Proceeds from the ads below will be donated to the
Bob Wuesthoff scholarship fund.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006 |
Some Followups
- Last Saturday, I mentioned it was Kazuhisa Ishii's birthday. Seeing that his Baseball-Reference wiki page was empty, I donated an edited version of my thumbnail bio. Lo and behold but a few days later someone with the handle of Mischa had updated the page with some information that probably would have been very interesting to the Dodgers before they signed him, like the fact that he "was known for his poor conditioning habits, smoking three packs daily and consuming lots of soda, alcohol and junk food", was "wildly inconsistent" with the Yakult Swallows, had shoulder surgery in 1996, and led the Central League in both strikeouts and walks in 1998.
- Last Thursday, I mentioned that Nate Boman had signed with the Angels but the bonus was a mystery. Well, here it is, and prepare to have your jaw drop: $400,000. Yup, that's $325,000 more than the guy the Angels took in the round prior, 8th rounder 1B Matt Sweeney, and $345,000 more than RHP Leonardo Calderon, taken in the 10th round. In fact, he garnered the second highest bonus in that round, the other two being OF Ryan Kalish for the Red Sox and RHP Mark Melancon of the Yankees, both of whom signed for $600,000; to give you some perspective, only six players in the thirty taken in the ninth round got bonuses of $100,000 or more.
- Steve Fryer at the Register wrote me privately that Bob Rodgers' nickname "Buck" was an invention from his days in Montreal, and that he's referred to in the Angels' media guide exclusively as Bob. True, but I don't compile Sean Lahman's database...
Comments:
Some of it was common knowledge in Japan. He was known for carousing, not being in shape and actually for being something of a player by the Japanese media. He claimed to hav eturned a corner after his knee injury and his performance in the Japan series helped convince people. This proved elusive since consistency has always proved to be his problem despite very good stuff. He does not have the professional reputation and work ethic of either Nomo or Ichiro.
# posted by 
: 9/12/2006 06:24:00 PM
: 9/12/2006 06:24:00 PM
i never remember ishii having "very good stuff" as a dodger. i remember a subpar high-80s fastball, a halfway decent breaking pitch, and an okay change.
I actually saw his debut as a Dodger in Japan(I had just arrived a few days ago). He was throwing at least low 90s. Nothing filthy. His out pitch broke pretty hard. He didn't have very good control of it though and it would flatten as the season went on. He didn't change speeds very well and you're right, his change was just average. As Rob apointed out, his numbers show that while he could be effective at times, he would allow bucket loads of hits and walks.
# posted by : 9/13/2006 01:30:00 PM
: 9/13/2006 01:30:00 PMNewer› ‹Older
 |
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.