Struth! Williams is a flamin' Aussie, mate!

Dave Nilsson played with Chunichi (I think) in 2000.

Dave Nilsson was registered as Dingo. He played for the Dragons in 2000. He was released in the middle of the 2000 season.

Checking my database, I see that Paul Gonzalez, who played for Orix in 1999, was also from Austrailia.

I'm afraid that my database only goes back to 1996, and isn't complete - especially regarding foreign players who came mid-season, but I'm sure that there have been more.

Thanks for the replies, people. I'm rather surprised, though, at the number of Australians in NPB (and, for that matter, MLB). I wonder what you folks think...

Perhaps I'm wrong, but I don't see Australia as a baseball-playing nation. I know they have a national team, and participate in baseball world cups and Olympic competitions, but they seem too mad about cricket to be much of a baseball power.

In light of that, I think that Sankei Sports reported that Jeff Williams became the 9th Australian to make it to the top-flight in MLB, and your posts indicating that there were three Aussies in NPB before Williams represent quite an achievement for Australia.

Am I wrong in that assessment? Are Australias actually a major presence in the baseball world?

- Am I wrong in that assessment? Are Australians actually a major presence in the baseball world?

I wouldn't label them as a major presence but there's certainly talent there. The next star from Down Under could be Justin Huber, a highly-touted catcher in the Mets' system who is on track to be the eventual replacement for Mike Piazza in New York.

Baseball America recently brokedown the number of foreigners playing Major League Baseball by country. Australia tied with South Korea at 6.

Again, very interesting. Educational, too (I had to look up Aruba on a map!)

In that case, pop quiz!: who can name four Australian baseball players (NPB or MLB) from memory? Honesty system - no cheating please. I, BTW, can't; the best I can do is three.

Graeme Lloyd (Yankees, Expos, Blue Jays)
Craig Shipley (Padres?)
Dave Nilsson (Brewers)
Damian Moss (Braves)

I can't name four off the top on my head now, but that probably won't be the case for much longer. According to The Daily Telegraph, about 80 Australian players are currently active in the US minor leagues, with about one out of nine Aussie recruits making it to the majors.

That's an interesting story, and pretty impressive when you think about it. Two parts of it made me wonder, though.

Firstly, while non-baseball-savvy Aussies might have accepted "write your own check" without a second thought, I wonder to what extent that is true. I s'pose it was only a figure of speech, tho'.

Secondly, it said one in nine Australians "make the major leagues." I wonder how many of them "make it in the major leagues."

[Admin: Let's try to keep this to those that "make it" in Japan. This isn't an MLB forum.]

[Admin: Let's try to keep this to those that "make it" in Japan. This isn't an MLB forum.]

Oops, sorry... good point.

And it raises another one: apparently only a few Australians have played in the NPB, and they don't appear to have been very spectacular. However, with 80 in the USA leagues and 1 in 9 making MLB, that seems to hint at a high standard of which NPB's Aussies weren't typical.

Can we rightly expect future Australian NPB players to be better than they have thus far (or, in other words, were Dingo et al not up to the average Aussie standard)? And, on a lighter note, what will the "hero interview" interpreters make of "Struth mate! Oi'm feelin' roolly bonzer roight now! That peetcher was red 'ot, but oi managed to heet a flamin' bewdy outa the paddock!" ... or something like that (apologies to any Australians for my weak impression).

There's also Mark Hutton, who pitched for the Yanks and Marlins.

Chris Snelling is on the Seattle Mariners' 40 Man roster this year. In 2002, he played a few games until he broke his leg sliding into home and won over the Mariner fans with his enthusiasm.

A listing of all Australia born major leaguers can be found here [BaseballReference.com].

The February 15, 2003 Tacoma News Tribune [Link] has an article on Australian Chris Shipley's progress this spring training with the Seattle Mariners.

Excuse my error, I meant Chris Snelling of the Seattle Mariners.

- Baseball America recently brokedown the number of foreigners playing Major League Baseball by country. Australia tied with South Korea at 6.

Great link, but I also enjoyed the writer's naivete in terming Puerto Rico a foreign country. And some of you think that baseball writers just get it wrong about Japan....

Eric

Based on the three games I've seen him pitch in, this Jeff Williams guy appears to be great. No wonder Hoshino-kantoku called him okaidoku (a bargain)!

