Yuri Karasawa

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With tranquil energy and peaceful thoughts, I welcome you to extreme and turn-off-y,
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meticulous laid, easy-going, and tame podcasts.
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This is Domesticated House Cats, the interview show.
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Get ready for a wild fucking ride.
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The FCC and cowards aren't welcome here.
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This is Without Sensor, the GRM interview podcast.
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We are here back again with the wonderful episode we have for you here for the Without
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Sensor podcast.
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My name's Josh, here today as usual with good buddy Adam.
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Howdy.
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And we have a very special guest today.
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We're very excited to have him on.
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But before we get to that, if you like listening to all our podcasts and want to hear more,
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you can go to gameragemagazine.com where you can hear our full menu podcast about a multitude
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of different subjects.
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Also if you want to follow us on social media, follow us at gameragemagazine on Instagram
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and TikTok, at gameragemag on Twitter slash X.
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And so, all right, cool.
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Cheap plugs out of the way.
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Let's get into real quick the guest we have today.
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He is a, hold on, not yet, not yet.
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Just hold on there, good buddy.
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He's a Temple University graduate.
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He's been featured on the BBC for the World Baseball Classic.
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He's been credited on Dodgers Nation by Doug McCain.
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He's been on Japan Ball, Sports Look, Japan, and the World Baseball Network.
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We're very excited to have him on.
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So let's get to it.
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This interview sanctioned by World Championship Podcast Federation, sponsored by GameRage
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Magazine, presented by Without Censor, is scheduled for one fall.
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Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages, people around the world, at long
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last, we bring you the interview of a lifetime.
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Today's guest is known by many names.
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He has been called the Legend of Legends, the King of Kakuei, the Prophet of Prospects.
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He has been called the Sensei of Statistics and is a verifiable Daimyo of Data.
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He is Yuri the Kingmaker Karasawa.
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Oh, I love it.
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I love the intro.
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Well thank you guys.
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Thank you guys.
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Absolutely.
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Thank you for coming on, man.
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We heavily, greatly appreciate it.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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I'm glad you guys reached out to me and I'm excited to talk about Japanese baseball.
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Oh yeah.
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I mean, this is a, I've been following you for a hot minute and you know, I've been following
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your YouTube channel, Yakyu Cosmopolitan and reading up on all your articles on Japan Ball
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and you are certainly a connoisseur of Nippon professional baseball and you know, we thank
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you so much for coming on and we are like truly humbled to have somebody of your caliber
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to spread the good word of baseball.
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So thank you for coming on.
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Yeah, thank you for having me and yeah, I appreciate all the kind words.
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I got to give props to everyone who came before me in the industry of covering Japanese baseball
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in English.
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There's great people who do it a lot better than I do, but I have found my niche doing
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this on social media and garnering a bit of a younger audience.
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So yeah, I'm really excited to be here.
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Awesome.
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And real quick, before we get down to the business at hand, why don't you go ahead and
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plug any social medias, websites, YouTube channels, if you will, while we have everybody's
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attention in there, you know, just drooling at the mouth for this interview.
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Yeah, of course.
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So I go by the name Yaku Cosmopolitan on pretty much all platforms.
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I'm on YouTube.
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I'm on X slash Twitter.
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I do have an Instagram as well, but I'm not on it too often.
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So you're going to find most of my work on YouTube, Yaku Cosmopolitan on Twitter, Yaku
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Cosmo, and then you can find a lot of my written work on Japanball.com and you'll be seeing
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some more things for World Baseball Network and Sports Look in these coming months as
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well.
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Great.
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We'll be looking forward to that.
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So the first question that we wanted to start off with, when and where did your love for
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baseball start?
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Yeah.
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So my father's side of the family, I'm half Japanese.
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I grew up in the U.S., but my father's side of the family, so that's my American side,
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they are diehard San Francisco Giants fans, which makes us rivals in a way.
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But it's okay because we're all united in the love of baseball.
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And so I grew up like really just enjoying baseball.
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I played baseball, but you know, eventually I realized like, fuck, I'm a lot better at
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watching this than playing it.
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And it really helped that the Giants were so good when I was young.
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The 2010 World Series, when they won that, it really got me invested as a kid because
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that team was just so fun to watch.
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And then they obviously went on to win two more World Series.
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I haven't had as much luck since then, but yeah, so I was really into baseball from a
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young age.
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But then the Japanese baseball part, that's where the other side of my family comes in.
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So I'm kind of like combining my father's side of the family, love in baseball, and
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then my Japanese side of the family, you add those together, you get Japanese baseball.
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And right around when I was like 15 or so, that's when I really started to get invested
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into Nippon Professional Baseball, NPB.
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So yeah, that's my origin story when it comes to baseball.
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Who was your favorite player during those championship years and who's your favorite
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player currently on the Giants roster?
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Yeah, so growing up, it was definitely Timbaland Sakum, the freak, the long hair, just the
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Cy Youngs.
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He was just such an exciting and fun player to watch.
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And it's rare to have a personality like him in any sport, really.
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So he's a legend.
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And my current favorite player, it's kind of hard to say because the way the Giants
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are run now, they don't really have that face of the franchise.
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And that's why it hurt so much as a Giants fan to not be able to secure either a Shohei
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Otani or a Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
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But I would say my favorite player on the Giants now is probably Lamont Wayne Jr., first
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baseman.
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But I'm still waiting for like a superstar to come in and be the savior of this franchise
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that we need.
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Right.
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I mean, man, I remember those years with Tim Linsecombe.
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I mean, for somebody like myself who was a Dodgers fan, man, it was must see TV whenever
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those games were nationally broadcasted between the Dodgers and the Giants and Tim Linsecombe
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was on the mound.
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I mean, he had absolutely phenomenal years to win as many World Series, I believe it
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was three World Series, right?
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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And even though his prime years were behind him towards the end of those Giants championship
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years, he threw two no hitters in 2013, 2014 as well.
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So yeah, like he had a great career, a short career, but it was a great one.
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Awesome.
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And as far as NPB, are you allowed to disclose who your favorite team is as far as Nipon
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Professional Baseball goes or are you keeping that close to the vest?
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So I really don't have a favorite NPB team.
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Like a lot of people don't believe me when I say that.
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Obviously, I do have my biases.
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I do live in the greater Tokyo area.
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So I prefer if a team from Tokyo does well, just because it's more local to me, maybe
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I can like go to a playoff game.
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It's more accessible.
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But I typically these days, I choose like who I support based on players that I like.
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So it really depends on from a year to year basis.
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Like maybe this year, there's a breakout player on the fighters who I really enjoy watching.
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So maybe I give the fighters a little more support than usual.
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I do really love Munetaka Murakami, who I'm sure we'll get into.
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So I end up watching a lot of Cold Swallows games.
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But yeah, I don't really claim any affiliations when it comes to NPB.
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I'm just a San Francisco Giants fan.
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Fair enough.
