Sustained Japanese Success

[CH David]

With all of the hoopla over the Rangers signing Yu Darvish recently, or winning the bidding war to court the guy, it made me wonder about the sustained success of Japanese pitchers in the MLB. Obviously there are position players that had great sustained success in the MLB, and the two I am mainly pointing at are Ichiro and Hideki Matsui.

But when you look at sustained success over a career (Looking for at least 7-8 years) for Japanese pitchers in the MLB, the numbers aren't stellar. Hideo Nomo is probably the most successful pitcher to come over from Japan with a 123-109 record, ERA over 4, and nearly 2,000 strikeouts. Daisuke has done well, but over the past two or three seasons not so much. He was hit with injuries in '09, making only 12 starts. 2010 he had 25 starts but only a 9-6 record. Then this past season he had to have Tommy John surgery, which he probably misses most of this coming season.

I like it when Japanese players come over. Their media treats it as a spectacle, and Yu Darvish will likely get that treatment too. But as far as pitchers go, their sustained success just isn't there. I'm curious as to why. One thing I can think of, and I think I heard this when some people were talking on ESPN or something, is that pitchers get 8 days of rest in Japan. If that's true, then I can see a tired arm after years of a different routine.

So is it the shorter resting time? Is it that they have to face some of, if not the top players in the world on a regular basis? Why is it that most Japanese pitchers can't have sustained success?

 

[Rhonda Rousey's Sports Bra]

It's the competition. If all Japanese players were good enough to play in the MLB then it wouldn't be such a struggle for the ones that do end up over here. It's like when people try to compare the greatest college football team to the worst NFL team and say well what if they played each other. Any smart person would know that the pro team would win even though they do terrible against other pro teams. Every player on that team was probably the best player on their college team. Same goes for the Japanese pitchers, they might be able to shut down the entire Japanese league, but they come to the MLB and every person they face is either equal or greater to the best people they faced in Japan. So naturally their sucsess isn't going to be great or sustained.

 

[The Brain]

I think it’s both the routine and the competition. Athletes, especially baseball players, are notorious for having a strict routine. When you’ve achieved success with that routine it is hard to adjust to a new one. It could be more mental than physical but I think when you mess with a winning formula you should expect different results.

The competition is probably the bigger factor. Have you noticed that the American players that go to Japan are the ones that are either past their prime or couldn’t cut it in the majors? You never see a superstar in his prime head over there. That’s taking a step down. Conversely the players that come from Japan to the US are the best in their league. They’re taking a step up. You could almost compare it to a successful minor league pitcher struggling in the majors.

What surprises me is how teams continue to pay ridiculous money just for an opportunity to talk to a guy before being able to sign him when the track record indicates they are not worth the gamble. Even Nomo was average at best. When are teams going to learn?

 

[Megatron]

Another factor I'd say is the age of most of the players that come over. Ichiro and Dice-K came over in their late 20's, but other then them most of the players were at least 30+ or older, which will effect any pitcher. Their talents are starting to deteroirate and they have to get used to a new routine of pitching every 5 days and such. There's still been decent success by pitchers though. Kaz Saski was a pretty good closer when he came over and closed over 100 games in his 4 years (and he was quite old when he came over); Takashi Saito has been a pretty reliable arm in the back of the pen since 2006 for a handful of teams; Hiroki Kuroda doesn't have an AS appearance but has had a few seasons in a row of mid 3 ERA.

Pitchers have had some success, it's just the fact that most of them don't come over until they're 31 or 32 so they only have maybe 2-3 strong years left. You don't see many guys who've been in MLB for 10+ years have success when they reach 35, 36 since their body starts to wear down.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Don't forget about our women. In Japan it's all Geishas and Hello Kitty but when these guys get here every lady trying to become part of the next season of VH-1's Baseball Wives/Ex-Wives/Girlfirends/Ex-Girlfriends/Random Hook-ups/Scratching Posts is blowing up these guys cell phones with "love you long time" messages.

It can be very distracting and draining.