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02/03/2003 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: Echevarria Ready To Chew Up More Than PL Pitching"
Adjusting to Japan Looks to be No Problem for Fighters Outfielder
Nippon Ham outfielder Angel Echevarria had his first spring batting practice session today and in the wake of drilling five bombs out toward centerfield in 28 swings, got himself some big ink in Sports Nippon. The former Cub was working on hitting back through the middls and going to the opposite field. An executive with the Fighters said that he expects D.T. Cromer, Echevarria and Michihiro Ogasawara to slug 100 dingers between them this season.
Echeverria is said to like Japanese food and was previously married to a Korean-American woman, thanks to whom he also developed a taste for Kalbi and Kimchi, two Korean dishes."How do you say, "please give me some Kimchi in Japanese?" Echevarria asked reporters. Unfortunately, he might find the Japanese version of kimchi pretty weak kneed. At least I did.
Manager Trey Hillman asked a trusted friend who is an MLB scout about Echevarria and the scout raved about what Echevarria could do for him. And for those who have looked at Echevarria's MLB stats, one can understand what the scout was talking about. This should prove to be one of the best foreign acquisitions of the 2003 campaign.
Hot Shots....
Boy, the St. Louis Cardinals got an absolute steal in picking up Orlando Palmeiro for next to nothing. I've watched him in Anaheim and he is a big pain in the butt to the opposition and one of those sound ballplayers a contending club needs. Nice add by LaRussa and company....For you collectors, the Mariners will be giving away another Ichiro Suzuki bobblehead doll this season....According to Sports Nippon, Yomiuri ace Koji Uehara has gotten some tutoring on the cutter he is attempting to add to his arsenal from the Chunichi Dragons Kenshin Kawakami. He is also attempting to acquire a Kazuhiro Sasaki-style forkball, though whether he got any direct help from the Mariners closer isn't explicitly disclosed. The Japanese sports daily has taken this as a sign that Uehara is indeed going to head to MLB in the future....Giants first baseman Kazuhiro Kiyohara said that his hamstring really isn't any better, but that didn't keep him from taking 200 swings against a pitching machine today.... Rightfielder Roberto Petagine got some instruction from the great Futoshi Nakanishi today after his 86 swing session, Nakanishi pulling out the batting tee and having the Venezuelan work on the contact point where his bat meets the ball. Petagine was very receptive to Nakanishi's suggestions, as "I always get good advice from him." Sankei Sports had an interesting stat today about Petagine playing rightfield with Yakult. He only did it five times in his time with the Swallows, but they went 1-4 when he did. That wasn't Petagine's fault. He went 5-14 with one homer and five RBIs, a .357 clip, in those matches and handled a total of nine chances flawlessly....Manager Tatsunori Hara mosied over to the Giants minor league camp and watched righthander Takashi Kamoshida, with whom he was very impressed. When a reporter asked if Kamoshida resembled Kazuhiro Sasaki, Hara retored, "I wish!"....Over at Kintetsu's camp, Kevin Beirne went to the pen for the first time, concentrating mostly on his fastball, though he used all of his pitches, with the priority being spotting them on the outer part of the plate. "He has the ability to reach double figures in victories and him and Powell should win 25 between them," enthused manager Masataka Nashida....At the Orix camp, former Rockie Jose Ortiz, who will be stationed at third for the Blue Wave and hit sixth, went yard 11 times during his 80 swing practice, with four of those completely leaving the stadium. Ortiz said that he still has some work to do, though. Manager Hiromichi Ishige was taken with Ortiz' defense, too....Leftfielder Roosevelt Brown, who is likely to be inserted into the three hole, peppered shots all over the field, but transgressed the friendly confines only once....Ishige blistered Takeshi Yamasaki, the ex-Dragon who came over in a trade this winter, after the infielder only knocked two out in 70 swings. "What an idiot! How long have you been playing baseball? Geez, that sucked! Don't just pull everything! Hit it back up the middle!" the ex-Seibu shortstop fumed." Ishige then had Yamasaki take 300 swings off of a batting tee. From there, he spent time with the club's scouts and watched video of PL pitchers....Yakult Swallows leftfielder Alex Ramirez says that he wants to bat cleanup for his squad, as he creamed 13 out of the park in a 50 swing session, making use of the 20 pounds of muscle he put on during the offseason due to a weight training program after installing a gym in his house. He is now at 230. He has also adopted the maple bat. A Swallows suit averred that if the former Pirate homers more than Roberto Petagine, he may earn a special bonus. Following the power exhibition, he entertained his teammates with imitations of some Japanese celebrities....New import Todd Betts wasn't nearly as impressive from a power standpoint as Ramirez, since, for the second day in a row, he didn't launch any over the fences. But he did bazooka line drives all over the playing field. He and Ramirez then went out upon the end of