[Talk about baseball academies snipped...] Let's say the top HS player in Japan, if we try to lure him to the U.S., I guarantee you Mark Prior would be high on a team's list in Japan at the next draft. If we raid their talent they will do the same to us.
I have to strongly disagree, here. Yes, the "powers that be" in Japan will do everything that they can to keep their Koshien stars in Japan. But they won't be going after North American high school prospects in retaliation. For starters, the foreign player limit rule will seriously handicap them from being able to do so. Furthermor, while "revenge" is a word slowly creaping into Japanese baseball vocabulary, I don't think that even Watanabe-owner would stoop so low as to use a kid as a pawn in a "do unto others" brawl. No. They'll adapt rules to make it harder, but I don't see retaliation as being a factor.
There were several other comments that I don't necessarily agree with. But he's entitled to his opinion. And I thought he answered pretty well over all.
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
http://dynamic.espn.go.com/espn/chat/chatESPN?event_id=1774