He hasn't given up a run in his three games so far, and yesterday was the first time that any batter had managed to get a hit off him (only one, though). Sun TV commentator Yutaka Fukumoto, formerly of the [Hankyu] Braves, says that left-handed Williams' side-arm action means that it's hard to see exactly where the ball's coming from (especially for left-handed batters).

This guy was passed over by MLB teams? It seems (albeit based on only three games) that the MLB's loss is Hanshin's gain.

This guy was passed over by MLB teams?

Willams produced a 7.49 ERA in 57.67 IP for the Dodgers, who play in one of the most pitcher-friendly ballparks in the league. Happy he's pitching well for the Tigers. Hope it lasts.

-- This guy was passed over by MLB teams?

- Willams produced a 7.49 ERA in 57.67 IP for the Dodgers, who play in one of the most pitcher-friendly ballparks in the league.

Can't argue with that... In that case, good for him for doing this well so far. He didn't pitch in last night's game (Igawa pitched all nine innings), but given those MLB figures, it'll be interesting to see just how well he does.

-- This guy was passed over by MLB teams?

- Willams produced a 7.49 ERA in 57.67 IP for the Dodgers, who play in one of the most pitcher-friendly ballparks in the league.

Perhaps we're beginning to see that part now. For the past month or so, Williams has started to look a litle tired (he's had quite a heavy workload). In order to lighten his load, Hanshin has taken to using him only when they are winning by 2 runs or less. Tonight (June 1), with a 1-run lead, Williams gave up a sayonara 2-run HR to Yomiuri's Takahashi Yoshinobu.

[westbaystars: I'd like to point out that he was also brought in in an eighth inning pinch to retire the side. I know that Sasaki tended to be less effective coming in in the eighth inning than in the nineth. One of those mental things? Anyway, when you're used to pitching one inning, even pitching to one batter then going to a break can have an adverse effect on a closer's return to the mound.]

Here's hoping it (and the ever-so-slightly ominous form of the past few games) was just a blip, and that he bounces back straight away.

- I'd like to point out that he was also brought in in an eighth inning pinch to retire the side.

Aha! You saw it? In that case, I'd like to ask you: did you think it was entirely necessary to bring Williams out at that stage? Sure it was Kiyohara at the plate with Eto on base (2 outs), but I thought it was pretty hard on Ando (who Williams replaced at the mound).

Ah well, hindsight is 20-20 and it's very easy to second guess. As former Chunichi (?) pitcher and current TV personality, Bando Eiji said on MBS radio's "Tigers Nighter," better lose now and learn from the experience than to lose a vital game later in the season when there's no more time to put those lessons into practice.

[digression]
Speaking of Bando, he once said that he has a very unenviable record. Apparently, he has the worst ERA for pitchers in Nippon Series games. My memory of what he said is very vague, but I think it was something along the lines of: he was the starting pitcher in a Nippon Series game, but gave up hits or HRs or some combination of both to consecutive batters. He was pulled from the game and never played in a Nippon Series game again. Don't quote me, though.
[/digression]

As I'm still in the middle of moving into our new (used) home (thus the very little writing lately, and almost no replying to e-mail), I can't say if Andoh didn't have anything left. In fact, looking at the box score in today's Nikkan Sports, it looks to me like my memory had a gap in it. I thought it was Williams who came in with bases loaded in the eighth to strike out the final batter. It was Andoh's striking out Motoki to end the threat in the seventh that I was thinking of. Of course, Andoh juiced the bases with a walk to Kiyohara and a base hit to Saitoh before the dramatic ending.

So, should Hoshino-kantoku have brought in Williams in the eighth after Andoh had given up just one hit to pinch hitting Etoh? I don't think so. Not based on Andoh's pitching (and Murata's line drive to short seemed to surprise Kuji that he had it - not a good omen), but rather, as I mentioned before, bringing in the Daimajin (Sasaki) in the eighth inning often backfired. With today's specialization of pitchers, I'm rather timmid to suggest bringing in a closer in the eighth inning for any reason other than having no one else to turn to.

Now, others have commented that there is nobody else that Hoshino-kantoku believes in. That was the most likely explaination for why he gave the ball to Williams. (I've often wondered why Yamashita-kantoku (Yokohama) keeps bringing in Whiteside with runners on when it takes him two or three batters to get his first out. I don't suppose anybody out there can explain that one to me?)

Personally, I'd have probably stuck with Andoh for one more batter while someone (along with Williams) got ready. But I'd have still gone with Williams for the nineth. If he's the closer and hasn't expressed that he may be trouble that night, that's his job. And I'm pretty sure that pretty much all Japanese managers who have found an effective closer would do the same, allowing the closer several failures in a row before giving him a rest.

