Category Archives: Baseball

Scout Diary: Jan. 25, 2020

It’s back to scouting Japanese amateurs today. I’ve got no assignments to work on today. I was going to look at college outfielders from the website ( http://www.baseballwebtv.com/ ) but couldn’t play any videos from that.

Jump to 1 year as a scout page

Scouting report on Takaya Ishikawa

Instead I thought I’d produce a report on one of the first-round picks from October’s NPB amateur draft, infielder Takaya Ishikawa. Unlike the other high school players I’ve looked at, there wasn’t a ton of video available on youtube, but I like the look of this guy as a hitter. He’s 6’1″, 200 lbs, a third baseman with average speed who is not polished as a fielder but who looks like he was born to hit.

The player he reminds me most of is Hiroshima Carp star Seiya Suzuki — who was also a slugging pitcher-infielder in high school. Suzuki had plus speed however and his fastball off the mound was clocked a little faster than Ishikawa’s.

As the cleanup hitter for Japan at the Under-18 World Cup in November, I figured there might be some video. What I found was even better. The WBSC’s tournament website has every game on video.

Using that, I’m going to comb through every game and have a look at as many players as I can.

Note: It’s vastly harder to make observations of games than it is of highlight videos. Video of games, however, allows you to get do-overs with your stopwatch, but you are at the mercy of camera angles that don’t show the runner crossing the bag at first and so on.

Having been through a number of chats with our experienced instructors, you realize how much there is to see and picking up on those things quickly enough to keep up is an amazing skill I can only marvel at right now.

Anyway, to return to Ishikawa. who will turn 19 in June, here are my notes so far.

Grades

Hitting ability 50 – 60, power 50 – 60, running speed 50 – 50, arm strength 60 – 65, arm accuracy 45 – 55, fielding 50 – 50, range 45 – 50, baseball instinct 60 – 60, aggressiveness 60 – 60. Hits the ball straight away.

Physical description

Tall with a well developed lower body. It looks like his school (Toho HS) doesn’t believe in upper body weight training. A slightly larger version of Seiya Suzuki. A toe tap (like the MLB version of Shohei Ohtani) without any of the typical Japanese high leg kick.

Abilities

Disciplined hitter. He’s looking to drive his pitches. Compact swing, good extension, power to pull and straight-away center. Alert fielder, with sound mechanics and soft hands and quick release.

Weaknesses

Fielding is mechanical, showed some hesitation.

Summation

This is guy knows what he is doing at the plate. He was named as top draft pick by three NPB teams. My main concern is that Chunichi does not have a good track record with developing players strength-training skills. He could definitely build up his frame — as Suzuki has done, but only time will tell.

Takaya Ishikawa

Dolis from Tigers to Blue Jays: Report

Right-hander Rafael Dolis, 32, has agreed to terms on a one-year deal with the Toronto Blue Jays, according to a twitter report by Hanshin Tigers English News, who first reported the story early Sunday morning in Japan.

You can find Dolis’ NPB player page in English HERE.

Rafael Dolis 2019 strikeout collection

Dolis saved 30-plus games in both 2018 and 2019, but was pulled from the closer’s role on July 23, for reasons that are not obvious in his results. The club turned to ageless right-hander Kyuji Fujikawa, who converted every save opportunity that came his way the rest of the year.

You can read Kyodo News’ interview with Fujikawa HERE.

Since he arrived in 2016, Dolis has relied primarily on a fastball, a two-seamer and a split, which has been his most effective pitch and said he perfected with the help of Tigers coaches.

Two-seamers are still considered a rarity in Japan. Among pitchers last season who threw 200 or more of them, Dolis’ was ranked fourth in NPB by data analysis site Delta Graphs. His splitter ranked fifth, which may not sound as impressive until one realizes how many extremely good splitters are thrown here.