Tag Archives: Kenichi Yazawa

Baseball, Commentary, Paid Content

Musings 4-7-21

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Silly things people say on TV

Masayuki Kuwahara had three singles a walk and a sacrifice in the leadoff spot for the BayStars in their 7-3 win over the Dragons on Tuesday. “Former manager Ramirez didn’t use him very much but he’s a good player, but a new manager gives him a new attitude.”

— Yasushi Tao

Kuwahara did fall out of favor with Ramirez, who used him as his No. 1 center fielder from his age 22 season in 2016 to 2018. During those three seasons alone, Ramirez played Kuwahara in 403 games and gave him 1,607 plate appearances. Kuwahara is an adequate player, but to say Ramirez didn’t use him very much is kind of silly. Kuwahara was adequate as a starter but has not played well as a reserve.

I don’t think it was a dig on Ramirez as much as it was an explanation of why Kuwahara is playing decently. The answer is probably that he responds to being an everyday player, and that Ramirez felt he had better options.

The prisoner of No. 2, chapter 2

Swallows catcher Yuhei Nakamura was installed as the No. 2 hitter after Norichika Aoki was deactivated due to coronavirus concerns on March 31. In his first game in the spot generally reserved for light-hitting middle infielders, he transformed into a No. 2 hitter, sacrificing twice and striking out twice.

From then until Tuesday, April 7, when his qualifications to bat second were raised, he went 6-for-20 with a walk, two doubles, three runs, a sac fly, three RBIs and no sac bunts.

Mitsuru Manaka, his former Swallows manager started by following the script for batters hitting well in the No. 2 hole, “Nakamura in the No. 2 spot is doing a great job of advancing runners,” before he caught himself.

“Actually, he’s doing a great job of getting on base and creating scoring opportunities,” Manaka said, correcting himself and amending his statement to add that reaching base was an acceptable part of the No. 2 hitter’s job.

Kenichi Yazawa: “When I saw him batting second I did a double-take. I think maybe he’ll find his good batting form and (when he’s good enough) he can bat fifth.”

The exchange tells you that what’s important to Japan’s old school, even though Yazawa is a bit of an iconoclast.

To most talking heads, it’s less important what the No. 2 batter actually does, but whether he matches the proper image. If he’s successful, the knee jerk analysis – such as Manaka’s — is to say he’s doing his part in a small-ball offense by sacrificing. The other giveaway is Yazawa’s impression that a hitter good enough to bat fifth is wasted in the No. 2 hole.

Baseball, History, Paid Content

Cheating, Japanese style

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Now that two MLB managers and one GM have lost their jobs over a sign-stealing scheme, I thought I’d relay this conversation I had with former Chunichi Dragons cleanup hitter Kenichi Yazawa.

A few winters ago, he brought up the topic of the late Morimichi Takagi, who died suddenly on Friday. The taciturn Hall of Fame second baseman had a knack to spot opponents tipping their pitches. From there, the conversation moved to sign stealing, and the elaborate ways Japanese teams went to transmit that information to the guy in the batter’s box.

“Takagi loved finding out how guys tipped their pitches. He’d spot something like where the pitcher’s palm was. He’d tell me what to look for. But when I was at the plate, as hard as I tried, I couldn’t see it,” Yazawa said.

“When he was on the bench, he’d never say anything. He spent every instant concentrating on the pitcher. You could do that with (Yomiuri Giants star Suguru) Egawa. He’d hold the glove in front of his face in his windup, and you could tell by the size of the gap between the top of his glove and the bill of his cap whether it would be a fastball or not.”

“But for me, even if I could figure it out, I didn’t want to know because the whole process messed up my timing if I was thinking about that.”

“A former Taiyo Whales catcher, (Hisaaki) Fukushima. In the late innings once, when the score would be 6-0 or 7-0, he’d say, ‘Yazawa, what kind of pitch do you want next?’ I’d think, what would be good, so I’d say, ‘OK. How about a curve?’ I asked him if I’d really get one, and he said it would be a curve. And it was. So he’d ask if I wanted another one, and it here it came.”

“I liked to think along with the pitcher, try to guess based on the kind of pitcher he was. This type we’ll probably throw this, while another type of pitcher would throw that.”

“At old Nagoya Stadium, the Dragons used to station a scout inside the scoreboard. They weren’t like the electronic ones now. They had numbers and letters on boards. If we were playing the Giants, there would be a “G” and below it a “D.” If a curve or a breaking ball was coming, the scout would wiggle the “D,” so you’re there looking at, it’s in your line of sight to the pitcher. If it didn’t move, it meant the next pitch was a fastball.”

“That stuff all started with (Hall of Fame catcher Katsuya) Nomura with the Nankai Hawks. Blazer, Don Blasingame, was involved in that. He was really good at it. Another of the coaches they had at Nankai was Takeshi Koba.”

“Koba liked to do that when he was the manager in Hiroshima. At old Hiroshima Shimin, they had a member of the team staff in the scoreboard and there was a light in the scoreboard that would flash once for fastball and twice for a curve. Actually, I was the one who discovered that. After that they quit. Later they used a radio signal to trigger a buzzer that Koji Yamamoto and Sachio Kinugasa and players like that would have concealed in their sliding pants.”

Dr. Gail Hopkins, who played two years for the Carp when Koba was their manager and finished his Japan career with the Hawks under Nomura and “Blazer” — as Blasingame was known — has confirmed Yazawa’s account.