the workout for some yakiniku in Naha....Both Lou Pote and Jeff Williams got in some bullpen work today for Hanshin and manager Senichi Hoshino was pleased. The team's bullpen catcher called what Pote was throwing "unhittable" and there was so much movement on his splitter that the backstop was having trouble snagging it. The thing Hoshino was most impressed with, though, was their control. "I don't think they'll be walking too many people and I like the way Williams drops down and unleashes that 93mph fastball." A Chunichi Dragons scout was at the workout and had kind things to say about the pair as well....First baseman George Arias couldn't take part in defensive drills upon advice from a trainer due to his bruised leg, but he and hitting coach Tom O'Malley did spend time in the batting cage.... Tigers leftfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto apparently isn't too comfortable with batting cleanup and is refusing to be put in that role. He would prefer to be slotted in the three hole since there is less pressure there and it suits his game better....Hideki Irabu was in the pen again today for a 47 pitch opus mainly to work on his curve ball....Down in Hanshin's minor league camp, rookie Tomoyuki Kubota was popping the catcher's glove with regularity. Kubota, who can run it up there at 95mph with his Nomo like twisting windup, still has some weight to lose, but the Tigers coaching staff liked what they saw....Kentaro Sekimoto has now been added to the battle for the starting shortstop's job, making it a total of six players who are competing for the position.... And when you say shortstop, you immediately think of Seibu's Kazuo Matsui, who put on a glove much smaller than what he normally uses and took infield, with special emphasis on his footwork and hand position as he catches the ball. Matsui has made just nine errors in each of the last two seasons, but would like to reduce them further. "When you make an error at short, that usually leads to runs for the other team," the three time Gold Glove receipient allowed. "I want to make it look easy catching everything"....Lions third baseman Hiroshi Hirao has an inflammation in his back and will be rested for the next four or five days. With second baseman Hiroyuki Takagi having wrist problems every now and then, manager Haruki Ihara is likely to work in outfielder Tomo Sato, who has played some second base before, as a utility player....Lions swingman Koji Mitsui threw 109 times in a bullpen session today, including 30 sinkers, a new pitch for him.... Seibu ace Daisuke Matsuzaka will face Ichiro and the Mariners in an exhibition game on March 22nd, which should send the Japanese press into a frenzy. Matsuzaka, when he was a rookie in May, 1999, fanned the tough to strikeout Suzuki the first three times he faced him and then walked him in his fourth at bat and owned the great outfielder from then on. "It will be a good way to get ready for opening day," the fireballing righty said....Chunichi reliever Marc Valdes told his teammates during morning calisthenics today that "if you don't like my sideburns, please say something. I'll shave them off [if you don't]," which cracked his new teammates up. Valdes played some catch and took some fungoes in his workout....Dragons first baseman Ivan Cruz spent 20 minutes with head coach Kyosuke Sasaki on keeping his weight back. Cruz tends to lunge at the ball at times, thus the reminder.... Pitcher Kenta Asakura had a nice 48 pitch throwing session today that drew enthusiastic praise from manager Hisashi Yamada. "Last year, I was obsessed with my mechanics," Asakura revealed. "Now I can concentrate on fine tuning them"....Yamada is going to give Kawakami the ball opening day....Second year pitcher Atsushi Nakasato, whose rookie season was ended when he fell and dislocated his shoulder, gave a clinic today for 200 little leaguers in Yomitan, Okinawa. He also contributed 40 aluminum bats to the local Little League program....Chunichi's director of player personnel will meet with Kevin Millar's agent later this week, according to Hochi Sports. Millar had signed a Japanese player's agreement, which does make this different from the Norihiro Nakamura controversy. Furthermore, Millar finally gave an explanation of what the "family problem" he had was. According to Chunichi Sports, it had to do with his wife Gina's older brother's divorce. Of course, that still doesn't explain how Millar ended up in Las Vegas while this controversy was playing itself out. Millar, when he does report to the Dragons, will bat cleanup and play left....Yokohama manager Daisuke Yamashita says that lefty Yuji Yoshimi is likely to get the assignment on opening day, apparently in the hope of driving home the point to him of how much the team needs from the Tohoku Fukushi University grad....Yamashita also had to be happy about what Steve Cox did in the batting cage, as he was crushing balls into the stands to all three fields. Tyrone Woods went deep nine times in 25 swings ....As a sidelight during the Stars camp, rookie third baseman Shuichi Murata wants to lose 13 pounds before the regular season kicks off. So does Yamashita and the two are competing with each other to see who will take off all of the excess first....Bobby Rose wasn't very thrilled with his performance in the batting cage today for Lotte despite lofting 15 beyond the fences, including