An in-depth look at the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, Jingu Stadium, the Central League, and Japanese Pro Baseball
First of all, apologies to Garrett for this post. His second favorite team, the Chicago Cubs, fell victim to a walk-off HR from the one and only Aoki. It was Norichika’s second homer of the game. As a White Sox fan, I am especially happy to see him doing well at the expense of the [...]
Swallows Present As mentioned in our most recent podcast, Balentien could start the year on the top team. Because he’s starting to show some life at the plate, mixed with Roman’s continued stability on the mound, and abetted by Lim’s tender throwing arm, Tokyo’s well-paid closer could start the year on the farm instead. Yet [...]
Team News No idea whether this is for real or not, but Ogawa has said that he likes having Yuhei around because he can be used in the outfield or as a pitcher (LHP). Yuhei was a top pitching prospect that never panned out for the Swallows. He started working on converting to the outfield [...]
Tokyo Swallows Wladimir Balentien is having some right elbow issues and hasn’t been able to practice at 100%. It seems like Ogawa is starting to get a little impatient (link in Japanese). Balentien didn’t play in Tokyo’s pre-season game against Hanshin on Saturday. Tokyo beat Hokkaido 3-0 in a practice game on Thursday February 23rd. [...]
Chunichi Dragons Kenshin Kawakami, Chunichi’s u-turn starter, apparently married an American citizen while working in the US. Victor Diaz signed a one-year deal. Yomiuri Giants The Giants put a clown suit on KBO’s Hanwha Eagles beating them 14-0 on Thursday. Hanshin Tigers Matt Murton joined spring camp on February 8th. His delayed return to Japan [...]
Tsubamegun got one hell of a shout out from fellow Japanese baseball watcher, NPB Tracker. Thanks, Patrick! Tokyo batting coach, Takao Ise, has been selected as one of the six coaches representing the nation as part of this year’s Samurai Japan team. One coach was selected from each of the top three teams in the Central [...]
We posted a poll on the 25th asking you some general questions about the state of affairs with the team. Aoki’s gone, and there are some question marks hanging over the team as spring camp gets under way down in Urasoe, Okinawa. We here at Tsubamegun tend to see these question marks as opportunities, and [...]
While reading all the off-season and spring training news that can be found about NPB and MLB, I came across some tidbits on former Tokyo center fielder, Norichika Aoki. A tracking poll conducted last week over at Brew Crew Ball found that 94% of respondents were in favor of the contract that Aoki signed with [...]
**The poll is now closed. Click here to see the results of the vote. Here’s a poll to keep your mind off of what you should actually be doing at work. You will be asked for your opinions on topics such as who should get the most starts at third, and whether or not the [...]
The Milwaukee Brewers announced that the team signed Norichika Aoki, Tokyo’s star 30-year-old outfielder, to a multi-year deal. Congratulations to both Aoki and the Brewer community! We here at Tsubamegun hope that it truly is a match made in Milwaukee heaven. Details are sketchy at this point, but it seems like the two sides were [...]
