Tag Archives: Shogo Akiyama

Baseball, Free, News

The kotatsu league: Buffaloes Jonesing for proven big-league power

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The Orix Buffaloes announced Tuesday they had signed veteran major league outfielder Adam Jones to a two-year deal, according to Kyodo News. Junichi Fukura, the Pacific League club’s general manager, said he expects the 34-year-old to be able to adjust to Japan’s game.

Here’s Jones’ agent, Nez Balelo, talking at the baseball winter meetings about his client’s move:

Nez Balelo: “We didn’t kick around Andruw Jones.”

“A lot of foreign batters struggle with inside pitches, but from the video we’ve seen, it appears he can handle those,” Fukura told reporters at the baseball winter meetings in San Diego.

The contract is reported as being worth $8 million.

HERE’s a link to my review of veteran major-league home run hitters coming to Japan and playing more than one season.

Akiyama, Kikuchi in town for winter meetings

Free agent outfielder Shogo Akiyama arrived at the site of the winter meetings on Tuesday, while Mike Seal, the agent for Hiroshima Carp second baseman Ryosuke Kikuchi revealed to Kyodo News that his client, too, is in San Diego with roughly three weeks to go before the deadline for Kikuchi to sign a contract.

DeNA BayStars outfielder Yoshitomo Tsutsugo, whose posting period will end this week, is also currently in southern California.

Johnson takes his leave of Tigers

Right-handed reliever Pierce Johnson will not return to the Central League’s Hanshin Tigers for a second season, the Daily Sports reported on Tuesday.

Here’s Johnson’s NPB player page.

Johnson’s 40 holds was third in NPB behind Pacific League leader Naoki Miyanishi of the Nippon Ham Fighters’ 43, and Chunichi Dragons lefty Joely Rodriguez‘s 41. Rodriguez has since agreed to a two-year deal with the Texas Rangers.

Johnson’s curveball was rated by Delta Graphs as the most effective of any right-handed pitcher with over 40 innings last season, while his four-seam fastball was well above average.

According to the Daily Sports report, his agent, John Boggs, said he was in talks with nine to 10 big-league clubs.

Meanwhile, the Tigers have reached an agreement to sign pitcher Robert Suarez, who was released by the SoftBank Hawks.

Baseball, Free, News

Akiyama, Tsutsugo talk warming up

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Sports Nippon has reported that outfielder Shogo Akiyama is now in the United States to meet with his agent as major league teams hunker down in San Diego for the baseball winter meetings.

Outfielder Yoshitomo Tsutsugo is also nearby according to a Sankei Sports report, working out in Los Angeles. He will need to sign a contract this week or return to the DeNA BayStars for 2020.

Williams excited about Korean chance

Nothing to do with Japanese baseball, but happy to meet former Nationals manager Matt Williams and ask him about his upcoming gig as manager of KBO’s Kia Tigers.

Asked about the reason for going, Williams put it down to the rapport he had the club’s executives from the get-go when he was surprised to learn he had competed against one of them as a member of the U.S. national university team in a tour of South Korea.

“The organization has told me they want to learn, they want to progress, they want to do different things, and I want to help them do that,” Williams said. “I’m so excited because it’s a chance to do something different. You can go through life and be a coach or whatever and never get to do something like this. So I jumped at the chance.”