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I've actually if you did have a team that you ended up picking, I was going to ask you
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like how you came to that conclusion, because I now that I've become invested in NPB, I've
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been looking to possibly have like my own favorite team.
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But I kind of like your approach of just taking it all in and just finding players that you
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really enjoy, because then you're just invested in everybody.
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So I'm very much in line with that.
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And I did want to ask, as far as like your family goes, are you are you?
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How do I word this?
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When it comes to family, you're in touch with both sides of your family, correct?
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You have family in Japan that you visit or your Japanese heritage that has been very
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much been a part of you since a young age.
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Or is that something that you just recently got tapped into?
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Yeah, I would say that I'm I've always been a little bit closer to my Japanese side, just
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in terms of things like culture, food.
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I like Japan a little bit better.
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And so now living in Japan, I have family here with me.
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I have friends here with me.
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And I enjoy living in Japan more than I ever enjoyed living in the US.
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That's not to say there aren't pros and cons to both, but for me, the pros in Japan outweigh
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the the pros in America.
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So I am in touch with like both sides of my family, both sides of my heritage.
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But I'm certainly a little bit more in tune with the Japanese side.
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That's really interesting to hear, actually.
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And so talking about moving abroad, is this something that was planned from your youngest
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years that you were going to be, you know, moving to Japan and talking, talking about
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and writing about Nippon professional baseball?
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Is that something that you you had ingrained in you from a very young age or is that something
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that happened in college?
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So I thought about going to school somewhere local to me.
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I'm originally from Las Vegas, Nevada, by the way.
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But I thought about going to school somewhere on the West Coast.
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But so Temple University actually has campuses all around the world.
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They have two in Japan now.
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They have one in Rome.
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And so I thought this was a perfect opportunity for me to really kind of get a fresh start,
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not that there was anything wrong with my with my life in the US.
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But I thought, you know, I get to go to an American school in Japan and I just get to
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be closer to baseball because living in Las Vegas, we do have the triple A team for the
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Oakland A's and, you know, they're going to end up getting the A's themselves, the MLB
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team.
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But when I was there, you know, it's just like for somebody who wants to get into covering
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baseball, I want to be up close and I want to actually have all these teams around me.
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And so coming to Japan made sense in that regard.
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But it wasn't really like I was trying to pursue covering Japanese baseball as a career.
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It was just kind of a hobby, something, a pipe dream, something I wanted to do if everything
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went well.
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And so while I was in college, I started the Yaku Kazama Polyton project.
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And now I've finished college and I'm hoping to pursue this full time covering Japanese
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baseball in English as a career.
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So we'll see how it goes.
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Great.
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So I wanted to follow up and ask about since you've been overseas, how has your perspective
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about life and perhaps your own identity changed living in Japan?
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Yeah, that's a really interesting question.
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Someone like me, I studied sociology and politics and culture, so I might have a bit more like
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self-awareness than I should about certain things.
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But as somebody who's half Japanese, but I don't really look very Japanese, very few
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people ever realize that I have any Japanese heritage.
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It's definitely gives you weird looks.
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In Japan, even if you're Japanese, if you don't look Japanese, it is hard to blend in
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from a social standpoint.
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However, I would say it's easier to keep to yourself in Japan, even though Japan compared
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to the US, Japan is a collectivist society.
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Japan has a lot more, I think, like social norms and traditions going back in time that
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make it a bit more of a not as much of a melting pot as say the US.
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But it's like in Japan, it's easier to keep to yourself, just keep your head down and
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do your thing without being bothered.
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It's easier to blend in outwardly in the US, meaning like you can look different, but you're
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not going to, no one's going to bat an eye because everyone looks different in the US.
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Whereas in Japan, it's not as much of a homogenous society as people might stereotype it as.
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There are people from different countries here, but I would say it's definitely made
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me more aware, like I don't feel always welcome everywhere in Japan.
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But that's not to say it's not from like a negative standpoint, like, oh, this is, I'm
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being discriminated against.
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It's not really that.
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It's just like you feel a little kind of shadow looming over you just because you don't look
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Japanese.
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So yeah, I find that very interesting.
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Just like I don't really think about like my own identity or the way I look.
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I never thought about that so often until I started living in Japan full time.
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Yeah, it's very interesting.
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The cultural differences between Japan and America.
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Is it for you in your experience, is it one of those things where, you know, if you're
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walking late at night on a street and someone crosses the street to get to the other side,
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is it like that?
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Like, you know, that's kind of how it is here with, you know, people that, you know, when
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they do treat people differently, it's like, oh, it's maybe out of fear.
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Do you feel it's like that or is it just kind of, well, you don't, you know, you're not
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really the same.
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So we're just going to we're going to keep an extra eye on you a little bit.
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Maybe is it something like that, that it kind of feels like?
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Yeah.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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It's very subtle.
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And I will say I'm half white, obviously.
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And there is the perception in Japan that if you are, say, half Japanese, but your other
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side is a different kind of Asian or maybe you're darker skinned, that's going to get
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you way more looks than if you're white.
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So I don't have it bad in any ways.
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But still, like, there is a little bit of like, you know, getting a side eye or the
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funniest thing for me still is like when I came into Japan most recently, so I was visiting
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home in the US, I came back to Japan, I have a Japanese passport and the security guard
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in Tokyo is talking to me only in English, even though I have a Japanese passport.
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I'm speaking to him in Japanese, but he would only ever speak to me in English.
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And I think that's something that maybe he didn't think about.
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Like, he doesn't think that that would come across as a little bit unwelcoming.
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I think he thinks that it's like, oh, I'm being nice to him to speak to him in English
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because he doesn't look Japanese.
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He must not speak Japanese.
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But it's just like it's little things like that where it's like, OK, I see that I don't
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get treated.
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I can never be treated, in fact, as a full Japanese person, no matter how hard I try.
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And as far as as far as food goes, I've heard that there's you know, there's local restaurants,
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I guess you could say that are kind of exclusively for Japanese or that Japanese tried to protect
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from, I guess, like people that are visiting, visiting to Japan is are you able to go to
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those restaurants or are you still kind of maybe discriminated against just based on
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your appearance as far as that goes?
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Yeah, I think what you're referring to, you might see that in like an izakaya, like a
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bar in certain areas where there's a lot of, say, US military, where they say that, you
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know, these people never follow the rules, they're obnoxious.
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So we're just going to make a blanket rule to not allow foreigners.
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I don't really ever visit places like that.
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So I can't really say from a firsthand perspective.
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But I would say for me, I would be allowed in like they're not going to be so strict
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about that in the sense that like, oh, you don't look Japanese, so you're not allowed
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in like I think it's more it's more about even if you're a foreigner, if you act Japanese,
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and if you speak Japanese, and if you adopt very Japanese customs, you do get very much
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close to being a Japanese person.
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It's just that for me, I don't look Japanese, I speak Japanese, but I, you know, grew up
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in the US, so culturally, I'm a little less Japanese.
