Since Hideo Nomo's spectacular rookie season in 1995, a number of Japanese pitchers have proven capable of competing at the major league level. Lately, it's the lesser lights from the Land of the Rising Sun who have been shining bright.
In 2000, big names Nomo and Masato Yoshii (who was waived by the Rockies earlier this week and could be on his way out of Denver soon) have struggled through horrendous seasons, Hideki Irabu continues to be a big-league bust, and Japan's all-time saves leader Kazuhiro Sasaki has been solid, but not dominant, as an MLB freshman.
Meanwhile, Shigetoshi Hasegawa, Makoto "Mac" Suzuki and Tomokazu "Tomo" Ohka -- three moundsmen from the Kinki region of western Japan -- have all emerged from relative obscurity and settled into key roles with their respective American League teams.
Hasegawa, who pitched for the Orix BlueWave from 1991-96, jumped to the Anaheim Angels in 1997 with little fanfare. He served primarily as a mop-up man in the bullpen his first three years in Disneyland, where he slumped last season to four wins, six losses and a 4.91 earned run average. This year has been a different story for the 32-year-old right-hander from Kobe. Through Tuesday's action, he was sporting an 8-3 record and a tidy ERA of 3.26 on an Angels team battling to stay in the playoff hunt.
Used mainly as a set-up man this year, Hasegawa has also recorded eight saves while replacing regular closer Troy Percival, who missed most of August with tendinitis. Until allowing a run against Boston last week, Hasegawa had racked up 23 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings over 15 appearances, the longest shutout streak by an AL reliever this season. In fact, he hadn't allowed an earned run in 30 2/3 innings over 19 appearances. Not too shabby for a guy who was in a dogfight to keep his job back in spring training. Hasegawa made an effort to fit in right away three years ago by shunning the use of an interpreter. He gladly takes on whatever role manager Mike Scioscia needs him for, and by all accounts, "Shiggy" is well-liked by his teammates. It's gratifying to see such an affable person -- in contrast to the surly, camera-smashing Irabu -- succeed on the big stage.
Suzuki, another native of Kobe, is the only Japanese player to bypass domestic pro ball en route to the majors, crossing the Pacific at the tender age of 17. He toiled for one season with an independent team in the Class-A California League, then in 1993, was signed by the Japanese-owned Seattle Mariners.
Suzuki's signing drew a great deal of attention here; it opened up the possibility of a Japanese playing in the majors for the first time since Masanori Murakami pitched for the San Francisco Giants in 1964-65. Suzuki even appeared in TV commercials wearing a Mariners uniform, although it would be years of battling through injuries and inconsistency on the farm before he got his first taste of big-league action.
When the call finally came in 1996, Suzuki's debut was inauspicious: one and one-third innings of work in which he yielded three runs. He spent most of the next three seasons bouncing up and down between Seattle and Triple-A Tacoma before the Mariners eventually gave up on him. They shipped him off to the New York Mets in June 1999, but only four days later the Mets placed him on waivers. Suzuki then landed in Kansas City, where he's found a home as a starter with the low-budget Royals.
Suzuki is currently 7-7 with a 4.00 ERA, highly respectable numbers on a lousy team in this season of huge offensive numbers. After Mac's sterling four-hit shutout against Baltimore on Aug. 19, Royals third baseman Joe Randa had this to say: "Suzuki's got to be our MVP of the pitching staff. He's been consistent since day one."
The Mariners must now be lamenting the day they off-loaded Suzuki (who was still only 24 at the time) after investing all those years in his development.
Heading into this season, the least-known of Japan's pitching products in North America was probably Ohka. He joined the Boston Red Sox organization following five unimpressive seasons split between the Yokohama BayStars and their minor-league club. In '99, his first year abroad, the Kyoto native streaked to a combined 15-0 record at Double-A and Triple-A.
Ohka wasn't able to crack Boston's lineup this past spring, but that didn't discourage him. With Triple-A Pawtucket, he made sure he wouldn't be forgotten. On June 1 against Charlotte, the 24-year-old became just the third pitcher in the 117-year history of the International League to toss a nine-inning perfect game.
Two weeks later, Ohka grabbed some more attention, this time with his actions off the field. Doing little to dispel the perception that Japanese and Koreans don't get along very well, Ohka and pitching teammate Sun Woo Kim got into a shoving match in the dugout during a rain delay in Durham, N.C. The very next morning, Durham police were summoned when the pair got into another scuffle at the team's hotel. Ohka reportedly needed six stitches to repair a cut mouth, and the two pitchers were suspended for five games each.
After those altercations, Ohka made a couple of brief, uninspiring appearances with Boston before being called up Aug. 7 for what looks like the long haul. Since being inserted into a starting rotation that's very thin beyond Pedro Martinez, Ohka has been superb. Prior to a no-decision Monday against Tampa Bay, he had won three straight starts to help Boston stay near the top of the AL wild-card race. Overall, Ohka's record stands at 3-2 with a stingy 3.00 ERA.
Hasegawa, Suzuki and Ohka deserve a lot of credit, first for having the courage to pursue their major league dreams, then for sticking it out through the hard times. Hopefully, they'll inspire other Japanese ballplayers to do the same -- even those without the raw talent of a Nomo or an Irabu.