Hideki Matsui and his ‘Sayonara’ home runs

By Daigo Fujiwara | Published: December 28, 2012

Hideki-Matsui

Hideki Matsui hits a 2-run double in the bottom of the fifth inning in Game 6 of the 2009 MLB World Series at Yankee Stadium (Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Hideki Matsui called it a career yesterday, ending his great 20 years of professional baseball, ten in Japan, and another in MLB.
He played in total 2,504 games (1,268 in Japan, 1,236 in U.S.) hit 2,643 hits, 507 HRs, 1,649 RBI, with .293 batting average. (1,390 hits, 332 HR, 889 RBI, .304 in Japan, 2,643 hits, 175 HR, 760 RBI, and .282 BA in MLB. Source: Nikkan Sports)

With a nod to Ichiro Suzuki, who is in his own category and most likely headed for the Hall of Fame after he retires, Matsui was one of the best power hitters in Japan, and the most successful power hitter from Japan.

Number doesn’t lie. Here is the total number of home runs and RBI by JapaneseBallPlayers.

Player HR Season(s)
Hideki Matsui 175 10
Ichiro Suzuki 104 12
Kenji Johjima 48 4
Tadahito Iguchi 44 4
Kosuke Fukudome 42 4
Kazuo Matsui 32 6
Tsuyoshi Shinjo 20 3
So Taguchi 19 5
Akinori Iwamura 16 4
Norichika Aoki 10 1
Player RBI Season(s)
Hideki Matsui 760 10
Ichiro Suzuki 642 12
Kazuo Matsui 211 7
Tadahito Iguchi 205 4
Kenji Johjima 198 4
Kosuke Fukudome 195 5
So Taguchi 163 7
Akinori Iwamura 117 4
Tsuyoshi Shinjo 100 3
Norichika Aoki 50 1
Tsuyoshi Nishioka 20 2
Munenori Kawasaki 7 1
Norihiro Nakamura 3 1

Hits and Batting Averages? Obviously he doesn’t come close to Ichiro, but far better than other Japanese hitters.

Player Hits Season(s)
Ichiro Suzuki 2,606 12
Hideki Matsui 1,253 10
Kazuo Matsui 555 7
Kosuke Fukudome 498 5
Tadahito Iguchi 494 4
Kenji Johjima 431 4
Akinori Iwamura 413 4
So Taguchi 382 8
Tsuyoshi Shinjo 215 3
Norichika Aoki 150 1
Tsuyoshi Nishioka 50 2
Munenori Kawasaki 20 1
Norihiro Nakamura 5 1
Player AVG Season(s) (H/AB)
Ichiro Suzuki .322 12 (2,606/8,085)
Norichika Aoki .288 1 (150/520)
Hideki Matsui .282 10 (1,253/4,442)
So Taguchi .279 8 (382/1,369)
Tadahito Iguchi .268 4 (494/1,841)
Kenji Johjima .268 4 (431/1,609)
Akinori Iwamura .267 4 (413/1,545)
Kosuke Fukudome .258 5 (498/1,929)
Tsuyoshi Shinjo .245 3 (215/876)
Kazuo Matsui .241 7 (555/2,302)
Tsuyoshi Nishioka .215 2 (50/233)
Munenori Kawasaki .192 1 (20/104)
Norihiro Nakamura .128 1 (5/39)

But one of more interesting numbers about Matsui is how much of a clutch hitter that he was. Only four Japanese players — Matsui, Tadahito Iguchi, Ichiro Suzuki and Norichika Aoki — have hit walk-off home runs in the major league baseball thus far. Walk-off home run is known in Japan as “Sayonara” home run, as in “Game over, good bye.” Hideki Matsui have hit three “Sayonaras”, while others, Ichiro, Iguchi and Aoki each have hit one. That’s right, Matsui has three of the six walk-off home runs hit by Japanese players in the majors.

List of Walk-off home runs hit by Japanese Major Leaguers

As of conclusion of 2012 season

In 2011, as a member of Oakland Athletics, Hideki Matsui hit his third MLB walk-off home run in the 10th to beat the Rangers, on May 2, 2011.

May 2, against Texas Rangers. Off Darren Oliver in the 10th, with 0 out, the bases empty and the score tied at 4-4. Retrosheet Box

An article from Sankei Sports in Japan then reported that Matsui, with his 8 sayonara home runs (total combining 5 in Japan and 3 in the United States) passed Shigeo Nagashima and tied with Sadaharu Oh. According to an un-official personal research by Akichan, most Sayonara home run in Japanese History is held by Kazuhiro Kiyohara (12), followed by Katsuya Nomura (11) Norihiro Nakamura (10, a one-time Dodger, current Yokohama DeNA BayStars), and Oh and Tsutomu Wakamatsu (8).