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And so that's probably like where I can sense a little bit of getting getting weird looks.
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But again, I don't want to make it seem like it's discriminatory completely towards people
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who don't look Japanese.
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That's not always the case.
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It is for some people.
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And as I said, for people from maybe other parts of Asia, they're going to get it a lot
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worse than someone like me who is American.
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Right.
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And I wanted to follow up and ask in what ways has your background and your identity
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inspired your work as a journalist at Japan Ball and your YouTube channel, Yaku Cosmopolitan?
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What ways has your background and your identity affected your platforms?
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Yeah, so like I said a little earlier, I do think that with covering Japanese baseball,
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I feel as though I'm combining my love for baseball, which I got from my father's side,
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and then my Japanese heritage, which I get from my mother's side.
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And we'll get more into this later.
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But there are very key differences between the way baseball is played and consumed in
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Japan versus the US.
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And there are merits to both.
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But it's very interesting for me to be able to have both perspectives.
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Sometimes if I criticize one aspect of Japanese baseball, people will say like, oh, you're
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just hating on Japanese baseball.
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You don't understand.
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This is the Japanese way.
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And I understand that perspective.
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But I also feel like for me as somebody who has seen and can perceive the differences
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in both the cultural and sport side of things, I really enjoy being able to pick out the
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differences and the similarities.
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And I don't think one is inherently better than the other.
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You can learn from each other.
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And so that's where I try to have my own background come into the picture is I try to be that
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kind of bridge for at least opening discourse between Japanese and American baseball.
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Yeah, man, I think what you do is excellent work you provide towards the vitality of baseball,
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which is always a good thing as far as I'm concerned.
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Because I mean, just with the last world baseball classic, I feel like the sport has been elevated
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maybe not to the degree of the NFL, but now we're getting in the conversations with the
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NFL because because of the cross pollination of players to have Shohei Ohtani to come to
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the Dodgers and Yamamoto and show to Imanaga.
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I mean, I feel like baseball is now getting towards the the level of an NFL, I suppose.
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My next question to you is as far as Japanese sports or rather Nippon professional baseball
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goes, you have written an article that I highly recommend everybody look into that is about
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the number 18 and what it means to Japanese culture and baseball culture in Japan.
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But I was curious to ask about if there's any other traditions that exist within Japanese
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baseball that you could enlighten us about.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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I think the main one, the one that if you watch so much Japanese baseball, you almost
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forget about because it is just so deeply ingrained into the viewing experience is the
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o-endon, which is the cheering sections in the outfield for each team.
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That is the main difference anyone will immediately notice when attending an MLB game or really
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any game outside of, I guess, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and the U.S. because the cheering sections
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are dedicated fans, they're basically fan clubs for the teams and they are playing music,
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they're singing songs for each player individually all throughout the game.
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And that makes it really a lively atmosphere the whole time.
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The only comparison from a U.S. standpoint, I suppose the MLS has a bit more of a lively
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atmosphere like that.
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So soccer, European soccer in general definitely has an atmosphere that more closely reflects
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MPB.
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And it's not just MPB, obviously.
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You have it at the high school level, the college level as well.
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But yeah, the cheering sections, I think it makes Japanese baseball seem more welcoming.
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If you are an outsider who's never seen the sport and you come in, it's like, oh, this
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is really fun, there's no hostilities here.
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Everyone shuts up when the other team's up to bat and they let the other team's cheering
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section go to work.
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Because in the U.S., if you go to a game, you might see opposing fans just holler insults
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about the other player's mother the entire game.
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And you do have people like that in Japan as well.
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But in terms of a fan experience, definitely I think Japan is more enjoyable.
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Another maybe tradition that comes to mind, I'm not sure if it's a tradition really, but
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it's kind of just a thing that people do.
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If a pitcher drills a batter, so hit by pitch, they will take off their cap and kind of bow
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towards the batter to apologize to them.
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And you don't see that very often in MLB where it's just like, you know, it's a contest of
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who's being a bigger tough guy, right?
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If you hit the guy, you're not going to really say sorry to him.
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Whereas in Japan, it's like, OK, I hit you.
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I'm very sorry.
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I apologize for hurting you.
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So those are two areas, one within the game, one outside of the game that I think makes
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Japanese baseball stand out.
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That's pretty awesome.
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I just wanted to ask one quick question before I have Josh dial in here.
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So Shota Imanaga has been doing something where he tips his hat to the umpire as he
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gets a new ball back.
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Is that exclusive to him or is that something that is done in Japan as well?
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Oh, that is, I would say, something that a lot of pitchers do.
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He is very animated.
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Imanaga is a very quirky guy, so he definitely stands out more when he does it.
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He's just really funny in general.
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But yeah, like paying your respect to the opposing team and the umpiring crew, that's
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definitely big in MPB as well.
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You very rarely have ejections in MPB in terms of a player getting really mad at a strike
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call and yelling at the umpire and getting ejected.
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That's pretty rare.
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You do see it with managers every now and then.
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But again, compared to MLB, where you're going to see an ejections every other night, definitely
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less common.
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And it's because, it's not because the umpiring is better in Japan.
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In fact, I would say it's probably a little bit worse because the umpire's union doesn't
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want the strike zone to even be shown on the broadcast.
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So if you're watching an MPB broadcast, you will immediately notice.
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MLB's had the strike zone on their broadcast for like 10 years.
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So everyone knows, oh, the umpire missed that call.
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That was definitely out of the strike zone.
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In MPB, the funny part is all the pitch tracking apps, it's like even if the pitch was definitely
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five feet off the plate, the pitch tracking app will put it on the corner of the strike
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zone just to be like, no, the umpire didn't miss that one.
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So there's definitely much more of a respect level, like a hierarchy in place.
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Like, okay, the umpire is the boss here.
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Doesn't apply to everyone.
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There's definitely players who are a little more outspoken.
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But I think in general, yeah, things that Imanaga do kind of do reflect a lot of Japanese
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players in general.
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Yeah, that's interesting.
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And just to circle back a little bit on the the beaning of batters, if you will, the it's
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funny you talk about how, oh, you know, they they will bow, tip their hat, bow, say, hey,
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man, my bad, I'm sorry.
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That's basically not existed in MLB.
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And as a matter of fact, to take it even further, it's like showing that in the Nippon Baseball,
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you know, league, it's essentially, oh, if you get hit, it's an accident, right?
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This was completely unintentional.
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But here in MLB, there's plenty of times when it's fully intentional that I'm going to hit
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this batter to send a message.
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And hey, hey, we might almost fight after this.
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You know, we might we might we might exchange blows and clear dugouts.
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Is there anything that ever happens like that in in the Nippon Baseball?
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You do have bench clearings and you I would say like in the 80s and 90s, there was there
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was actually an era in MPB where fights were more common.
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A lot of that was initiated by the foreign players.
