Tokyo's Imports: Jamie D'Antona

Jamie D’Antona was on the verge of making an impact in MLB a little less than a year ago. Playing for the Diamondbacks, the hard-hitting corner infielder was slugging up a storm in triple-A Tuscon before finally getting a solid shot at the first team. He was routinely hailed as one of the snakes’ brightest prospects.

Thank fook he ended up with us.

The 27-year-old from Connecticut has recently begun to show signs that he is adjusting to the pitching in Japan, and he has very nearly locked down his claim on first base (he has not seen any time at third).

Here’s a look at D’Antona’s numbers through the first half of the 2009 Tokyo season:

Stats

After struggling a little bit in May, Jamie found a bit more plate discipline over the past month or so and has seen his contributions on offense steadily improve. His strikeouts to walks ratio leaves a bit to be desired, but he has established himself as a bit of a clutch hitter by hitting .337 with runners in scoring position.

His BABIP, at .330, is quite healthy, and his ability to roll with the punches while toiling in a new environment has been very encouraging.

Furthermore, he leads the team in several offense-related categories, including: home runs; total bases (141); rbi’s; batting average with runners in scoring position; and slugging. However, he also leads the team in strikeouts, so it is hoped that he can draw more walks during the second half of the season to help cool the sting on that front.

His glove has been pretty decent over at first, and we’ll wait until the end of the season to judge whether or not his four errors thus far were a fluke or part and parcel of the total package. His defense was always one of the biggest knocks on his ability that you read about before his eventual breakthrough into the majors in 2008. The jury is still out on this one, but he has made some decent diving grabs this summer, so in that way he fits in nicely with Tokyo’s very solid defensive front of Miyamoto (3B), Kawashima (SS), and Tanaka (2B).

D’Antona has been hitting cleanup for the last month or so, and he’s become a very popular addition to the roster hitting just in front of third-year right fielder, Aaron Guiel. The middle of Tokyo’s lineup is the most dangerous it’s been since Ramirez played for us back in 2007, and D’Antona’s bat is a major factor in the recent rise in standards.