Other two times were:

  • July 17, 2003 against Cleveland Indians. Off David Riske in 9th inning with 0 out, the bases empty and the score tied at 4-4. Retrosheet Box.
    This was the first Sayonara home run hit by a Japanese player in the history of MLB.
  • July 20, 2009 against Baltimore Orioles. Off Jim Johnson in the 9th inning with 1 out, the bases empty and the score tied at 1-1. Retrosheet Box

He also have 5 walk-off homers in 10 seasons in Japan, 1994, 1996, 2000(x2) and 2001.

*****

The second Sayonara home run hit by a Japanese player in MLB history came in 2008, by infielder Tadahito Iguchi, then playing for the San Diego Padres.

April 26, 2008 against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Off Yusmeiro Petit in 13th inning with 1 out, the bases empty and the score tied at 7-7. Retrosheet box.

Iguchi is currently playing for the Chiba Lotte Marines, and has hit 7 sayonara homers in Japan. Bringing his US-Japan total to 8, matching Matsui.

****

Ichiro is an interesting case. He did not hit any walk-off hits in his first 8 seasons in MLB. But in 2009, he had three, and one of them came in a form of a Sayonara homer. Off of Mariano Rivera no less. The two run Sayonara blast made Felix Hernandez, who pitched a complete game, a winner. Ichiro does not have any walk-off home run in his 9 seasons in Japan.

Ichiro Suzuki playing for Seattle Mariners, on September 18, 2009 against the New York Yankees. Off Mariano Rivera in 9th inning with 2 outs, a runners on second and the score at 2-1. Retrosheet box.

*****

30-year old rookie outfielder Norichika Aoki of Milwaukee Brewers was the one to hit the latest walk-off home run, on June 7 this year. Aoki AND his translator experienced a big-league tradition, a shaving cream pie in the face.

June 7, 2012 against the Chicago Cubs. Off Casey Coleman in 10th inning with 0 out, the bases empty and the score tied at 3-3. Retrosheet box.

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How Japanese closers fared in the Majors, and how will Kyuji Fujikawa do?

By Daigo Fujiwara | Published: November 10, 2012

The latest news is that Hanshin Tigers closer Kyuji Fujikawa will excercise his international free agent rights and aim to jump to the major leagues (Official announcment in Japanese). In Japan, players earn rights to domestic free agency in 8 years (1160 days), and international free agency in 9 years (1305 days). UPDATE: Fujiakawa signed with the Chicago Cubs to a two year contract on December 7.

Fujikawa has asked to be posted in the past, but the Tigers front office did not want to lose him. He became eligible for international free agency during 2012 season.

In 12 seasons, 32-year-old Fujikawa has collected 220 saves and has a 1.77 ERA. 220 saves ranks him 5th in all time Japanese Career Saves leader.

Japanese Baseball Career Saves leader, as of the end of the 2012 season

  1. Hitoki Iwase 346 (1999–Present)
  2. Shingo Takatsu 286 (1991–2007)
  3. Kazuhiro Sasaski 252 (1990–2005)
  4. Masahide Kobayashi 228 (1999–2011)
  5. Kyuji Fujikawa 220 (2000–Present)
  6. Yutaka Enatsu 193 (1967–1984)
  7. Takahiro Mahara 180 (2004–Present)
  8. Marc Kroon 177 (2005–2010)
  9. Katsuhiro Nagakawa 164 (2003–2011 *Active but DNP in 2012)
  10. Kiyoshi Toyoda 157 (1995–2011)
  11. Motoyuiki Akahori 139 (1989–2004)
  12. Yutaka Ohno 138 (1977–1998)
  13. Akinori Otsuka 137 (1997–2003)
  14. Hisashi Takeda 134 (2003-Present)
  15. Akio Saito 133 (1977–1993)
  16. Yoshitaka Katori 131 (1979–1997)
  17. Kazuyuki Yamamoto 130 (1972–1988)
  18. Chang-Yong Lim 128 (2008–Present)
  19. Kazuhiko Ushijima 126 (1980–1993)
  20. Eddie Gaillard 120 (2000–2004)

Links go to English version of Nippon Proffesional Baseball website for active players, and for the past players, Michael Eng’s open source Japanese Baseball Database.

Interestingly, Six of the top 20 saves leaders played in MLB. Two are former MLB players jumped to the NPB (Kroon, Gaillard), but three out of top four (Takatsu, Sasaki, Kobayashi), all challeneged MLB hitters, to various success rate. Fujikawa will make this list a four of five.

Number of MLB saves by Japanese saves leaders

Links go to baseball-reference.com.

Others who are not in top saves leaders, Takashi Saito, Koji Uehara, Shiugetoshi Hasegawa, Hideki Irabu, Masanori Murakami, Hisanori Takahashi, Masao Kida, Hideki Okajima, Keiichi Yabu, Hisashi Iwakuma, Yoshinori Tateyama, Junichi Tazawa all closed games in the MLB.