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Like there's a famous clip of Rod Allen, like a pitch comes near his dome and he just literally
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chases the pitcher into the outfield.
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But the Japanese pitcher is like running away from him because he doesn't want to throw
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fists.
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More recently, Shintaro Fujinami, who is now in the minor leagues for the New York Mets
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last year, he was on the A's and the Orioles.
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He was always known to be a very wild pitcher.
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And there were many instances where this is completely unintentional.
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He just doesn't have the best command, but he would run it close to a batter's head.
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Famously, there was an incident between him and Vladimir Valentin of the Swallows where
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the benches do end up clearing.
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But in terms of like fights, like brawls between a pitcher and a batter, you definitely don't
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see that anymore in MPB.
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If that happened in MPB today, it would be like the viral news story for probably the
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next month because you just don't see it.
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You see little chirping here and there.
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You see players maybe exchange words, but like a fistfight in MPB in the year 2024,
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not going to happen.
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Yeah, it's basically next to impossible, right, at this point.
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But when you look at, I guess, the level of respect, because it does seem because I'm
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not as well versed in the Nippon baseball as Adam is.
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But from a lot of the stuff, because I've been getting into it more lately as we've
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been doing our sports talks and stuff like that.
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But it seems like the game is just more respectful, I guess, for lack of a better term.
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It's played on a more proper or honorable level, I guess, is maybe the right way to
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put it.
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Because an example of that would be, I guess, over here, we have guys like a guy who played
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baseball with Joe Kelly.
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He was famous for that whole thing where he would stand outside the dugout and wouldn't
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leave until the other guys would leave.
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That's probably would be seen, I would imagine, if that happened in Nippon baseball.
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That would be an extremely disrespectful act and you'd probably get suspended for half
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the season or something.
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So Robert Whiting in the book, You Gotta Have Wa, talks about the huge differences philosophically
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between Japanese and American baseball.
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And some people have criticized his work as being overly orientalist.
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But I do think there definitely is that Bushido tradition from Japan of, OK, this is an art.
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We look at baseball as an art, almost like a martial art.
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And so it has to be treated with a lot of respect and honor in terms of the way you
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conduct yourself, even things, little things that American players, Latin players would
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never think about, like spitting on the field.
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Japanese players don't spit on the field, even if you're chewing gum or you got sunflower
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seeds.
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You don't spit on the field.
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That's disrespectful to the field.
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Again, I don't think that's inherently like, oh, is this a good thing?
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Is this a bad thing?
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I do think a lot of people get into the territory of like putting Japan on a pedestal when they
448
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look at things like this.
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I just think it's like these are just small cultural differences that when you put a microscope
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on it within the game of baseball, it looks like a huge difference.
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But I definitely do agree that, yeah, like the way a player like me, like Joe Kelly conducts
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himself, that would be viewed as very unusual and probably disrespectful in an MPB.
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But you do have certain foreign players who have come over who, they kind of tone down
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their personality to fit within Japan and they do just fine.
455
00:33:24,840 --> 00:33:30,460
This isn't for MPB, but for the KBO, Yasiel Puig went to Korea.
456
00:33:30,460 --> 00:33:32,180
And so that was always very interesting.
457
00:33:32,180 --> 00:33:37,400
Like a lot of Japanese pundits were asking like, oh, is Yasiel Puig somebody who could
458
00:33:37,400 --> 00:33:38,400
make it in Japan?
459
00:33:38,400 --> 00:33:41,800
Is he too, you know, out there?
460
00:33:41,800 --> 00:33:46,160
I do think Korea is probably a little more open to having guys like that than Japan.
461
00:33:46,160 --> 00:33:50,320
I don't know enough about Korean baseball to say, but that's just like the perception
462
00:33:50,320 --> 00:33:51,320
I get.
463
00:33:51,320 --> 00:33:56,080
But then again, like Japan last year took in Trevor Bauer.
464
00:33:56,080 --> 00:33:59,520
And they really seem to enjoy Trevor Bauer's presence.
465
00:33:59,520 --> 00:34:07,880
So it's not like a 100% thing like, oh, these players who are really outspoken and really
466
00:34:07,880 --> 00:34:12,320
out there, you know, put their heart on their sleeve.
467
00:34:12,320 --> 00:34:17,540
Like those types of players aren't necessarily looked down upon, but you're definitely unorthodox
468
00:34:17,540 --> 00:34:18,540
if you do that.
469
00:34:18,540 --> 00:34:19,540
Yeah, yeah, I get you.
470
00:34:19,540 --> 00:34:23,720
And this is probably a redundant question, but I feel like I know the answer or you can
471
00:34:23,720 --> 00:34:26,200
at least infer it from just what you've been explaining.
472
00:34:26,200 --> 00:34:29,000
But I just, you know, just to clarify and get it out there.
473
00:34:29,000 --> 00:34:33,040
Obviously over here in the MLB, you know, we've had scandals, we've had issues, you
474
00:34:33,040 --> 00:34:36,880
know, the Astros with the stealing of the signs, all that sort of stuff.
475
00:34:36,880 --> 00:34:43,960
Is there anything like that that takes place in Japan or any of the Nippon baseball leagues?
476
00:34:43,960 --> 00:34:50,240
So in terms of like sign stealing, it was funny a couple of years ago between the Haunching
477
00:34:50,240 --> 00:34:56,320
Tigers and Yakult Swallows, there was an incident where I think it was the swallow side was
478
00:34:56,320 --> 00:35:01,720
accusing the Tigers of sign stealing, but it was within the game, which in the US, if
479
00:35:01,720 --> 00:35:05,920
you are like a base runner and you look at the catcher's signs and you know, they're
480
00:35:05,920 --> 00:35:08,720
really easy to decipher.
481
00:35:08,720 --> 00:35:11,360
And then you relay that over to your batter.
482
00:35:11,360 --> 00:35:12,360
That's gamesmanship, right?
483
00:35:12,360 --> 00:35:17,880
It's like what the Astros and maybe some other teams did with electronic sign stealing,
484
00:35:17,880 --> 00:35:20,240
you know, banging of trash cans and whatnot.
485
00:35:20,240 --> 00:35:22,240
That's different.
486
00:35:22,240 --> 00:35:26,720
But like general sign stealing or like pitch tipping, that's considered gamesmanship.
487
00:35:26,720 --> 00:35:28,280
Whereas in Japan, that was kind of a big deal.
488
00:35:28,280 --> 00:35:31,160
Like, oh, you're not playing fair.
489
00:35:31,160 --> 00:35:33,200
And who knows if they were actually sign stealing or not.
490
00:35:33,200 --> 00:35:37,520
But I think if they were, you know, within the game, I think that's that's totally fine.
491
00:35:37,520 --> 00:35:43,000
So it kind of was interesting to me like, oh, this is a big deal, even though, you know,
492
00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:48,120
they weren't using like any external electronics to do so.
