An in-depth look at the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, Jingu Stadium, the Central League, and Japanese Pro Baseball
As announced yesterday, we have a new friend. Orlando Roman has signed a deal to pitch for the Swallows during the 2012 season. ¡Bienvenido a Tokio, Señor Román! Call me crazy, but looking over his numbers from the past several years, it seems like there’s a bit of a climate-linked variable in terms of how [...]
It’s official. The rumors that we reported earlier this month were the real deal. The Swallows now have a little extra competition brewing in the starting rotation. Meet Orlando Roman. The 33-year-old RHP has significant minor league experience in North America with the New York Mets, Baltimore, and Toronto. He has also spent time in Mexico [...]
I’m not any more willing to predict how well Tokyo’s brand-spanking-new left fielder, Lastings Milledge, will do in NPB than I was about Norichika Aoki and his possible transition to MLB. There are several doubters out there, perhaps due to a collective pessimism related to Aoki’s departure, so I would like to make sure that [...]
2011 fifth round draft pick, Yuji Nakane, had surgery on his ACL (right knee) today. Recovery and rehab are expected to consume the entirety of the 2012 season. The official announcement comes through the Tokyo Swallows Japanese-language website. The Swallows were aware of Nakane’s knee issues when they selected him late in the draft but [...]
As of 2PM on Monday this bit of news still hasn’t been reported by either Tokyo or Tohoku’s websites, but it appears that 32 year old RHP Yoshitaka Hashimoto is being sent to Tohoku in exchange for 27 year old OF Yusuke Kusuki. Hashimoto made 17 appearances for the Swallows in 2011 and had a [...]
Before spending a good deal of time on the top team toward the end of the 2011 season, Tsuyoshi Ueda had himself a very strong season on the farm team. Number 50, who turned 23 in October and grew up in Okayama Prefecture, stole 55 bases this year to easily win the Eastern League crown. [...]
Tokyo third baseman, Shinya Miyamoto, and center fielder, Norichika Aoki, were voted into the Central League’s best nine today. Miyamoto earned the award for the first time in his 17-year career while it was the seventh time that Aoki has been voted in during his eight seasons as a pro. This comes just after both [...]
After agreeing to basic terms with three new players the day before, the Swallows announced on Friday that they had added another pitcher to the mix in the form of 23 year-old RHP, Tatsuo Kinoshita. He actually turns 24 tomorrow (Nov. 28th). Originally from Aichi Prefecture, Kinoshita was selected in the 2005 high school draft by [...]
Yakyu Baka reported back at the beginning of October, and Kozo Ota relayed the same information here, that eight players are not having their contracts extended for the 2012 season. Well, the Swallows reported on Thursday that they’ve basically filled three of those slots with a pair of out-of-contract players and another from the independent [...]
Tokyo’s Japanese language website announced next year’s coaching staff yesterday. The top team is the same cast of characters as last year. Top Team The farm team has seen a few changes though. Farm Team