a pair that disappeared completely out of the ballpark, in 62 swings. "There just seems to be something missing," he told reporters. Rose's former boss at Yokohama, Hiroshi Gondo, stopped by for a visit .... Daiei skipper Sadaharu Oh thinks he has something in Taiwanese import Chen Wen-bin. After gazing at the shots Chen smacked during batting practice, Oh stated, "that power is outstanding." But not so laudable was what Oh thought of the way umpires call overhand curveballs. An umpiring crew showed up to demonstrate how they would call those pitches. "Every curve [Brandon] Knight threw, they called a strike," a chagrined Oh grumbled. "Last season, there were disparities in how individual umpires called that pitch and I pray that the league will thoroughly look into that"....Another problem for Oh today was that infielder Bryant Nelson complained of discomfort in his right calf and was given the rest of the day off. "The Japanese practice regimen is hard," the ex-Red Sox prospect commented. "We run for an hour in the majors, too, but we don't do stretching for half an hour." Nonetheless, the press believes that Nelson resembles Eddie Murphy, and Nelson says he has heard that comparison before, "especially from women"....Hawks first baseman Nobuhiko Matsunaka said that he hopes to drive in 120 runs this season. The 2000 PL MVP had a down year in 2002 and would like to rectify that in a big way....Hayato Terahara was in the bullpen for the second day in a row, throwing 78 pitches this time out....Daiei number one draft choice Tsuyoshi Wada says he won't use his changeup this season. Instead, he will keep it in reserve and may whip it out his second season after the opposition thinks it knows what to expect from him. This is curious since it doesn't seem to behoove a pitcher to tell hitters that they don't have to be concerned about an offspeed pitch. Mind games perhaps?....Nippon Ham hurler Itsuki Shoda is complaining of pain in his left shoulder. He has been examined by a doctor, but the result of that inspection hasn't been released ....Hiroshima Carp third baseman Takahiro Arai is seeking to build on the 28 homers he clubbed last year and to that end went on a weight training program in the offseason. In batting practice today, he cleared the fences 21 times in 97 swings. However, manager Koji Yamamoto contends that it is premature to put Arai in the four hole in the order, so for now veteran rightfielder Tomonori Maeda will get that duty....Reliever Kanei Kobayashi hurt himself in practice today and will be on the shelf for a week....According to Nikkan Sports, the Yankees plan is to give Hideki Matsui a "limit" of three at bats in each game he starts this spring. It's also possible he won't be in every tilt so that they can rest him on occasion and give other players some at bats. The paper also says that Matsui will be hitting either sixth or seventh.
Quote of the Day
This is waaaay off topic, but it applies to baseball in a roundabout way. Ron C. Judd of the Seattle Times slyly notes:
Don't Laugh: In Cincinnati, Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune has filed a taxpayer suit against the Bengals and the NFL, alleging fraud, civil conspiracy and breach of contract. He says the team violated its lease with Paul Brown Stadium by failing to be competitive. Holy cow: Somebody get this guy on the '04 presidential ballot.
Just Think: If this frivolous lawsuit were to succeed, similar corporate-sports- welfare scams all across the country could crumble, creating the horrible specter of sports franchises actually being forced to invest their own money and make sound business decisions to avoid bankruptcy. Capitalism: the death knell of big-time sports.
Ron has some other hilarious observations, many of which do have to do with baseball, at:
Seattle Times Article
Today's Photos
Angel Echevarria in the Batting Cage
Alex Ramirez Keeping Everybody Loose
Ramirez Shows His Bigger Muscles to a Fan
A Cameraman Gets Up Close and Personal With Ramirez
Kazuo Matsui Tracks a Grounder
Does Nelson Look Like Murphy to You?
Williams and Pote Show Their Stuff
Baseball Guru Writes Story for St. Petersburg Times---Sort of
Read this story and see if any of it seems real familiar: St. Petersburg Times Article
Jackie Robinson to Get Congressional Honor
Since the St. Petersburg Times is going to use Baseball Guru.com material without attribution, I thought I would take the liberty of using this blurb from that paper:
ROBINSON HONOR: Jackie Robinson will be nominated for the Congressional Gold Medal in recognition of his achievements as the first African-American player in major-league baseball. Four U.S. senators, including Massachusetts Democrats Edward M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry, and Reps. Richard E. Neal, D-Mass., and Peter King, R-N.Y., will file the legislation Monday. Since 1776 there have been approximately 300 recipients, including George Washington, Joe Louis, Robert Frost and Mother Teresa.
Let's get Fiscal
The second best baseball writer you've probably never heard of (the other being Joe Posnanski of the KC Star), Larry Stone of the Seattle Times, has his usual insightful observations on the MLB financial landscape at: Seattle Times Article
Ishii Returns to Dodger Stadium
See story at: MLB.com Article
INS Throws Curveball to Dominican Players
See story at: Chicago Tribune Article
