This is a site about Pro Yakyu (Japanese Baseball), not about who the next player to go over to MLB is. It's a community of Pro Yakyu fans who have come together to share their knowledge and opinions with the world. It's a place to follow teams and individuals playing baseball in Japan (and Asia), and to learn about Japanese (and Asian) culture through baseball.
It is my sincere hope that once you learn a bit about what we're about here that you will join the community of contributors.
Michael Westbay
(aka westbaystars)
Founder
Well, here we are midway through 2005: Okada-kantoku has stuck with his new combination and the Tigers are 4 games clear at the top of the Ce-League. Toritani hit two home runs against Chunichi last night, including a sayonara blast in the bottom of the 12th, and he's batting .280 with 20 RBIs already (compared to .251 and 17 over the whole of 2004).
Perhaps more tellingly, Imaoka has made 6 errors in his new position, and Fujimoto 4. But Imaoka sits atop the Ce-League in RBIs with 67, although Fujimoto has struggled with the bat recently, managing an average of only .194 in the past month (.226 overall).
So, was Okada right after all?