Central League Report

5/24/2004


No Games Today

Team Reports


Hanshin
With Tomohito Nioka and Shinya Miyamoto suffering injuries this season, Japanese olympic baseball team are looking ta bringing in Atsushi Fujimoto. Fujimoto is batting .400 with runners in scoring position. The same officials are also leaning toward adding reliever Yuya Ando and are also considering Kei Igawa, Norihiro Akahoshi and Makoto Imaoka. 

The Japanese contingent will be comprised of 12 pitchers and 12 position players. 

Hanshin fans are stuffing the ballot boxes for the all star team. In 
the first round of voting, pitcher Shonobu Fukuhara was named the 

 top starting pitcher while Yuya Ando and Jeff Williams are currently the top vote getting reliever and closer. Catcher Akihiro Yano bested Yomiuri's Shinnosuke Abe, George Arias is leading all first basemen, Makoto Imaoka and Atsushi Fujimoto are each the men to beat around the keystone and outfielder Shiniro Hiyama, Norihiro Akahoshi and Tomoaki Kanemoto are spearheading the outfielders. 
Only at third base is a non-Tiger winning most of the balloting, that being Yomiuri's Hiroki Kokubo. That the Aussie Williams beat out
Kazuhiro Sasaki is remarkable in any case. 

Speaking of Arias, he will start Tuesday against Yokohama. 
 


Chunichi
Kenta Asakura will start Wednesday against Yakult. It will be the  first time he's opened a game at the top level in a year. 


Yomiuri
Hiroshi Kisanuki as a Closer? The second year righthander has been inconsistent this season, so team coaches are reportedly looking at making him their game finisher once Masumi Kuwata 
and Hisanori Takahashi return from the ranks of the injured. In addition, lefthander Masanori Hayashi, who hasn't done anything for the club this season, will also be slotted into the bullpen. New addition Bryan Corey is expected to be brought up to the team around the 28th
after a minor league appearance Tuesday. 
 		 The Giants have reportedly locked up Shidax righthander Takahiko Nomaguchi for the November draft, disappointing Hanshin and Seibu
as well as four or five MLB teams, including the Dodgers. The 20 year old hurler has a fastball that has been clocked as high as 94mph
to go along with a cutter, slider, a forkball and a changeup. 

With Nomaguchi on board, they will now go after Meiji University lefty Yasuhiro Ichiba. Both Nomaguchi and Ichiba are seen as future aces for the kyojin. 


Yakult
Swallows pitching coach Akimitsu Itoh was very pleased with what he saw from southpaw Shugo Fujii in the latter's bullpen session Monday and his scheduled start on Wednesday is a go. Yu Sugimoto has been elevated back from the minors and to make room, Tony Mounce has been demoted. Itoh said that he will leave Mounce's workouts to the farm club's coaches and hopes that Mounce can find   a  good groove. 

One thing to watch for is that Chunichi rightfielder Kosuke Fukudome is 9-24 with three homers against Fujii. One of those dingers was a 455 foot monster into the fifth level at Nagoya Dome in 2002. 


Hiroshima


Yokohama
Daisuke Miura threw 40 pitches in the bullpen Monday as a tuneup   for his start against Hanshin on the 26th.


Miscellaneous
San Francisco has sold pitcher Brain Cooper's contract to the LG Twins of the KBO. Cooper was 0-2 with an 8.78 ERA for the Giants this season.

Also in the Giants system, strikeout prone slugger Robert Stratton has asked for and received his release. He batted .109 with three homers and had a 50% whiff rate. A couple of Japanese teams scouted Stratton this past offseason, but his K's drove them off. 

Former Nankai and Hankyu slugger Daryl Spencer was inducted into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame. 

A magazine in Taiwan has alledged that the China Trust Whales may be having problems with professional gamblers affecting their play. 
Let's hope that it doesn't explode into the kind of gambling scandal that nearly killed pro baseball in that island country in the 1990's.

 Meiji University ace Yasuhiro Ichiba tossed a six hit complete game shutout Monday against Hosei University, striking out 11. It is his 26th victory as a collegian and his 107 whiffs this spring is the second most all time for a single season in Tokyo Big Six University League play. It also wrapped up the league title and now they go on to the nationwide tournament, Japan's equivalent of the College World Series. 

The commentators on ESPN's Baseball Tonight have been talking about how Ichiro's strikeout rate going up is a sign of his deterioration as a player. Through Sunday, he had 200 for his entire MLB career. That is three seasons plus, folks. How many times has Richie Sexson or Alfonso Soriano struckout in that time? 500? 
Relax you guys.