Tommy John Surgery

I don't have any numbers on NPB pitchers having Tommy John surgery, but I can say that a lot of it has to do with how differently pitchers are trained and monitored between here and the USA.

From an early age, Japanese pitchers are basically encouraged to find their own identity as a pitcher. This means that they can come up with the wackiest motions, and as long as they throw strikes, that will be accepted. Japanese pitchers also throw a heck of a lot more than American pitchers do, because it's the concept of doryoku, or giving one's best at all times, that is the guiding force behind Japanese pitchers. This is why pitch counts aren't monitored as closely in Japan as they are in the USA. Some examples of this are Daisuke Matsuzaka, Kazuhisa Ishii, Hideo Nomo, et al. Their arms are more limber and can take more of a beating, especially when it comes to throwing breaking balls at a younger age.

American pitchers aren't as encouraged to be unique in their own styles. All pitchers that are trained in the USA are basically told to pitch like Roger Clemens and Nolan Ryan. Sure, it's conservative, but it also means that these are high-stress motions that might not be in the pitcher's best interest. Also, pitchers who have Tommy John surgery are usually the ones who have been throwing breaking pitches since Little League.

I could go into even greater detail, but I don't want to speak for everybody. For all I know, I could be wrong, too.

I attend a lot of minor league games in America and I find they just don't let starters go deep enough into games over here. They train them to only be six inning pitchers. I saw a Red Sox farmhand named Beau Vaughan once, take a no-hitter into the sixth. He gave up one bloop single and they took him out. Nobody had hit a ball hard off him all night.

What a contrast to the days when guys like Jim Palmer and Tom Seaver used to throw 25 complete games a year. I also long for the days when the Orioles used to have great crafty junk-ball and control guys like Cuellar, McNally, McGregor, and Flanagan (who was much better as a pitcher than as a GM).

Flanny, when are you ever going to give a Japanese player a shot?

- Flanny, when are you ever going to give a Japanese player a shot?

As all Orioles fans know, whenever Peter Angelos allows them to. They also need to be more active in pursuing Japanese players, remember the Matsui situation? The O's didn't even once meet with Matsui and his agents.

If the Orioles are ever going to be players on the Japanese and Asian market, then they need to start scouting there now, get the proper contacts, and show some common courtesy to the players. Until then, the Orioles are going to be big losers in the Asian markets, and Boston and New York will have the lead.

To better understand the point I'm trying to make about the Orioles' clueless concept of acquiring Asian stars, this article [Baltimore Sun] is a very good read, and has a very good title: "A foreign concept" to describe the Orioles in the Asian market.

Another problem I didn't mention above with the Orioles, it's just not Asia where we have problems scouting. It's Cuba and Venezuela also. Plus the Orioles have an outdated facility in the Dominican Republic. They've been terrible in signing bonuses for international players over the 2005 and 2006 seasons, there spending a total of $750,000. Teams like the Yankees, Braves, and Mets? Over $4 million. I think it's easy to understand why the Orioles can't compete with bigger market teams, they're not willing to spend money or even start to get the contacts necessary.

However, according to the above Sun article, John Stockstill, the O's assistant GM in charge of international scouting, they do plan on making a trip to Japan this season.

It's not like the Orioles aren't known in Japan, they played in two goodwill tours in 1971 and 1984 after they won the World Series. They went 12-2-4 in 1971 and went 8-5-1 in 1984 (4-1 against the 1983 Nippon Series champion, Hiroshima Carp, and 4-4-1 against other NPB clubs and an all-star team). [Exhibition Series History - MLB.com]

Let me leave you with this quote from Hideki Okuda, a sports reporter from the Sponichi and what he said if the Orioles were to sign a few Japanese players:

The Baltimore Orioles still have a chance to be one of the more popular teams at the major league level for the Japanese.