Yokohama: Pitching over Hitting
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Re: Yokohama: Pitching over Hitting
[ Author: Guest: Jim Allen | Posted: Feb 4, 2007 10:32 AM
]
Yes. Ohya was responsible for several of the changes that led to the offensive explosion after he left. Of course, he didn't create the mountain of young talent, either. When Ohya arrived the BayStars were the youngest team in Japan and not half-bad. He did three things:
Yes. The BayStars won a pennant without a lot of power, but that was because the batters developed into high-average guys up and down the lineup. Before that it was a decent foreign hitter and one or two guys who broke .300 with no power. The only player who didn't pull his weight in the lineup was Norihiro Komada.
For two years in 1998 and 1999, the BayStars had a decent offense. They have been below average (in terms of quality) in every other year since they moved to Yokohama.
There is so much irony in the BayStars' story, however. Although the offensive explosion occurred in Gondoh's first two season, his main improvement was organizing the pitching staff and getting the most out of their talents. He created a devastating middle-relief rotation.
The pitching suffered in 2006, but it was first rate in 2005. It could easily be better than the Dragons' in 2007. The only problem is, while the Dragons have the best offense in the league, the BayStars do not. If Yoshimura becomes really good, really fast the 'Stars could have enough offense to finish third or fourth again.
- Make Takuro Ishii a shortstop - he was overqualified at third base and shortstop was being handled by players with less range and less offense.
- Make Motonobu Tanishige the everyday catcher and school him (Ohya was a catcher) so the experiment worked. For several years, Akimoto and Tanishige had been splitting the catching duties.
- Further clarify the roles of the starting pitchers and get them to trust Tanishige.
Yes. The BayStars won a pennant without a lot of power, but that was because the batters developed into high-average guys up and down the lineup. Before that it was a decent foreign hitter and one or two guys who broke .300 with no power. The only player who didn't pull his weight in the lineup was Norihiro Komada.
For two years in 1998 and 1999, the BayStars had a decent offense. They have been below average (in terms of quality) in every other year since they moved to Yokohama.
There is so much irony in the BayStars' story, however. Although the offensive explosion occurred in Gondoh's first two season, his main improvement was organizing the pitching staff and getting the most out of their talents. He created a devastating middle-relief rotation.
The pitching suffered in 2006, but it was first rate in 2005. It could easily be better than the Dragons' in 2007. The only problem is, while the Dragons have the best offense in the league, the BayStars do not. If Yoshimura becomes really good, really fast the 'Stars could have enough offense to finish third or fourth again.
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I agree with the author that Yokohama has done little to fix their offense over the past several seasons (since Gondoh-kantoku left, as he/she says). Hitters' park or not, the BayStars' pitching staff has needed help for quite a while. With the exception of Miura (who's pitched brilliantly without much to show for it due to the lack of offense), ippatsu byo (an illness whereby pitchers vomit home runs) in late innings of close games has been an ailment that has needed serious addressing. I felt that the "Quarto K" relief quartet was very effective the later part of the season last year in finally conquering ippatsu byo. So, yea, a little more focus on offense would have been nice.
Here's a pull quote from the article:The author makes it sound like Gondoh-kantoku came in and changed the way the team works. He inherited the team from Ohya-kantoku, who is returning for 2007. It was Ohya-kantoku who I credit with building that championship 1998 team, Gondoh-kantoku continuing the "let the 'Stars play" attitude that Ohya-kantoku had started. Both managers left after butting heads with the front office about the way the team should be run, a sign that they were doing things right. And they were doing it with these singles and doubles hitters, not with power.