493
00:35:48,120 --> 00:35:57,080
Yeah, and I also just want to quickly cut a quick promo that anybody that hasn't subscribed
494
00:35:57,080 --> 00:36:05,060
to Yuri's Yaku Cosmopolitan, he goes at length talking about Fujinami and and also the articles
495
00:36:05,060 --> 00:36:11,280
that he has written on Japan Ball as far as the minor leagues go in NPB and the article
496
00:36:11,280 --> 00:36:16,360
I was discussing about the tradition of the number 18 as far as pitchers go in NPB as
497
00:36:16,360 --> 00:36:18,100
well is also worth checking out.
498
00:36:18,100 --> 00:36:22,760
So please, please check out those things if you are a fan of baseball.
499
00:36:22,760 --> 00:36:26,120
And yeah, that's all I got to say about that.
500
00:36:26,120 --> 00:36:34,120
And on the subject of philosophies as far as baseball goes, what where do you believe
501
00:36:34,120 --> 00:36:40,880
the differences in philosophies and in practices exist in American versus Japanese baseball?
502
00:36:40,880 --> 00:36:48,440
Yeah, so this is another thing that Robert Whiting talks in length about.
503
00:36:48,440 --> 00:36:54,080
I got a chance to to meet Robert Whiting last year, which was cool.
504
00:36:54,080 --> 00:36:59,680
I mean, he's he was big in, you know, much like 50 years ago here.
505
00:36:59,680 --> 00:37:02,920
But he still has good points to offer.
506
00:37:02,920 --> 00:37:09,920
And the big difference, I think, between Japan and the US in terms of practice is just like
507
00:37:09,920 --> 00:37:14,680
how much they practice, because in Japan, from a youth level, it's all about like getting
508
00:37:14,680 --> 00:37:18,680
reps in and just like practicing until you can't anymore.
509
00:37:18,680 --> 00:37:21,280
It's just like you practice, practice, practice.
510
00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:22,280
That's what makes you better.
511
00:37:22,280 --> 00:37:25,600
And, you know, practice is like even harder than the game.
512
00:37:25,600 --> 00:37:28,720
You practice so hard that the game comes easy to you.
513
00:37:28,720 --> 00:37:32,680
And I think a lot of people in the West might look at that and be like, wow, that's really
514
00:37:32,680 --> 00:37:33,680
old school.
515
00:37:33,680 --> 00:37:38,000
Like now, you know, you might realize, like, if you tire yourself out in practice, you
516
00:37:38,000 --> 00:37:40,720
might not actually be better in the game.
517
00:37:40,720 --> 00:37:43,600
And of course, you know, things have evolved a little bit.
518
00:37:43,600 --> 00:37:45,560
So it's not as bad as it used to be.
519
00:37:45,560 --> 00:37:50,800
But certainly at a youth level still, a lot of that's why, you know, like the Little League
520
00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:56,480
World Series, Japan is so strong, like those kids practice a lot more than a lot of the
521
00:37:56,480 --> 00:37:58,480
American teams.
522
00:37:58,480 --> 00:38:03,560
Another philosophical, like, strategical difference is is bunting.
523
00:38:03,560 --> 00:38:04,560
That's huge.
524
00:38:04,560 --> 00:38:10,040
Like, bunting has died in Major League Baseball unless it's like bunting against the shift
525
00:38:10,040 --> 00:38:11,200
for a base hit.
526
00:38:11,200 --> 00:38:12,200
Right.
527
00:38:12,200 --> 00:38:13,200
So bunting for a hit.
528
00:38:13,200 --> 00:38:15,960
But sacrifice bunting is basically non-existent in MLB.
529
00:38:15,960 --> 00:38:20,320
I think someone on the Diamondbacks did it in the World Series last year and it was like
530
00:38:20,320 --> 00:38:23,960
blowing up on Twitter, like, oh my God, the guy sacrificed, bunted.
531
00:38:23,960 --> 00:38:27,560
Whereas in Japan, it's just like bunting is still supreme.
532
00:38:27,560 --> 00:38:30,080
That is still like small ball is still the way to play.
533
00:38:30,080 --> 00:38:34,800
Now part of that is that right now, MPB has dead balls.
534
00:38:34,800 --> 00:38:38,320
So it kind of exacerbates that even more because you see less home runs.
535
00:38:38,320 --> 00:38:44,200
You're seeing a lot more of the inside game, you know, the ball being put on the infield
536
00:38:44,200 --> 00:38:45,560
dirt.
537
00:38:45,560 --> 00:38:51,240
But bunting and just kind of like sacrificing yourself for the team is seen as a huge positive.
538
00:38:51,240 --> 00:38:54,400
Like guys will get, will reach a milestone.
539
00:38:54,400 --> 00:38:57,200
Like he reached 300 career sacrifice bunts.
540
00:38:57,200 --> 00:39:00,520
Let's give him flowers for reaching 300 career sacrifice bunts.
541
00:39:00,520 --> 00:39:05,840
You're not going to see that in MLB, certainly not in the modern day.
542
00:39:05,840 --> 00:39:11,560
And really it's like even the best players in Japan sometimes will bunt.
543
00:39:11,560 --> 00:39:16,800
Even if the situation like from a data perspective, if you, you know, do all like the scoring
544
00:39:16,800 --> 00:39:20,680
matrix, matrixes, it makes no sense for the guy to bunt.
545
00:39:20,680 --> 00:39:23,560
But it's just seen as like, this is the textbook thing to do.
546
00:39:23,560 --> 00:39:25,960
This is what we've done for generations.
547
00:39:25,960 --> 00:39:28,480
You are sacrificing yourself for the team to move the runners along.
548
00:39:28,480 --> 00:39:31,360
No matter how good you are, you are not above the team.
549
00:39:31,360 --> 00:39:33,760
So I think that's a key philosophical difference.
550
00:39:33,760 --> 00:39:40,980
I think that that is something that will go away over time because I just think that's
551
00:39:40,980 --> 00:39:42,500
how the sport evolves.
552
00:39:42,500 --> 00:39:47,640
Like I don't, some people would say like, oh, bunting that is so ingrained within Japanese
553
00:39:47,640 --> 00:39:49,320
baseball that it can never change.
554
00:39:49,320 --> 00:39:50,560
And you shouldn't try it to change it.
555
00:39:50,560 --> 00:39:52,120
I don't think that's necessarily the case.
556
00:39:52,120 --> 00:39:56,960
You have a lot of younger people in Japan who are opposed to bunting.
557
00:39:56,960 --> 00:40:01,240
And then that actually carries over to like pitching as well with, with the old school
558
00:40:01,240 --> 00:40:05,640
outlook on starting pitchers, working deep into games.
559
00:40:05,640 --> 00:40:07,320
Wins are still like the king stat.
560
00:40:07,320 --> 00:40:09,480
People care like how many wins did you get?
561
00:40:09,480 --> 00:40:16,960
So I just think Japan is a lot more like you're watching 1970 style major league baseball.
