanese Baseball Draft Analysis NPB - Yuki Shimooki - SoftBank Hawks

Yuki Shimooki - Pitcher - Seiko Gakuin High School
 

Yuki Shimooki - SoftBank Hawks

   DOB : 9/8/91  
   age : 18  
   throws / hits : R / R  
   height cm : 180  
   weight kg : 78  
   height inch : 70.9                SoftBank Hawks 
   weight lbs : 172.0                   round 3

Yuki Shimooki is one of the most polished pitchers to come out of high school in this draft. He throws 146km and mixes in very nice breaking pitches and off-speed pitches. His movement on his pitches is top class, even at the pro level and his change-up is excellent. Shimooki is a competitor who is aggressive and goes right after the batters. He has a Wild Thing mentality but does not have top velocity on his pitches. He is more of a magician than a heat thrower. He has room to develop into a very good middle-relief guy in the form of Tadashi Settsu in a few years. This is one of SoftBank’s best picks and the investment could really pay off for them if they are willing to wait a few years for Shimooki to develop.

Outlook: Shimooki is a very talented pitcher out of high school, but he does not strike me as a starter or closer. I would peg him for middle-relief or set-up. His off-speed pitches and curves are great, and his velocity is not bad. If he can put on a little weight and add to his velocity to match his aggressive attitude, he could be an above average pitcher in NPB. SoftBank has one of the best middle relief units in baseball, thanks to Settsu. Kawahara and Shimooki could be mixed in in two or three years to make the group even more formidable. Shimooki will take at least two years to come to fruition. He is still raw but has a very good base in all aspect of the game to build on.
     
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.