The kotatsu league: VerHagen poised to sign with Fighters

The Nippon Ham Fighters announced they have come to terms with Detroit Tigers right-hander Drew VerHagen on Tuesday. In a Japanese language press release, VerHagen was quoted as saying he was eager to be coming to Japan, having heard so much about the country from others.

No contract terms were announced by the Fighters. The following is a translation of manager Hideki Kuriyama’s comments relayed by the club:

“Without a doubt, as we go through the process of regrouping, one of our absolute needs was for a starting pitcher. VerHagen has the quality to be considered in an MLB team’s starting pitching plans for next season. We had a number of options available to us and are very happy to have been able to have him join the Fighters. He’s thrown as hard as 158 kph (98.2 mph) with a good sinker, a power curve, a slider, and a changeup. He’s a very well balanced pitcher. I’ve heard he’s big on preparation and so perhaps he can adjust quickly to Japanese baseball. He has the potential to be a big right-handed rotation anchor for us, and I’m grateful to our U.S. based scouts.”

Kuriyama didn’t mention that FanGraphs has called some of his pitches splitters. A lot of people don’t know this but being able to throw six pitches in competition makes you eligible for Japanese citizenship since you will be indistinguishable from the other pitchers in NPB.

Last season, the Fighters became the first modern Japanese team to use an opener and a “short starter” — a starting pitcher whose job was to go through the order either once or twice, a plan which caused former New York Mets pitcher Masato Yoshii to end his second stint as the club’s pitching coach after yet another policy disagreement with Kuriyama.The

The Detroit News had a nice writeup of this story.

Marines land coveted reserve outfielder Fukuda

The Marines have landed — a free agent outfielder — that is. After failing to land two-time Central League MVP Yoshihiro Maru a year ago, Lotte has succeeded in getting SoftBank Hawks fourth outfielder Shuhei Fukuda, a bench player in Fukuoka largely because of the Hawks deep frontline talent in the outfield.

According to Sports Nippon, the 30-year-old Fukuda selected the Marines because of his relationship with head coach Yusuke Torigoe, who had been with him as a Hawks coach until 2018, saying, “I’ve been able to make it this far, largely because of him.”

The Seibu Lions, Rakuten Eagles, Chunichi Dragons and Yakult Swallows had also been pursuing Fukuda.

Haraguchi reveals cancer severity

On Sunday, the Daily Sports reported on Hanshin Tigers catcher Fumihito Haraguchi’s visit to a cancer care facility. On Jan. 24, Haraguchi announced he had been diagnosed with colon cancer and had surgery two days later.

Haraguchi’s English language player page is HERE. The 27-year-old revealed that although he returned to play 43 games this season, the follow-up examination after his surgery revealed that his cancer was at stage 3B, meaning:


Stage IIIB: The cancer has grown into or through the outermost layer of the colon or rectum and may have spread into nearby organs or tissues. The cancer has spread to up to three lymph nodes near the primary site, but has not spread to distant organs.

Cancer Treatment Centers of America, colorectal cancer stages.

He began having treatment in cycles composed of four weeks of drug therapy and two weeks of rest. Although the team told him to be patient and come back when he was fully fit, Haraguchi opted for a plan to receive treatment over a five-year period while still playing, and his physician credited that desire to play with boosting his recovery.

“My doctor liked baseball and encouraged me to play as much as I could,” Haraguchi said. “The plan is receive treatment as I play five years, although that demands careful monitoring of my situation.”

Simply being able to play would have been testament enough, but Haraguchi wrote the most melodramatic script allowable.

In his first at-bat of the season, he delivered a two-out, RBI pinch-hit double in Chiba. Five days later, on June 9, he batted with one on and two outs in the ninth at Koshien Stadium, and hit a sayonara home run off Nippon Ham Fighters closer Ryo Akiyoshi..

Haraguchi was encouraged by the chief physician at the care facility to reveal his situation.

“I was able to give the children (receiving treatment) courage,” he said after he had avoided revealing his situation all year. “The head doctor implored me to speak out, and I told the team that.”

“I’ve been able to compete while going through this. There are people who are doing their best fighting illnesses, and can resume working. They can even play sports. I wanted to relate that.”