562
00:40:16,960 --> 00:40:20,660
And maybe at a youth level, it's a bit more of a cookie cutter approach and that works
563
00:40:20,660 --> 00:40:22,200
for certain players.
564
00:40:22,200 --> 00:40:24,840
It definitely makes them a very well rounded player.
565
00:40:24,840 --> 00:40:30,660
Their fundamentals are going to be spotless, but it also means that they might not be able
566
00:40:30,660 --> 00:40:36,320
to branch out individually as much as a younger MLB prospect would.
567
00:40:36,320 --> 00:40:37,320
Right.
568
00:40:37,320 --> 00:40:38,320
Yeah.
569
00:40:38,320 --> 00:40:40,560
It's very interesting because that's such an astute observation that I was going to
570
00:40:40,560 --> 00:40:46,120
bring up about the comparison between how it is now in the Nippon baseball.
571
00:40:46,120 --> 00:40:52,520
It's more of like the seventies, eighties style of MLB where it wasn't so much focused
572
00:40:52,520 --> 00:40:54,760
necessarily on the individual.
573
00:40:54,760 --> 00:40:57,040
It was more of you had the team effort, right?
574
00:40:57,040 --> 00:41:00,280
It was about, Hey man, we got to do what's best for the team.
575
00:41:00,280 --> 00:41:04,960
Whereas now MLB has sort of shifted because personally I think it's because of the massive
576
00:41:04,960 --> 00:41:06,600
salaries that guys are getting.
577
00:41:06,600 --> 00:41:07,600
Yeah.
578
00:41:07,600 --> 00:41:10,760
With that comes the ego and, and well, I'm not really doing this for the team.
579
00:41:10,760 --> 00:41:12,680
I'm trying to do what's best for me here.
580
00:41:12,680 --> 00:41:15,060
What's best for me, the guy who's making all the money, right?
581
00:41:15,060 --> 00:41:17,000
That's kind of where I think we've shifted.
582
00:41:17,000 --> 00:41:22,040
Do you think that money is the thing that's going to be what shifts it over there in Nippon?
583
00:41:22,040 --> 00:41:25,300
Kind of like it did here.
584
00:41:25,300 --> 00:41:30,760
I do think there is something to say about, yeah, like in, in MLB you have these larger
585
00:41:30,760 --> 00:41:34,880
than life, you know, superstar personalities.
586
00:41:34,880 --> 00:41:39,920
And maybe they develop an ego to where they're not playing team baseball like they used to
587
00:41:39,920 --> 00:41:42,000
when they were in high school, for instance.
588
00:41:42,000 --> 00:41:49,720
However, I do think like Shohei Otani is the perfect example of the fact that you can be
589
00:41:49,720 --> 00:41:50,960
the best of both worlds.
590
00:41:50,960 --> 00:41:54,400
Otani has that, you know, Japanese system.
591
00:41:54,400 --> 00:41:59,280
He has the dedication to the craft, like working tirelessly to reach your goals, but he also
592
00:41:59,280 --> 00:42:08,900
has the kind of creativity and individualism that comes with being in the U S because Otani,
593
00:42:08,900 --> 00:42:14,940
when he went to MLB in 2018, he was already a great player, but he has elevated himself
594
00:42:14,940 --> 00:42:17,200
to the best player in the world.
595
00:42:17,200 --> 00:42:22,720
If not the best player of all time, while playing with the angels and now the Dodgers,
596
00:42:22,720 --> 00:42:23,880
he really bulked up.
597
00:42:23,880 --> 00:42:27,080
He became stronger than he ever was before.
598
00:42:27,080 --> 00:42:31,360
He dedicated himself to perfecting his craft.
599
00:42:31,360 --> 00:42:36,360
And I'm not sure if that would have been possible if he was just in MPB for his entire career,
600
00:42:36,360 --> 00:42:39,440
but that's a double edged sword because I don't think Shohei Otani would even exist
601
00:42:39,440 --> 00:42:44,000
if he was an American, as in, you know, they would have said, oh, the two way thing, that's
602
00:42:44,000 --> 00:42:45,000
impossible.
603
00:42:45,000 --> 00:42:46,500
Just pick one.
604
00:42:46,500 --> 00:42:54,000
So it took, you know, a perfect storm of, okay, we have this very special prospect.
605
00:42:54,000 --> 00:42:55,000
He was 18.
606
00:42:55,000 --> 00:43:01,000
You know, he was thinking of going to MLB right out the gates, but Hideki Kurayama and the
607
00:43:01,000 --> 00:43:04,840
Nippon hand fighters were able to convince him, start your career in Japan.
608
00:43:04,840 --> 00:43:09,060
He will show the world that being a two way player at the professional level is possible.
609
00:43:09,060 --> 00:43:14,480
And then he goes to MLB five years later and now he's elevated his game to a whole different
610
00:43:14,480 --> 00:43:15,480
level.
611
00:43:15,480 --> 00:43:20,000
I do think Otani combines like the Japanese-ness and the American-ness, like the best of both
612
00:43:20,000 --> 00:43:21,000
worlds.
613
00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:22,320
Yeah, no, that is definitely true.
614
00:43:22,320 --> 00:43:24,560
And I'm not a Dodgers fan like Adam.
615
00:43:24,560 --> 00:43:25,680
I'm an angels fan.
616
00:43:25,680 --> 00:43:30,080
So I have a little, I have a little hate in my heart at this point for Shohei because
617
00:43:30,080 --> 00:43:31,680
I do refer to him as a traitor.
618
00:43:31,680 --> 00:43:32,680
All right.
619
00:43:32,680 --> 00:43:34,520
Now, listen, some of that's conjecture, but you know,
620
00:43:34,520 --> 00:43:38,200
it's, it's funny to see the difference between generations.
621
00:43:38,200 --> 00:43:41,480
Like with me, I mean, yeah, listen, I'm not like a boomer or anything, but I mean, I'm
622
00:43:41,480 --> 00:43:44,920
like a millennial and I have a loyalty to the team, right?
623
00:43:44,920 --> 00:43:49,920
Whereas now a lot of these Gen Z, Gen Alpha type people, they have loyalty to players
624
00:43:49,920 --> 00:43:51,640
more so than a team.
625
00:43:51,640 --> 00:43:55,860
So I think Shohei is the perfect example, like you said, of a guy who can be the best
626
00:43:55,860 --> 00:43:56,860
of both worlds.
627
00:43:56,860 --> 00:44:01,600
He can be the team player and he can also be that superstar at the same time.
628
00:44:01,600 --> 00:44:05,520
But I do think it's funny and he's also a good example of like what I'm saying, where
629
00:44:05,520 --> 00:44:09,840
a lot of people who were angels fans bailed and went to become Dodger fans because they're
630
00:44:09,840 --> 00:44:11,320
not about the team.
631
00:44:11,320 --> 00:44:14,560
They're about following Shohei, which again, there's nothing wrong with that.
