Category Archives: Commentary

NPB news: March 7, 2023

Playing catchup in Osaka with baseball morning, noon and night. So please forgive the delays. Today, I’ve got stuff on Japanese pitching mounds from someone who knows, WBC warm-up game notes, and some more fun stuff.

So let’s get started

Japanese mounds getting more uniform

Since the 2014 MLB tour of Japan, NPB stadium mounds have, one-by-one, been changing. That November, groundskeepers transformed Koshien Stadium’s mound to MLB specs, using American Black Stick clay bricks, and pitchers did not complain.

“No complaints means you’re doing it perfectly, because you’re never going to get compliments in Japan,” said Yosuke Iwata, the Orix Buffaloes’ chief groundskeeper at Kyocera Dome Osaka, which hosted WBC warm-up games in previous tournaments and underwent the same transformation.

Continue reading NPB news: March 7, 2023

NPB news: Feb. 13, 2023

Today in Japanese baseball, Tsuyoshi Shinjo scapegoats his coaches, players are making changes ahead of the WBC and not everyone is happy about it, while the man who wrote the books on Japanese baseball is honored with a prestigious award just and also batted 1.000 in predicting the Tokyo governor’s response to the looming Jingu Gaien disaster.

It’s a busy day so let’s get to it.

Continue reading NPB news: Feb. 13, 2023