Saves by Japanese players in the MLB, by year (as of end of the 2012 season)

  1. 45 (in 69 games) Kazuhiro Sasaki, 2001
  2. 39 (in 63 games) Takashi Saito, 2007
  3. 37 (in 63 games) Kazuhiro Sasaki, 2000
  4. 37 (in 61 games) Kazuhiro Sasaki, 2002
  5. 32 (in 63 games) Akinori Otsuka, 2006
  6. 24 (in 72 games) Takashi Saito, 2006
  7. 19 (in 59 games) Shingo Takatsu, 2004
  8. 18 (in 66 games) Shigetoshi Hasegawa, 2000
  9. 18 (in 45 games) Takashi Saito, 2008
  10. 17 (in 63 games) Shigetoshi Hasegawa, 2003
  11. 16 (in 38 games) Hideki Irabu, 2002
  12. 13 (in 43 games) Koji Uehara, 2010
  13. 10 (in 35 games) Kazuhiro Sasaki, 2003
  14. 8 (in 45 games) Masanori Murakami, 1965
  15. 8 (in 40 games) Shingo Takatsu, 2005
  16. 8 (in 53 games) Hisanori Takahashi, 2010
  17. 6 (in 46 games) Shigetoshi Hasegawa, 2001
  18. 6 (in 57 games) Masahide Kobayashi, 2008
  19. 5 (in 64 games) Shigetoshi Hasegawa, 1999
  20. 5 (in 53 games) Shigetoshi Hasegawa, 2002
  21. 5 (in 68 games) Shigetoshi Hasegawa, 2004
  22. 5 (in 66 games) Hideki Okajima, 2007
  23. 4 (in 34 games) Akinori Otsuka, 2007
  24. 2 (in 73 games) Akinori Otsuka, 2004
  25. 2 (in 56 games) Takashi Saito, 2009
  26. 2 (in 61 games) Hisanori Takahashi, 2011
  27. 2 (in 16 games) Hisashi Iwakuma, 2012
  28. 1 (in 9 games) Masanori Murakami, 1964
  29. 1 (in 49 games) Masao Kida, 1999
  30. 1 (in 12 games) Micheal Nakamura, 2003
  31. 1 (in 66 games) Akinori Otsuka, 2005
  32. 1 (in 40 games) Keiichi Yabu, 2005
  33. 1 (in 64 games) Hideki Okajima, 2008
  34. 1 (in 56 games) Takashi Saito, 2010
  35. 1 (in 39 games) Yoshinori Tateyama, 2011
  36. 1 (in 37 games) Koji Uehara, 2012
  37. 1 (in 37 games) Junichi Tazawa, 2012

So how will Kyuji Fujikawa do? This is completely my own opinion but I am cautiously optimistic about Fujikawa’s success in the MLB. He has high strikeout number, career 11.88 K/9 (914 strikeouts in 692.1 innings) and high strikeouts to walk ration, 4.42 K/BB (914 strikeouts while walking 207 batters). Those are very impressive numbers.

On the other hand, as he is a power pitcher, it is a little concerning that Fujikawa’s fastball velocity is declining, as you can see in NPB Tracker’s player data of Kyuji Fujikawa. (By the way, if you have not seen Patrick Newman-san’s work, you have to check it out. It is AMAZING. You can see any player sine 2009.)

Fujikawa’s fastball velocity averages:
2009: 92.60
2010: 93.60
2011: 91.91
2012: 91.59

But he still gets batters out mixing in his forkball and sliders. Perhaps he is not at the top of his career, but he could still be effective in the majors.

One thing that I always remember about Fujikawa is that he was the pitcher who were on the mound when team Japan lost to the team United States in 2006 World Baseball Classic in the 9th inning, an RBI single by Alex Rodriguez. It is the infamous “Bob Davidson game” and it featured many future Japanese MLB players as Tsuyoshi Nishioka, Kosuke Fukudome, Akinori Iwamura, Norichika Aoki, Munenori Kawasaki, Koji Uehara (who pitched a brilliant game), Yasuhiko Yabuta and now Kyuji Fujikawa (in addition to Ichiro).

Key Stats of Kyuji Fujikawa

Year G W L SV IP H HR BB HB SO WP R ER ERA K/9 K/BB
2000 19 0 0 0 22.2 25 1 18 4 25 4 15 12 4.76 9.84 1.39
2002 12 1 5 0 68.0 56 6 30 2 64 4 33 28 3.71 8.47 2.13
2003 17 1 1 0 29.1 28 4 12 1 19 2 12 11 3.38 5.81 1.58
2004 26 2 0 0 31.0 26 3 11 2 35 0 10 9 2.61 10.16 3.18
2005 80 7 1 1 92.1 57 5 20 1 139 5 20 14 1.36 13.53 6.95
2006 63 5 0 17 79.1 46 3 22 0 122 5 6 6 0.68 13.82 5.55
2007 71 5 5 46 83.0 50 2 18 1 115 2 15 15 1.63 12.47 6.39
2008 63 8 1 38 67.2 34 2 13 3 90 3 6 5 0.67 11.94 6.92
2009 49 5 3 25 57.2 32 4 15 1 86 0 9 8 1.25 13.38 5.73
2010 58 3 4 28 62.2 47 7 20 5 81 1 14 14 2.01 11.60 4.05
2011 56 3 3 41 51.0 25 2 13 1 80 3 9 7 1.24 14.12 6.15
2012 48 2 2 24 47.2 34 1 15 1 58 2 7 7 1.32 10.91 3.87
Total 562 42 25 220 692.1 460 40 207 22 914 31 156 136 1.77 11.88 4.42
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List of Japanese players traded, from Hideki Irabu 1997 to Ichiro Suzuki 2012