632
00:44:14,560 --> 00:44:19,800
I don't think, but it's just funny to see the difference between generations and how
633
00:44:19,800 --> 00:44:25,520
fandom of baseball has, has evolved and changed in a certain way, you know?
634
00:44:25,520 --> 00:44:28,480
Yeah, absolutely.
635
00:44:28,480 --> 00:44:37,400
And I would say like people in Japan catch, because Otani is like, you know, in America,
636
00:44:37,400 --> 00:44:40,840
the only people who know and like Otani are sports fans.
637
00:44:40,840 --> 00:44:45,120
Like in Japan, it's like, obviously Otani is, you know, one of the biggest celebrities,
638
00:44:45,120 --> 00:44:47,000
if not the biggest celebrity in the country.
639
00:44:47,000 --> 00:44:50,960
So even people who don't follow baseball know of him.
640
00:44:50,960 --> 00:44:56,760
And by default, you're probably, if you liked the angels before, you probably like the Dodgers
641
00:44:56,760 --> 00:44:57,760
now.
642
00:44:57,760 --> 00:44:58,760
So like, I like the team.
643
00:44:58,760 --> 00:45:03,480
He was literally, I like Otani, therefore I like the team he plays for.
644
00:45:03,480 --> 00:45:04,480
Right.
645
00:45:04,480 --> 00:45:05,480
Yeah, exactly.
646
00:45:05,480 --> 00:45:08,640
And like I said, there's nothing wrong with that because, but it's just funny to note
647
00:45:08,640 --> 00:45:13,760
that that's kind of, kind of almost the norm, at least with here, I've met a lot of younger
648
00:45:13,760 --> 00:45:17,240
baseball fans that kind of don't, I, what's your favorite team?
649
00:45:17,240 --> 00:45:18,760
I don't really have one.
650
00:45:18,760 --> 00:45:20,240
I just kind of follow players around.
651
00:45:20,240 --> 00:45:22,400
I like, oh, this guy, he moved over here.
652
00:45:22,400 --> 00:45:23,720
The so-and-so went to the Yankees.
653
00:45:23,720 --> 00:45:27,880
So now I follow him and I rep Yankees gear or he gets traded to the Cardinals.
654
00:45:27,880 --> 00:45:32,000
Oh, well now I rep Cardinals gear because I like this guy, you know, it's just interesting
655
00:45:32,000 --> 00:45:39,080
to see that kind of shift, I guess, in the, in the generational mentality between us all.
656
00:45:39,080 --> 00:45:40,800
Yeah, for sure.
657
00:45:40,800 --> 00:45:43,200
I mean, that's basically how I consume MPB.
658
00:45:43,200 --> 00:45:46,800
So I can definitely relate to people who consume MLB that way.
659
00:45:46,800 --> 00:45:50,400
But yeah, it probably depends a lot on, on your childhood, right?
660
00:45:50,400 --> 00:45:54,680
Like if you grow up watching a team, very hard to abandon them unless they abandon you.
661
00:45:54,680 --> 00:45:58,000
Like for a lot of Oakland A's fans, unfortunately, that's how it's been.
662
00:45:58,000 --> 00:45:59,000
Yeah, true.
663
00:45:59,000 --> 00:46:00,800
Just like the Dodgers did that to me.
664
00:46:00,800 --> 00:46:05,360
And that's why I hate the Dodgers now.
665
00:46:05,360 --> 00:46:13,320
I did, I did want to ask two follow-up questions relevant to the philosophies between American
666
00:46:13,320 --> 00:46:16,000
and Japanese baseball.
667
00:46:16,000 --> 00:46:23,640
So we have the book that is more or less the gospel on hitting with Ted Williams.
668
00:46:23,640 --> 00:46:31,400
Is there something equivalent to that in Japan with like, I don't know which order his, his
669
00:46:31,400 --> 00:46:41,480
name goes, but Sadaharu Oh or Oh Sadahara, he's the world record holder for most home
670
00:46:41,480 --> 00:46:42,480
runs.
671
00:46:42,480 --> 00:46:49,600
Does he have a book or anything like that, that is, I guess, an, an equivalent to Ted
672
00:46:49,600 --> 00:46:53,000
Ted Williams book on hitting?
673
00:46:53,000 --> 00:46:58,480
So with, with Sadaharu Oh, and also his, his teammate on the giants during those dynasty
674
00:46:58,480 --> 00:47:03,200
years that they had in the sixties, Shigeo Nagashima, those two are definitely revered.
675
00:47:03,200 --> 00:47:08,360
Like they are so ingrained in Japanese history.
676
00:47:08,360 --> 00:47:11,760
They are basically like the Babe Ruth and the Ted Williams of Japan.
677
00:47:11,760 --> 00:47:14,480
And so they're both quite old now.
678
00:47:14,480 --> 00:47:18,400
Oh, was actually, you know, a front office person for the soft Ben Cox.
679
00:47:18,400 --> 00:47:22,200
So he doesn't really dabble too much on the, on the player side of things anymore, but
680
00:47:22,200 --> 00:47:25,000
he was, you know, manager for a long time as well.
681
00:47:25,000 --> 00:47:29,360
He was even a manager of samurai Japan in the, in the WBC.
682
00:47:29,360 --> 00:47:35,600
So a lot of his philosophies are definitely ingrained in many players.
683
00:47:35,600 --> 00:47:41,400
Hiromitsu Ochiai who played for various teams, most notably like the Tunichi Dragons, like
684
00:47:41,400 --> 00:47:46,800
he's another one who is very famous for his hitting tendencies, like getting passed down
685
00:47:46,800 --> 00:47:48,720
through, through generations.
686
00:47:48,720 --> 00:47:51,640
I would say in general, like I can't really speak.
687
00:47:51,640 --> 00:47:56,680
I would have to like, um, see a lot, read a lot more about like what certain players
688
00:47:56,680 --> 00:48:03,120
get their influences from to be able to answer exactly like who, who's like the most influential
689
00:48:03,120 --> 00:48:05,040
hitter in MPB history.
690
00:48:05,040 --> 00:48:10,800
But a lot of the word that's always used in Japanese hitting is compact, like compact
691
00:48:10,800 --> 00:48:11,800
hitting.
692
00:48:11,800 --> 00:48:16,520
So it's a complete opposite of MLB right now with the launch angle revolution of that,
693
00:48:16,520 --> 00:48:20,000
you know, kind of uppercut swing, swinging for the fences.
694
00:48:20,000 --> 00:48:25,480
Um, and you know, that's, this is not just a conversation about Japanese baseball.
695
00:48:25,480 --> 00:48:30,840
This is like a philosophical kind of sport, you know, uh, topic, but like obviously in
696
00:48:30,840 --> 00:48:37,120
basketball you have this same issue where when the three point revolution started, uh,
697
00:48:37,120 --> 00:48:41,520
it's like the game isn't as aesthetically pleasing anymore, but it's being played at
698
00:48:41,520 --> 00:48:43,640
the most efficient way possible.
