Fernando

I met him twice, but he never really showed me that he's interested in interacting with fans too much.

I actually meant to bring this up myself. Despite being in a minor slump (hitless in the last couple games), Seguignol is batting .403/.492/.886. His 60 hits include 32 extra base hits (20 homers, 12 doubles). He's even drawn 24 walks.

Basically, this is not the confused guy I watched with Orix in 2002, when he seemed to strike out every other time up. He had some power, but rarely made contact and didn't last the whole season.

Any ideas on why he's doubled his batting average? Was he injured in 2002? Culture shock? I no longer live in Japan, so I haven't seen him in person. I can't figure it out, because he's back in the Pacific League, facing mostly the same pitchers - except for Orix. Now he gets to face Orix, which may explain some of this.

The reason that Fernando is doing so well this time around is that he isn't trying to hit the ball 900 miles everytime he comes to the plate. He is focusing on taking the ball back up the middle. It's a simple change, but look at what it did for Tadahito Iguchi and Bret Boone. Fernando knows that he has more than enough power to hit the ball out in Japan with a line drive, so that accounts for his success.

What he's doing is rare. I can't think of a player who has played in Japan, failed, and then come back to have the kind of improvement we've seen. It's even rare among the few players who went to Japan and were successful, went back to MLB, and then came back to Japan again.