Junichi Tazawa - Baseball San
Junichi Tazawa made his much-awaited starting debut for the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday night against the Detroit Tigers at Fenway Park. Tazawa had a limited number of starts at AAA before being fast-tracked to the big leagues, due partly to John Smoltz being DFA'd.
The 23-year-old pitcher out of Japan's college system had his first taste of the show on Friday night, where he gave up a walk of home run, snapping a 0-0 tie in the 15th inning to the Yankees' Alex Rodriguez.
Pitchers from Japan usually come to the big leagues with a number of years pitching already under their belt. Tazawa was different in that he had opted out of Japan's amateur draft in order to be signed as a free agent in America. For these reasons Tazawa's debut as a starter was one of the more unique that we will see in baseball.
The young man had a rought start, giving up 3 runs in the first inning, mostly down to Nick Green and Dustin Pedroia's inability to turn a double play. Tazawa, however, did not seem to let this shake him, pitching with remarkable composure, even when he was sat on the bench for nearly half an hour after a bench clearing brawl in the bottom of the second inning, which resulted in Kevin Youkilis and Rick Porcello both being ejected from the game (which actually spoilt what would have been an excellent pitching match-up between the two rookies).
Brooksbaseball.net is a rather awesome resource for in-depth pitch f/x data, from which I have stolen this scattergraph thingy that shows the location of Tazawa's pitches in relation to the strikezone.
The 23-year-old pitcher out of Japan's college system had his first taste of the show on Friday night, where he gave up a walk of home run, snapping a 0-0 tie in the 15th inning to the Yankees' Alex Rodriguez.
Pitchers from Japan usually come to the big leagues with a number of years pitching already under their belt. Tazawa was different in that he had opted out of Japan's amateur draft in order to be signed as a free agent in America. For these reasons Tazawa's debut as a starter was one of the more unique that we will see in baseball.
The young man had a rought start, giving up 3 runs in the first inning, mostly down to Nick Green and Dustin Pedroia's inability to turn a double play. Tazawa, however, did not seem to let this shake him, pitching with remarkable composure, even when he was sat on the bench for nearly half an hour after a bench clearing brawl in the bottom of the second inning, which resulted in Kevin Youkilis and Rick Porcello both being ejected from the game (which actually spoilt what would have been an excellent pitching match-up between the two rookies).
Brooksbaseball.net is a rather awesome resource for in-depth pitch f/x data, from which I have stolen this scattergraph thingy that shows the location of Tazawa's pitches in relation to the strikezone.
As you can see Tazawa was tight around the zone (if you want some sort of perspective, compare his locations to those of Oliver Perez, pitching for the Mets last night against the Diamondbacks), the home plate umpire was farily generous in calling the scattering of fastballs and sliders to the right of the zone as strikes, resulting in Tazawa getting some key backwards Ks. Brooks clocked his pitch types as a fastball (2 and 4 seam), a curve and a changeup; although I would argue Tazawa mixes a slider in there as an out pitch. Tazawa primarily uses his chanegup outside the zone which takes marginally longer to reach the plate than his other pitches, excluding the curveball. The curveball was the pitch that really impressed me and demonstarted the variety in Tazawa's stuff, throwing it for strikes 57.89% of the time (according to Brooks' gameday tracker). He did get away with leaving a couple hanging tantalisingly towards the middle of the outside edge of the plate but, hey, the kid's a rookie!
After the first inning Tazawa pitched rather brilliantly and looked like he could be a solid part of the Sox's rotation. Fangraphs also notes that, judging by his minor league numbers, Tazawa has success against left-handers striking out 25% of the lefties he faced and walking only 8%. This is a particular assett for Boston after John Smoltz got frankly murdered by lefties, particularly in his last start at Yankee stadium where they were 9 for 13 against him.
Judging from this first outing (and I'll be watching JT's next few starts to see how he continues) I'd rather have Junichi Tazawa in my rotation than John Smoltz, and it's not even that close!
After the first inning Tazawa pitched rather brilliantly and looked like he could be a solid part of the Sox's rotation. Fangraphs also notes that, judging by his minor league numbers, Tazawa has success against left-handers striking out 25% of the lefties he faced and walking only 8%. This is a particular assett for Boston after John Smoltz got frankly murdered by lefties, particularly in his last start at Yankee stadium where they were 9 for 13 against him.
Judging from this first outing (and I'll be watching JT's next few starts to see how he continues) I'd rather have Junichi Tazawa in my rotation than John Smoltz, and it's not even that close!
Very nice post, you cover everything don't you. Hey, I am a die hard Indians fan, please stop by my blog and comment if you would :)
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Thanks for commenting, I will try to get Masterson to start pitching Cy Youngesque just for you buddy! :) good luck with fantasy.
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Hey, I have a new post up and the Indians won!
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