By Daigo Fujiwara | Published: September 1, 2012

Ichiro Suzuki in the New York Yankees pinstripe. (Photo: Anthony Gruppuso/US PRESSWIRE)

For those who follow me on Twitter @DaigoFuji you know that I am a little bit of a Boston Red Sox fan. What you may not know is, I am a life-long Ichiro fan. Ichiro was born and grew up in Aichi prefecture where I am from, and Ichiro and I share our allegiance to Noagoya-based Chunichi Dragons. Ichiro and I both lamented when Dragons’ Yasushi Tao, who led the league with most hits from 1982-84, was traded in 1985. I saw a banner that the young ichiro created in Ichiro museum when I visited. I dream to see Ichiro manage the Chunichi Dragons in the future.

So, this was my reaction when I found out that Ichiro was traded to the dreaded New York Yankees.

Anyway.

I knew he was not the first Japanese players to be traded, in fact, far from it. But I wanted to do some research to find out just how many Japanese players were traded in the past. Here are some finding while compiling the list from baseball-reference.com data:

  • From what I can gather, there are 19 trade transactions involving 16 Japanese players.
  • Hideki Irabu, Mac Suzuki and Tomo Ohka were all traded twice.
  • First trade was Hideki Irabu trade from the San Diego Padres to the New York Yankees in 1997. Irabu’s rights was purchased by the Padres from Chiba Lotte Marines in January 13, 1997, but Irabu and his agent Don Nomura refused to pitch for the Padres, forced the team to trade him to the team he wanted to play for.
  • Tomo Ohka was the first July Trade deadline deal, bringing the Boston Red Sox closer Ugueth Urbina in 2001.
  • Other July trade deadline deals are: Iguchi in 2007; Fukudome in 2011; Uehara in 2011; and Ichiro in 2012.
  • Besides the Ichiro deal, the biggest trade involving a Japanese player maybe 2006 trade involving Aki Otsuka. The San Diego Padres acquired Adrian Gonzalez in the package.
  • Hiroki Kuroda, then a L.A. Dodger, refused a trade in 2011.

List of Japanese players traded

  1. Hideki Irabu : May 29, 1997: the San Diego Padres sent Hideki Irabu to the New York Yankees to complete an earlier deal made on April 22, 1997. April 22, 1997: The San Diego Padres sent players to be named later, Gordon Amerson (minors) and Homer Bush to the New York Yankees for Rafael Medina, Ruben Rivera and $3,000,000.’
  2. Hideo Nomo June 4, 1998: Traded by the Los Angeles Dodgers with Brad Clontz to the New York Mets for Greg McMichael and Dave Mlicki.
  3. Mac Suzuki June 18, 1999: Traded by the Seattle Mariners with a player to be named later to the New York Mets for Allen Watson and cash. The Seattle Mariners sent Justin Dunning (minors) (September 14, 1999) to the New York Mets to complete the trade.
  4. Hideki Irabu December 22, 1999: Traded by the New York Yankees to the Montreal Expos for players to be named later and Jake Westbrook. The Montreal Expos sent Ted Lilly (March 17, 2000) and Christian Parker (March 22, 2000) to the New York Yankees to complete the trade.
  5. Masato Yoshii January 14, 2000: Traded by the New York Mets to the Colorado Rockies for Lariel Gonzalez and Bobby Jones.
  6. Mac Suzuki June 24, 2001: Traded by the Kansas City Royals with Sal Fasano to the Colorado Rockies for Brent Mayne.
  7. Tomo Ohka July 31, 2001: Traded by the Boston Red Sox with Rich Rundles to the Montreal Expos for Ugueth Urbina.
  8. Tsuyoshi Shinjo December 16, 2001: Traded by the New York Mets with Desi Relaford to the San Francisco Giants for Shawn Estes.
  9. Kazuhisa Ishii March 20, 2005: Traded by the Los Angeles Dodgers to the New York Mets for Jason Phillips.
  10. Tomo Ohka June 10, 2005: Traded by the Washington Nationals to the Milwaukee Brewers for Junior Spivey.
  11. Akinori Otsuka January 6, 2006: Traded by the San Diego Padres with Billy Killian (minors) and Adam Eaton to the Texas Rangers for Adrian Gonzalez, Terrmel Sledge and Chris Young.
  12. Kazuhito Tadano April 4, 2006: Traded by the Cleveland Indians to the Oakland Athletics for Ramon Alvarado (minors).
  13. Kazuo Matsui June 9, 2006: Traded by the New York Mets with cash to the Colorado Rockies for Eli Marrero.
  14. Tadahito Iguchi July 27, 2007: Traded by the Chicago White Sox to the Philadelphia Phillies for Michael Dubee (minors).
  15. Akinori Iwamura November 3, 2009: Traded by the Tampa Bay Rays to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Jesse Chavez.
  16. Kosuke Fukudome July 28, 2011: Traded by the Chicago Cubs with cash to the Cleveland Indians for Abner Abreu (minors) and Carlton Smith (minors).
  17. Koji Uehara July 30, 2011: Traded by the Baltimore Orioles with cash to the Texas Rangers for Chris Davis and Tommy Hunter.
  18. Ryota Igarashi March 30, 2012: Traded by the Pittsburgh Pirates to the Toronto Blue Jays for player to be named or cash.
  19. Ichiro Suzuki July 23, 2012: Traded by the Seattle Mariners with cash to the New York Yankees for Danny Farquhar and D.J. Mitchell.

