Back on September 8th, infielder Ryousuke Morioka (no. 68) resurfaced on the pro team. He appeared in 25 games and batted .150 during his first stint on the top team earlier this season.
He has been impressive on the farm, however, hitting .307 in 43 games. And in this, his second, foray on the top team, he has made a good second impression by notching four hits in 11 at-bats (including a solo homer and a double).
Morioka has been starting in place of Kawashima who was benched for that costly error during the Yomiuri series last weekend.
Headed down to the farm in his place was young starting pitcher, Yoshinori. The kid has had to deal with blisters on his throwing hand no less than four times this season, and his current demotion is more of the same.
Y
oshinori’s ERA has dropped to 3.26 while his record remains an unenviable 5-8. Hopefully he can develop some solid calluses on his fingers so that a repeat of this dilemma can be avoided from here on out.
Also joining the festivities on the top team yesterday were pitchers Hidehiro Okamoto (no. 26) and Masao Kida (no. 42).
Okamoto made one appearance last season, his rookie year, and was shelled mercilessly. So far this year on the farm team, the lefty reliever is 1-1 in 17 appearances with a rather scary 5.40 ERA. His promotion appears to be further acknowledgment by the managerial staff that there aren’t enough southpaws hanging out in the bullpen.
I have lost count of how many times Masao Kida has been promoted and demoted this season. His current top team numbers aren’t particularly appetizing, but he can come through on occasion. In 28 games, Kida has pitched 46 2/3 innings while putting together a 5.59 ERA.
Headed down are pitcher Katsuki Akagawa, yet another example of why a teenage rookie should not be put in to pitch in a professional baseball game, and outfielder Yuuichi who continues to be surplus to needs (.205 batting average in 39 at-bats so far this season).
Here is the 28-man roster as of game time yesterday:
Pitchers: Ishikawa, Kamada, Matsuoka, Tateyama, Okamoto, Yuki, Kida, Matsui, Lee, Takagi, Oshimoto, Yoshikawa
Catchers: Aikawa, Kawamoto, Kinugawa
Infielders: Kawashima, D’Antona, Miyamoto, Tanaka, Hatakeyama, Yoshimoto, Noguchi, Morioka
Outfielders: Fukuchi, Takeuchi, Aoki, Guiel, Iihara
About Christopher Pellegrini
