Kosuke Fukudome touched on his puzzlingly disappointing five-year MLB career during March’s MLB opening series, saying he failed miserably in an area where current Chicago Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga has succeeded magnificently.
Because of MLB’s deeper talent base, very few players who go over in their prime are able to achieve success comparable to their achievements in NPB.
But no player who stayed any length in MLB suffered as big a drop in his contributions to team wins, measured by Bill James’ Win Shares, as Fukudome. Even Kazuo Matsui, who struggled mightily at first, eventually found his feet.
And few players who returned years later have been able to produce the way Fukudome did when he came back to Japan with the Hanshin Tigers as a 36-year-old in 2013.
Speaking at Tokyo Dome, Fukudome said he was too old and too Japanese to make good adjustments to a baseball career overseas.
“So many things suddenly change, starting from your living conditions, and it’s a question of whether you can adjust sufficiently or not,” he told jballallen.com.
“The adjustments are easier to make I think if one goes to America when younger, and I think if I had gone when I was younger, things might have been different.”
Fukudome, a deserving MVP in 2006, when he led the Central League in average, on-base percentage and slugging average in the CL’s toughest pitchers’ park, made his MLB debut with the Chicago Cubs two weeks shy of his 31st birthday.
“When I look back, I think it would have been far better had I been more assertive,” he said. “It is typical for Japanese to be restrained in whatever circumstance they find themselves.”
“But if I hadn’t been like that, if I had just let my innermost self out more and more, I think it would have been different and a heck of a lot more fun as well. That was my failure and my great regret. Not a lot of Japanese are capable of doing that.”
Iwanaga, whose signature moment in Japan was his stoic, almost indifferent response to his June 7, 2022 no-hit shutout, spoke Sunday about his expressiveness since moving to America, where he began his introductory press conference with Chicago by reciting the team’s victory song.
“Previously (in Japan) I felt there were set expectations about how I had to behave, but in the U.S. Baseball is a part of my life and I want to enjoy it. Without worrying about others’ expectations for me, I am determined to be myself,” Imanaga said.
The admission blew Fukudome away.
“When I heard Imanaga’s comments, I thought that was so amazing,” Fukudome said. “While he’s showing respect for his opponents, he’s found a way to really express himself more and more. His taking a clear stance on that was extremely significant.”