Update/Note: LA Angels LHP Hisanori Takahashi moved to Pittsburgh Pirates during 2012 season, but it was a waver transaction and not a trade.

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Yu Darvish: the ninth Japanese All-Star

By Daigo Fujiwara | Published: July 16, 2012

American League All-Star Yu Darvish getting ready for All-Star game (Photo: Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

American League All-Star Yu Darvish getting ready for All-Star game (Photo: Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

2012 MLB All Star game took place in Kansas City’s Kauffman Stadium last week, and Texas Rangers pitcher Yu Darvish won in online “Final Vote” fan voting to become 9th Japanese player to represent a league in MLB All Star game.

Excerpts from ESPN’s article:

“Do I still think I’m worthy or not? Personally, I voted for Peavy,” Darvish said through a team translator.

Peavy had been supported by an aggressive marketing campaign by the White Sox.

“It just wasn’t meant to be,” Peavy said. “Obviously, we knew it’s hard to outvote a country.”

Japanese players have fared well in the All-Star Final Vote, with Hideki Matsui of the Yankees winning in 2004 and Hideki Okajima of the Red Sox winning three years later.

Were votes from Japan really that influential? Perhaps. But interestingly, Sankei news says vote from Japan accounted only 4% of Darvish total vote. I couldn’t find English report, so here is my quick translation, but according to numbers that sankei news received from MLB, of the 7.3 million votes that Yu Darvish received, about 300,000 were from Japan. So 7 million votes were from within U.S., “he had a strong support from state of Texas,” a person from MLB were quoted as saying in the article. Certainly, the votes from Japan doesn’t hurt, but that may not be the only reason that he was selected as All Star. Darvish, in the first half of the season, has posted a 10-5 record with a 3.59 ERA in 16 starts, and has 117 strikeouts in 102 2/3 innings. Interestingly, he is the only second starting pitcher to be named to the All Star game. The other is Hideo Nomo in 1995. 4 other pitchers on the list, Sasaki, Hasegawa, Saito and Okajima, are all relief role, and Ichiro, Matsui and Fukudome are the three position players.

List of 9 Japanese players that made MLB All Star team

  1. Hideo Nomo (Los Angeles Dodgers): 1995
  2. Ichiro Suzuki (Seattle Mariners): 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010
  3. Kazuhiro Sasaki (Seattle Mariners): 2001, 2002
  4. Hideki Matsui (New York Yankees): 2003, 2004
  5. Shigetoshi Hasegawa (Seattle Mariners): 2003
  6. Takashi Saito (Los Angeles Dodgers): 2007
  7. Hideki Okajima (Boston Red Sox): 2007
  8. Kosuke Fukudome (Chicago Cubs): 2008
  9. Yu Darvish (Texas Rangers): 2009

Also see: Japanese players in All-Star Games (July 3, 2011)

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List of Major League Baseball players from Taiwan

By Daigo Fujiwara | Published: May 29, 2012

Lin-sanity in Boston! Well, not quite as lin-sane as Jeremy Lin, obviously, but Red Sox rookie outfielder Che Hsuan Lin made an awesome diving catch the other day:

Che-Hsuan Lin is the 8th Taiwanese-born player to make it to the Major League Baseball, (he actually made debut earlier in the season, April 14, 2012. He made one defensive appearance before optioned back to AAA Pawtucket) he recorded his first major league hit against the Baltimore Orioles on May 21, 2012.

Other seven? Here is the list:

  • Chin-Feng Chen, L.A. Dodgers, debuted September 14, 2002. From Tainan City
  • Chin-hui Tsao , with Colorado Rockies, debuted July 25, 2003 . From Hualien
  • Chien-Ming Wang, with N.Y. Yankees, debuted April 30, 2005. From Tainan City
  • Hong-Chih Kuo, with L.A. Dodgers, debuted September 2, 2005. From Tainan City
  • Chin-lung Hu, with L.A. Dodgers, debuted September 1, 2007 . From Tainan City
  • Fu-Te Ni, with Detroit Tigers, debuted June 29, 2009. From Pingtung County
  • Wei-Yin Chen, with Baltimore Orioles debuted April 10, 2012. From Kaohsiung City
  • Che-Hsuan Lin, with Boston Red Sox, debuted April 14, 2012. From Hwa-Lian