Even Sasaki and Takatsu go through short terms of ineffectiveness. Hanshin just had a number of one run games against Yokohama, so I'm sure that Williams is in need of a bit of a rest. But to give him a rest, who would you recommend take the mound against the mighty Giants late in the game with a one run lead?

- Now, others have commented that there is nobody else that Hoshino-kantoku believes in. That was the most likely explanation for why he gave the ball to Williams.

I suppose it's understandable, too, given Williams' brilliant form thus far. And, of course, as you so rightly point out...

- But to give [Williams] a rest, who would you recommend take the mound against the mighty Giants late in the game with a one run lead?

Exactly. With a choice between Williams in need of a rest and someone like Taninaka (given that Yoshino and Ando had already pitched by that stage), the rational choice would be Williams, any day of the week. Sort of takes us back to this thread [What was Hoshino trying to achieve?], doesn't it?

[digression frequency="too-many"]
Perhaps this is an un-Hanshin fan-like thing to say, but I have tickets to the Kyojin-Hanshin game at Tokyo Dome on June 2 (Hanshin side of the ground, of course), and the recent 3-game card, with its closely fought games, makes me really excited because it means that the next YG vs. HT card will likely be just as closely contested.
[/digression]

I'm sure most are familiar with what the Boston Red Sox are doing this season in the MLB, but to recap, they are trying to redefine the closer's role, and saying the most effective use of the closer, is not necessarily in the 9th with no one on, but rather in more crucial situations in late innings.

The media has misconstrued this to mean "bullpen-by-committee," simply because not one person would get all the save opportunities. But setting aside the save statistic, what they are saying is that with runners in scoring position in the 8th, and the defending team leading by say 1-2 runs, who would you rather have out there, a marginal set-upper, or a Daimajin? So when the Daimajin comes out and strikes out the rest of the batters and preserves the lead, that may have been the most crucial part of the game when you need a STOPPER.

Of course, this isn't working for the 'Sox all that well, simply because they don't have someone as effective as a Gagne or Smoltz (and perhaps this will be Byung Hyun Kim's role).

The relevence of this to this thread is, I think Hoshino made the right move by bringing Williams out in the 8th to preserve the lead in a crucial situation, where there's a runner in scoring position while nursing a one-run lead. Now there's still one inning, and I, personally, would have brought someone else in because a) Williams is much more effective in one-inning situations than having to wait for his side to bat and return to the mound, and b) because Williams didn't look that great despite getting out of the jam.

Sure, he wouldn't have gotten the save if someone else came on in the 9th and closed the game, but is that what's most important here? Hoshino is much smarter than me, so who's to say another pitcher in the 9th wouldn't have produced the same results? ... But I think it's time managers stopped sticking to the "closer" so he can get the precious save tacked on his record.

Jeff Williams picked up his second save Friday night (4/4) to preserve Irabu's second win.

You guys forgot Luke Prokopec, the Aussie pitcher who, in his first season with the Dodgers, went something like 8-1 to start the season and was in the running for the rookie of the year. He got traded by the Dodgers to Toronto, then back to LA and is now on the IRL for the Reds.

Dave Nielson was a MLB All-Star and Lloyd won a World Series ring while he was with the Yankees.

As for Williams, I saw him strike out Barry Bonds on a full count with the bases loaded at Candlestick Park. Williams started the game and it was the last game ever played in Candlestick Park and set a record for attendance.

He started off as a starter for the Dodgers but had spent a lot some time on the IRL after surgery, hence the fact I think that he was passed over by MLB teams and ended up in Japan. He is now pitching side arm which he never did until last year, so his versatility is great.

There have been quite a few young Aussie pitchers signed by MLB teams over the last few years. Baseball is not big in Australia, but there are a lot of great athletes and they seem to be playing baseball!

Thanks for the info; very interesting.

Williams got smacked around a little in May, culminating in a bottom-of-the-ninth HR to Yoshinobu Takahashi, giving the game to the Giants. But he redeemed himself well last night, mopping up the Dragons to preserve the Tigers' 5-2 lead.

I wouldn't say he got smacked around, he had one bad night and still got the save, and he blew one save opportunity when he gave up 2 runs. Not bad for 20 plus appearances.

I think it is unfair that his all-star votes are being split by people voting him as a long reliever and as a closer. The league should combine his votes! Any other opinions on the all-star voting out there?