How could this possibly be?

The Pacific League uses a DH. That means Pacific League pitchers face 9 real batters in a game while Central League pitchers face 8 real batters and one easy out. This is the same reason that American League pitcher's statistics are generally worse than National League pitcher's statistics.

Thanks Rocksfan-san.

So it's not really a technical ability issue, but linked to the system in which they work? That's interesting.

Does that mean that cases like Atsushi Kataoka (a slugger, moved from Nippon Ham to Hanshin, where he hasn't hit a thing all season) and Yokota (a pitcher, moved from Lotte to Hanshin, and hardly ever got off the farm) are isolated rather than representative?

(Come to think if it, perhaps it's indicative of Hanshin's inability to attract anyone good from other teams, more than anything else. But I'd rather avoid that topic at the moment... ahem ahem.)

I get the impression that PL batters hit more HRs than CL batters, but that's just an impression rather than fact.

As an earlier poster pointed out, the DH has something to do with it. Look at the designated hitters in the league this year: Fernando Seguignol (though he hit only .204, he still got off more than 20 homers), Sherman Obando, Noriyoshi Omichi (who is a good hitter), and Kazuhiro Wada/Toshiaki Inubushi. Only Frank Bolick was a total failure. Derrick May, who hasn't had a good year, has taken over that spot. That is a huge difference in run production potential over the weak hitting CL pitchers (well, except for Kawakami and Moore).

By the same token, though, the Daiei Hawks' pitching staff just absolutely sucked the first half of the season, though they have gotten some nice performances from Kazumi Saito and Hayato Terahara (who now owns the team record for most wins by a rookie pitcher right out of high school with six) lately. Kintetsu's Jeremy Powell has come on like a house on fire, and Hisashi Iwakuma has shown some promise, are still second or third rate for the most part in the arms department. So I think that top to bottom, the CL does have stronger pitching.

Funny you should mention Trey Moore. For a couple of games there mid-season, he was batting .300. One game I went to, people like Hiyama and Imaoka were injured, giving Moore the highest batting average in the line-up! Every time he stepped to the plate, shouts of "4-ban!" could be heard.

Later in the game, we were behind by 1 or 2, and you could tell that Hoshino-kantoku wanted to send out a reliever, but in doing so he'd have retired the guy who had the best statistical chance of getting on base! How embarrassing!

But I digress... back to the CL/PL pitching quality.

A couple of nights ago I was watching a game on TV, and one of the comments men said of Atsushi Kataoka, "He's really struggled this season. He's not been able to handle the subtle breaks that CL pitchers put on the ball." Now, while that doesn't directly say that PL pitchers don't throw subtly breaking balls, to my mind he certainly implied that they don't have the ability to do so.

So what do you think: was that guy (I think it was one of the Hanshin old boys) full of wind, or does he have a valid point?

I have noticed this over the years of watching NPB. IMHO, I think that the Pacific League pitchers are more "in your face". They do not nitpick like the Central League pitchers. I do think this is a result stemming from the DH. The Ce League pitcher may fear retailiation whereas the Pa League pitcher doesn't have to worry about getting hit at his next at-bat.

morosuki

> They do not nitpick like the
> Central League pitchers. I do think this is a result
> stemming from the DH. The Ce League pitcher may fear
> retailiation whereas the Pa League pitcher doesn't
> have to worry about getting hit at his next at-bat.

Interesting; thanks morosuki-san. Perhaps that's why Jeremy Powell threw a couple of "dead balls" last night and started a brawl!

I suppose the lack of the DH system in the Ce League does have one disadvantage: pitchers at bat, not even pretending to be in the slghtest bit interested in hitting the ball. Earlier this year, Tetsuro Kawajiri (who for some reason STILL thinks he can go to MLB) was at bat for Hanshin, and was giving those half-hearted get-me-outa-here swings when suddenly, he hit the ball and made it to first base! The camera switched to Hoshino-kantoku, who, once his laughter subsided, berated the hapless Kawajiri for getting a hit!

Anyways, I must say I like "nitpicky" pitchers of the Ce League (although admittedly I don't see Pa League games that often so it's hard for me to compare). While someone like Yakult's Ryota Igarashi, who blasts batters off the plate, is exciting to watch at times, pitchers who... who... I dunno, what's the word?... pitchers who "put" the ball rather than hurl it (for example the recently retired Nobuyuki Hoshino) provide a must-watch spectacle.