Detail from baseball reference:

Position players

From ▴ To G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS Birthdate Debut Birthplace Pos
Chin-Feng Chen 2002 2005 19 25 22 3 2 0 0 0 2 0 3 10 .091 .200 .091 .291 Oct 28, 1977 Sep 14, 2002 Tainan City /7
Chin-lung Hu 2007 2011 118 214 193 27 34 4 3 2 18 4 12 49 .176 .225 .259 .484 Feb 2, 1984 Sep 1, 2007 Tainan City 64
Che-Hsuan Lin 2012 2012 6 5 5 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .200 .200 .200 .400 Sep 21, 1988 Apr 14, 2012 Hwa-Lian /98
Totals 2002 2012 599 333 295 38 45 7 3 3 22 4 18 96 .153 .202 .227 .429
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table Generated 5/29/2012.

Pitchers

From ▴ To W L W-L% ERA G SV IP H R ER HR BB SO Birthdate Debut Birthplace
Chin-hui Tsao 2003 2007 4 4 .500 5.40 50 4 88.1 89 54 53 19 34 60 Jun 2, 1981 Jul 25, 2003 Hualien
Chien-Ming Wang 2005 2012 60 29 .674 4.15 121 1 736.0 771 360 339 50 210 335 Mar 31, 1980 Apr 30, 2005 Tainan City
Hong-Chih Kuo 2005 2011 13 17 .433 3.73 218 13 292.1 228 128 121 18 127 345 Jul 23, 1981 Sep 2, 2005 Tainan City
Fu-Te Ni 2009 2010 0 1 .000 4.33 58 0 54.0 47 28 26 5 30 43 Nov 14, 1982 Jun 29, 2009 Pingtung County
Wei-Yin Chen 2012 2012 4 1 .800 3.31 9 0 54.1 53 24 20 6 18 42 Jul 21, 1985 Apr 10, 2012 Kaohsiung City
Totals 2003 2012 81 52 .609 4.11 456 18 1225.0 1188 594 559 98 419 825
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table Generated 5/29/2012.
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Yu Darvish vs Hiroki Kuroda: Seventh time Japanese starters faced each other in the major leagues (UPDATED)

By Daigo Fujiwara | Published: April 25, 2012

Yu Darvish (Mike Stone/Reuters)

Yu Darvish pitched 8 and 1/3 innings of no-run game with 10 strikeouts against New York Yankees. Darvish is 3-0 with a 2.42 ERA for the season. (Photo by Mike Stone/Reuters)

NOTE: updated with Hisashi Iwakuma and Yu Darvish facing off on Sept. 14, 2012, And Daisuke Matsuzaka vs Hiroki Kuroda match up on Oct 3. Making them the 8th and 9th time in MLB history when Japanese pitchers faced off.

What a game. New York Yankees’ Hiroki Kuroda and Texas Rangers’ Yu Darvish faced off in a game last night, and it was as good as the hype.

From NYTime’s David Waldstein’s “Two Japanese Starters: One Good, One Great”

…It was a game that was expected to cause more than a few fans in Japan who stayed home to watch the live broadcast Wednesday morning to be tardy for work or school.

If they did, it was worth a reprimand.

Kuroda pitched very well, but Darvish was brilliant, living up to the billing and leading the Rangers to a 2-0 victory.

“You hear a lot about guys when they get hyped,” Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira said. “He was everything you heard.”

In the best of his four starts, Darvish was two outs from his first shutout. He limited the Yankees to 7 hits and struck out 10, baffling a lineup that had scored at least six runs in each of its previous six games.

With a combination of diving breaking balls and a darting fastball, all of which were thrown for strikes, Darvish was in command all game. He also has a cut fastball, a split-finger fastball, and a nasty changeup that he featured later in the game.

In his previous three starts, Darvish had struggled with his command. But not on this night. On nearly every pitch, the ball seemed to cross some part of the strike zone, but it rarely stayed there long enough to hit.

…

In the top of the ninth, Darvish (3-0) gave up a one-out hit to Nick Swisher and was taken out to a chorus of “Yuuuuu!” from the 47,085 at Rangers Ballpark. Closer Joe Nathan came in and got a double-play ball from Raul Ibanez on the first pitch to end the game.

It was the first time the Rangers had shut out the Yankees here since 2000. And Darvish had the longest streak of shutout innings by a Rangers pitcher against the Yankees since Bob Tewksbury shut them out in 1995.

But Darvish, who struggled in his first start, seems to be reining in his stuff. He has allowed one or no runs in his last three starts to lower his earned run average to 2.42.

Kuroda was almost as good. He allowed a home run to Ian Kinsler leading off the first and a two-out, run-scoring single by Josh Hamilton in the third. On most nights, that would be enough for a victory, but not with the way Darvish was pitching.

“The toughest thing for us is that we wasted a great start by Hiroki,” Teixeira said.

