Japanese high school pitcher Tomohiro Anraku

[John_Havok]

Just do it.

 

[John_Havok]

Nobody can accuse Japanese pitchers of being babied.

[ElNik2013]

Great article. Didn't know how big baseball was in Japan at the high school level.

[ElNik2013]

I was checking out videos of this on YT and there are videos with 100s of thousands of views. It looks like a great atmosphere, wow.

[Caper]

Jesus this is insane, although it's pretty cool how important high school baseball is in Japan.

 

I wish there could be a middle ground between this and North American baseball culture.

 

Middle ground would be about 440 pitches in a week.

[Caper]

Actually what I took out of the article was this.

 

After graduating from high school, Yuki Saito played college baseball. Today he is in the Japanese minor leagues, presently out with a shoulder injury. It is unclear when he will pitch again. For now, his only physical reward for having sacrificed his arm to baseball is a plaque at Koshien, written entirely in Japanese, except for the three digits that shine like lights: 948. (pitches in a week)

 

 

Velocity training program anyone?

 

 

I also chuckled at the thought of Dustin McGowan pitching in such a tournament. Could you imagine him throwing 800 pitches in a week?

[Atothe]

Actually what I took out of the article was this.

 

 

 

 

Velocity training program anyone?

 

 

I also chuckled at the thought of Dustin McGowan pitching in such a tournament. Could you imagine him throwing 800 pitches in a week?

 

His mechanics would be different, so you never know. Goddamn thats a lot of pitches.

[Caper]

The article btw was pretty awesome. I would watch that tournament on TV.

[BabbaGanoush]

Damn I wish baseball in NA would be like that. Not the 900 pitches in a week part lol, the atmosphere part.

[TheHurl]

Jesus this is insane, although it's pretty cool how important high school baseball is in Japan.

 

I wish there could be a middle ground between this and North American baseball culture.

 

I'm a little surprised that ESPN hasn't picked up the Kōshien on one of it's international stations at least. With all the garbage on TV, throw this on.

[o2cui2i]

I'm a little surprised that ESPN hasn't picked up the Kōshien on one of it's international stations at least. With all the garbage on TV, throw this on.

 

 

japanese baseball is like Brazilian soccer games with their insanely cool atmosphere, but I'd have to give the thumbs up to the Brazilian fans when it comes to scantily dressed chicks with big tits.

[John_Havok]

thought i'd give this a bump now that the tournament is over and this kid threw over 300 pitches with only 2 days rest between starts...

 

http://www.baseballamerica.com/international/koshien-over-for-tomohiro-anraku-16-after-183-pitch-outing/

[John_Havok]

"Anraku became an international sensation this year after his outings at Spring Koshien, where he touched 94 mph and threw 772 pitches in nine days, including a 232-pitch outing. That workload also sparked frustration from several scouts with major league clubs, who worry about how is usage will affect his long-term health."

[Angrioter]

"Anraku became an international sensation this year after his outings at Spring Koshien, where he touched 94 mph and threw 772 pitches in nine days, including a 232-pitch outing. That workload also sparked frustration from several scouts with major league clubs, who worry about how is usage will affect his long-term health."

 

Do you saw the anime Mayor? Shigeno Goro?

f*** japonesseeeeee

[KSaw]

"Anraku became an international sensation this year after his outings at Spring Koshien, where he touched 94 mph and threw 772 pitches in nine days, including a 232-pitch outing. That workload also sparked frustration from several scouts with major league clubs, who worry about how is usage will affect his long-term health."

 

Weird thing is that all through the 60s and into the late 80s some teams would bring young pitchers to ST and from when the pitchers and catchers reported they'd be throwing 80-100 pitches a day, everyday for a week or more and with lots of long toss mixed in. Then they'd get a couple days off and pitch again. If the arm held up, you were special and if it didn't, you went home. The Orioles were big for this. They'd pitch a kid's arm off to see if he was durable or not. Nolan Ryan went through something like this with the Mets and if you listen to him today, he's pretty vocal about pitchers not throwing enough and being babied into future injuries.

[AdamGreenwood]

I know there is a provision to "buy" Japanese players from their teams, or to wait until the players play X years for their teams before they can become free agents.

But could an MLB team sign this kid, and have him bypass the Japanese pro-leagues entirely?

[KSaw]

He would have been available as a free agent to all MLB clubs on July 2nd of he had registered. He had that choice. As he is not signed, I'm assuming that he did not do so and will wait until next year.

[KSaw]

It would be high risk to sign a 16-year old pitcher. He'd have to be on the 40-man roster as a 21-year old (going on 22). He'd be out of options by 24. Nothing could go wrong on his path and he couldn't have set backs once he was up or you'd have just wasted years of developing him for someone else to use when he was 25-26 and probably about ready to hold a rotation job securely and that's if all went well along the road. He's just more valuable and far less risky just a year older.

[Caper]

I have a question. Can he play in the US, or move to the US now and play ball? Or does some Japanese club own his rights?

[KSaw]

Yes he can become a free agent if he declares. He is not a pro yet.

[Caper]

Yes he can become a free agent if he declares. He is not a pro yet.

 

He could sign for 4 or 5 million I would think next year. I wouldn't expect him to make more then that for awhile in Japan.

[KSaw]

I have a question. Can he play in the US, or move to the US now and play ball? Or does some Japanese club own his rights?

 

I explained it a couple of posts back-- registering before July 2nd.

[KSaw]

He could sign for 4 or 5 million I would think next year. I wouldn't expect him to make more then that for awhile in Japan.

 

Fairly sure that coming out of Japan as an amateur at his age makes him the same as say a Dominican kid and he'd be subject to the cap but yes, he could get 4-5 million.

[GD]

He could sign for 4 or 5 million I would think next year. I wouldn't expect him to make more then that for awhile in Japan.

 

Probably wouldn't get more than $700k - 1m.