An in-depth look at the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, Jingu Stadium, the Central League, and Japanese Pro Baseball
Chunichi Dragons Sold backup catcher, Keiji Oyama (31) to Tohoku. 2011 was Oyama’s best season so far, offensively-speaking. He hit .280/.394/.390 in 102 plate appearances. It sounds like Araki and Ibata could be reverting to their old positions, second and short, respectively. Victor Diaz is all but certain to be wearing a Chunichi uniform this [...]
Chunichi Dragons The talk of Araki and Ibata switching back to their original positions, 2nd and short, respectively, continues. Not that anyone cares. Victor Diaz might be on the team’s radar. Diaz played in Korea in 2009. Yomiuri Giants Hayato Sakamoto, Yomiuri’s prized homegrown shortstop, has been reaping the benefits of Shinya Miyamoto’s guidance this [...]
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 [...]
Happy Coming-of-Age Day to all of the 20-year-olds out there who are celebrating today. Be sure to post a photo of yourself in the comments all decked out in your old-enough-to-vote garb. And don’t drink too much tonight. This website has been very preoccupied with Norichika Aoki news as of late, and Lastings Milledge has [...]
Bio Wladimir Ramon Balentien was born on July 2nd, 1984 in Willemstad, Curaçao. He is often referred to by his nickname, Coco. He played on the Dutch national team in the 2004 Olympics which finished in sixth place. Balentien is best known for his incredible power at the plate. He hit the longest home run of [...]
Happy holidays everyone! Hope that everyone out there has had a chance to spend some time with loved ones. This is the first of what will likely be an on-again, off-again column detailing what’s going on with Tokyo’s competition in the Central League. Chunichi Dragons Morimichi Takagi took over as Chunichi’s new coach following the [...]
Bio Born April 5th, 1985 in Bradenton, Florida, Lastings Darnell Milledge was a standout baseball player from a young age and hit the national stage in elementary school when he helped his Little League team, Manatee East, reach the finals of the national tournament in 1997. Manatee East lost in the finals when Milledge was [...]
October 2nd, 2011 Tokyo Swallows 4 Yokohama BayStars 3 Streak: Won 1 Last 5: WWLLW (Yokohama Stadium) After watching its young pitchers get knocked about the park for the past two days, Tokyo looked to salvage a bit of pride against the recently very feisty BayStars. Tokyo opened the scoring on a solo Hatakeyama [...]
May 15th, 2011 Tokyo Swallows 5 Yokohama BayStars 3 Streak: Won 3 Last 5: LDWWW (Yokohama) After two wins to start the series in Yokohama, the Swallows were led onto the field by Masubuchi (1-0, 3.81 ERA). The 23-year-old righty has been throwing well so far this year in his first season back as [...]
May 14th, 2011 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2 Yokohama BayStars 0 Streak: Won 2 Last 5: LLDWW (Yokohama) Everyone, please put your hands together for the Tokyo Swallows’ fifth ever 100-game winner, Masanori Ishikawa! He’s also the second fastest to the milestone in club history (259 starts) with only the venerable Masaichi Kaneda getting [...]