Darvish’s first start against the Seattle Mariners, with the Japanese star Ichiro Suzuki, was watched by an estimated four million people in Japan. This matchup, created after a rainout Sunday in Boston that changed the Yankees’ pitching schedule, was expected to draw at least that many viewers.

But both pitchers tried to remain focused on the opposing hitters, and not the international significance of the game.

“For me, every game is same,” Darvish said. “I know all those things but I am happy to help the team win against any teams, and I could do the job tonight.”

This was the seventh time that the Japanese starting pitchers faced off against each other. I had an blog post in 2009 about it, but here is an update of that entry Japanese pitchers facing off: Kawakami vs Matsuzaka.

History of 7 match-ups where Japanese-born starting pitchers faced off

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Opening Series Japan 2012

By Daigo Fujiwara | Published: April 12, 2012

Japanese fans stand in front of a huge ad with Ichiro. (Toru Hanai/Reuters)

It was almost a month ago now, but Seattle Mariners and Oakland Athletics played an Opening Series in Japan. I was lucky enough to go to Japan for Opening Series between Boston Red Sox and Athletics in 2008 (photo from the trip here), but it seems that this year’s Opening Series was a big success. MLB.com had an interesting and entertaining blog around baseball and Japanese culture at Far East Division.

Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci had a great piece titled Starting season in Japan with A’s-Mariners a smart move by MLB. It talks about economic of why MLB should play in Japan (“Almost 70 percent of MLB’s international revenues are derived from the Japanese market.) but what is amazing is his description of the interest that MLB draws in Japan:

Japan is, simply put, crazy about baseball. When Japan beat Cuba in the inaugural WBC, the end of the game drew an audience share of 56 percent, a percentage the World Series has not seen in the states since 1980. A game televised at 8:30 a.m. in Japan when Diasuke Matsuzaka of Boston pitched against Ichiro Suzuki of Seattle rated a 13.3 — better than Game 3 of the World Series in prime time here last year. The 2003 World Series, featuring former NPB star Hideki Matsui with the Yankees, drew an audience of 12.5 million viewers — compared to 20 million in the United States in prime time. Japan (about 127 million people) has less than half the population of the U.S. (311 million).

(Shizuo Kanbayashi/AP)

Art Thiel, former Seattle Post Intelligencer sports writer and author of 2003 book about the Seattle Mariners, “Out of Left Field,” had great run of blog post while he was in Japan. Starting with really, really interesting two part series about Mariners’ Japanese connection at the top — Mariners majority owner Hiroshi Yamauchi of Nintendo — and his future.

He wrote quite a bit while in Japan: Ichiro’s arrival, Ichiro’s 4-hit opener, baseball clinic near Sendai attended by manager Eric Wedge, him meeting Masanori Murakami, his debate about future of Ichiro, about new M’s backup infielder Munenori Kawasaki, his reaction to owner Yamauchi’s absence to the game, difference in U.S. and Japan baseball, and his reflection on devastation caused by earthquake and tsunami a year ago, March 11, 2011. They are all excellent readings.

ISHINOMAKI, Japan – Busing swiftly through the detritus of devastation is hardly a good way to get a feeling for the loss, in the space of a few hours, of about 20,000 people from a town of 160,000.

But then, what is a good way to comprehend the unimaginable?

Major League Baseball made an attempt Tuesday, creating a tightly choreographed gesture with manager Eric Wedge and some players from the Mariners and Oakland A’s on an off-day before the start of the regular season between the teams Wednesday in Tokyo.

At a brief baseball clinic for youngsters, MLB and the players union pledged $500,000 to help restore the town’s municipal ballpark in this old port city of fishing, whaling and paper mills.

The stadium was far enough inland to be damaged “only” by an earthquake so potent it shifted the earth on its axis. At the Pacific shoreline of this town five driving hours north of Tokyo — the time halved via bullet train taken to nearby Sendai by the baseballers and a media entourage — an epic tsunami launched by the quake scraped from the shorelines much of the civilization that made its living from the water that killed many of them.

The Japanese touchstone for the day is “3/11,” an echo of a disaster more political. This was an event known by seismologists to be coming. But the where, when and how was not knowable or comprehensible. The world’s most prepared nation was unprepared.

……

“The money is fine,” Wedge would say later, sipping a beer on the bullet train as it put physical distance to the tragedy. “But they need a lot more help with awareness. Hopefully, it was one of many points of healing.”

People in this country, as do people in America, pay a lot of attention to baseball. Part of the appeal is annual renewal. Imagine a life, and a community and region, that does not know how to renew.

Makes for a hard hollowness that aches for attention. Some was given. The hole in the soul of Japan craves more.

– from JAPAN’S ’3/11′ WILL LONG BE AN OPEN WOUND.

(Koji Watanabe/Getty)

Ichiro! (Toru Hanai/Reuters)

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Can Bobby Valentine turn Daisuke Matsuzaka around?

By Daigo Fujiwara | Published: April 2, 2012

Daisuke Matsuzaka had elbow surgery last July, but pitching in Fort Myers. (Photo by Stan Grossfeld/Boston Globe)

After $51 million posting, Daisuke Matsuzaka signed 6 years, $52 million contract with the Boston Red Sox. He went 33-15 with 3.72 ERA in his first two years with the team, but 16-15 since, posting ERA of 5.03. He had Tommy John surgery on June 10, 2011, operation performed by Dr. Lewis Yocum.

Entering the last year of his contract, there was an interesting story in the Globe: “Valentine says he can turn Daisuke Matsuzaka around” written by Nick Cafardo.

“The biggest difference I think with Bobby is he knew me when I was in Japan and he knew how I pitched when I was at my best,’’ Matsuzaka said through interpreter Jeff Cutler. “So having him see that and having him see me now – when I’m not at my best and when I’m still working on my mechanics and trying to get back to my best – it’s good to know that someone is familiar with the differences in those areas.

“In that way, I’m very lucky.’’

…

Valentine offers pointers based on what he remembers of him as a successful pitcher. While Valentine never thought of Matsuzaka as dominant, he remembers him as a competitive pitcher who never gave in to a batter and didn’t nibble at the corners the way Matsuzaka has been wont to do the last couple of years.

…

Valentine has urged Matsuzaka to be more like the pitcher he was in Japan, to use his entire repertoire and pitch the way he feels most comfortable. He feels Matsuzaka could give the team a shot in the arm when he returns.

There are report that he has reached 92 miles an hour in a simulated game against minor leaguers. He could be back on the major league mound by June 1. We’ll see.

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History of Posting System

By Daigo Fujiwara | Published: December 18, 2011

Norichika Aoki at 2009 World Baseball Classic. (Mark J. Terrill/AP)

Posting System was put in place in 1998 between Nippon Proffessional Baseball (NPB) and Major League Baseball (MLB) after Japan’s players Hideo Nomo and Alfonso Soriano left to play in MLB without compensation to NPB team, and Hideki Irabu’s trade between the teams in two leagues didn’t work out.

Since then, system was used 21 times. Not including three players that were claimed this year (Hiroyuki Nakajima, Yu Darvish and Norichik Aoki), 11 players were successfully transfered to MLB using the system.

Date Player posted Team posting Team claimed Price
1 February 2, 1999 Alejandro Diaz (Quezada) Hiroshima Toyo Carp Cincinati Reds $400,001
2 February 2, 1999 Timoniel Perez OF Hiroshima Toyo Carp No claim No Price
3 November 9, 2000 Ichiro Suzuki OF Orix Blue Wave Seattle Mariners $13,125,000
4 January 9, 2002 Kazuhisa Ishii P Yaklut Swallows Los Angeles Dodgers $11,260,000
5 February 6, 2003 Ramón Ramírez P Hiroshima Toyo Carp New York Yankees $300,050
6 December 18, 2002 Akinori Otsuka P Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes No claim No Price
7 November 19, 2003 Akinori Otsuka P Chunichi Dragons San Diego Padres $300,000
8 January 28, 2005 Norihiro Nakamura INF Orix Buffaloes Los Angeles Dodgers Not disclosed
9 December 6, 2005 Shinji Mori P Seibu Lions Tampa Bay Devil rays $1,000,000
10 November 30, 2005 Yusaku Iriki P Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters No claim No Price
11 November 9, 2006 Daisuke Matsuzaka P Seibu Lions Boston Red Sox $51,111,111.11
12 November 11, 2006 Akinori Iwamura INF Tokyo Yakult Swallows Tampa Bay Devil Rays $4,550,000
13 November 20, 2006 Kei Igawa P Hanshin Tigers New York Yankees $26,000,194
14 December 18, 2008 Koji Mitsui P Saitama Seibu Lions No claim No Price
15 January 8, 2009 Koji Mitsui P Saitama Seibu Lions No claim No Price
16 November 1, 2010 Hisashi Iwakuma P Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles Oakland Athletics $19,100, 000 – Did not sign
17 November 17, 2010 Tsuyoshi Nishioka INF Chiba Lotte Marines Minesotta Twins $5,329,000
18 November 28, 2011 Hiroyuki Nakajima INF Saitama Seibu Lions New York Yankees $2,500,000 – Did not sign
19 December 1, 2011 Hiroki Sanada P Yokohama BayStars (DeNA) No claim No Price
20 December 8, 2011 Yu Darvish P Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters Texas Rangers $51,703,411 [link]
21 December 12, 2011 Norichika Aoki OF Tokyo Yakult Swallows Milwaukee Brewers $2,500,000
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Florida Marlins and Cincinnati Reds remains the only teams without any Japanese players in its history

By Daigo Fujiwara | Published: December 13, 2011

With a news that Arizona Diamondbacks signing veteran reliever Takashi Saito to a one-year deal another history is made. He will be the first Japanese player to play for the expansion franchise, and there are only two teams left that have not have any Japanese players played for them: Florida Marlins and Cincinnati Reds.

I have updated a blog post that I had up this March, JapaneseBallPlayers by MLB teams, for detail.

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