699
00:48:43,640 --> 00:48:44,640
Right.
700
00:48:44,640 --> 00:48:49,120
And so the home run revolution, the launching revolution in MLB that hasn't made its way
701
00:48:49,120 --> 00:48:54,880
over to MPB yet, but you do have certain hitters who, who profile a lot more like that.
702
00:48:54,880 --> 00:48:58,760
Uh, so there's more swing and miss in their game and those guys are very heavily criticized
703
00:48:58,760 --> 00:48:59,760
by the media.
704
00:48:59,760 --> 00:49:01,240
It was very interesting.
705
00:49:01,240 --> 00:49:02,240
Right.
706
00:49:02,240 --> 00:49:10,720
And while we're on the subject of Shohei Otani, I wanted to ask as far as the acquisition
707
00:49:10,720 --> 00:49:17,080
of Shohei Otani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto for the Dodgers, um, how, how has that impacted
708
00:49:17,080 --> 00:49:18,720
Japan itself?
709
00:49:18,720 --> 00:49:25,200
Is Japan universally a Dodgers fan or has Shota Imanaga and maybe even you Darvish,
710
00:49:25,200 --> 00:49:31,880
uh, maybe had, have people go to those teams as opposed to having Japan universally as
711
00:49:31,880 --> 00:49:34,040
a Dodgers fans?
712
00:49:34,040 --> 00:49:35,720
Yeah.
713
00:49:35,720 --> 00:49:37,940
So I think it's, it's interesting.
714
00:49:37,940 --> 00:49:43,840
It's really tough to say because I would say dedicated baseball fans are, are split.
715
00:49:43,840 --> 00:49:47,840
Like they're not all going to become Dodger fans just for Otani and Yamamoto.
716
00:49:47,840 --> 00:49:53,440
Like many other Japanese people who have watched MLB for years, they probably had already selected
717
00:49:53,440 --> 00:49:54,680
their team and they're going to stick with it.
718
00:49:54,680 --> 00:49:59,280
I know some Japanese people who, you know, became angels fans for Otani and they're
719
00:49:59,280 --> 00:50:02,360
sticking with the angels even when he's gone.
720
00:50:02,360 --> 00:50:07,120
You know, there's also the fact that Ichiro popularized the Mariners in the 2000s.
721
00:50:07,120 --> 00:50:13,040
The same goes for Hideki Matsui and to a lesser extent Masahiro Tanaka for the Yankees.
722
00:50:13,040 --> 00:50:17,200
So like for, for many years there, like the Dodgers and the Yankees were like the default
723
00:50:17,200 --> 00:50:20,400
teams that Japanese people like, mostly because they've heard of them.
724
00:50:20,400 --> 00:50:22,640
They're just the biggest teams.
725
00:50:22,640 --> 00:50:28,080
So in terms of dedicated baseball fans, uh, some of them probably went over, a lot of
726
00:50:28,080 --> 00:50:32,400
them actually probably went over to the Dodgers because of, you know, Otani and Yamamoto,
727
00:50:32,400 --> 00:50:38,600
but a lot of other people, uh, aren't going to select the team just based on the players.
728
00:50:38,600 --> 00:50:44,360
They're going to actually, you know, say, oh, you know, maybe this team, um, I, I like
729
00:50:44,360 --> 00:50:47,040
them for, for a certain sentimental reason.
730
00:50:47,040 --> 00:50:51,880
And you'll see that with like DNA Bay Stars fans are probably going to be a lot more inclined
731
00:50:51,880 --> 00:50:55,040
towards the Cubs because Shota Imanaga is there.
732
00:50:55,040 --> 00:50:59,520
That's kind of how I would say baseball fans in Japan decide their favorite MLB team.
733
00:50:59,520 --> 00:51:04,000
It's going to be, oh, this guy used to play for my favorite MPB team.
734
00:51:04,000 --> 00:51:08,540
Now he's an MLB, whether that be a Japanese player or a foreign player who played briefly
735
00:51:08,540 --> 00:51:09,720
in Japan and went back.
736
00:51:09,720 --> 00:51:14,440
So that might be how those guys select their favorite MLB team in terms of casuals, people
737
00:51:14,440 --> 00:51:20,760
who only, you know, watch highlights and just pay attention to what Otani did on the news.
738
00:51:20,760 --> 00:51:25,320
Those guys are almost exclusively going to go over to the Dodgers.
739
00:51:25,320 --> 00:51:26,320
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
740
00:51:26,320 --> 00:51:29,560
And then just to circle back real quick to the fundamentals portion that we were discussing
741
00:51:29,560 --> 00:51:33,240
before this question, um, for people that don't know, it's, it's called the science
742
00:51:33,240 --> 00:51:36,680
of hitting the Ted Williams book, which is a excellent book.
743
00:51:36,680 --> 00:51:40,760
I mean, it's so good on the, just the basic mechanics of hitting a baseball.
744
00:51:40,760 --> 00:51:44,160
And I mean, it's a book that I have and my dad gave it to me when, you know, when I was
745
00:51:44,160 --> 00:51:45,560
playing baseball, obviously.
746
00:51:45,560 --> 00:51:49,560
But um, one of the things you had mentioned was the, you know, the, I guess the hitting
747
00:51:49,560 --> 00:51:54,920
dingers or the going yard, um, I don't know, mentality that's kind of come into major league
748
00:51:54,920 --> 00:52:00,440
baseball now where you got these guys with these huge golf swings or these uppercut swings.
749
00:52:00,440 --> 00:52:03,040
And I cannot just, I hate that.
750
00:52:03,040 --> 00:52:04,220
I hate that so much.
751
00:52:04,220 --> 00:52:09,680
I am a small ball guy, a contact guy, like, Hey, you got to get on base because getting
752
00:52:09,680 --> 00:52:10,880
on base scores runs.
753
00:52:10,880 --> 00:52:16,160
And if you in baseball, I mean, listen, one of the greatest hitters of all time, you know,
754
00:52:16,160 --> 00:52:17,780
batting average was around 300, right?
755
00:52:17,780 --> 00:52:21,360
That's like the best, one of the best all time batting averages is 300, which for people
756
00:52:21,360 --> 00:52:26,540
that don't know that's every three out of 10 times you're successful at actually getting
757
00:52:26,540 --> 00:52:27,720
on base.
758
00:52:27,720 --> 00:52:29,740
So that's a very low percentage, right?
759
00:52:29,740 --> 00:52:35,240
So it's, it's funny to see how, Oh, and now everybody wants to do the big, big bang of
760
00:52:35,240 --> 00:52:37,960
hitting, Oh, let's hit this home run and get out of here.
761
00:52:37,960 --> 00:52:42,000
But then if you look at their stats, it's like, Oh, the other three times you made appearances
762
00:52:42,000 --> 00:52:46,080
that game, ah, you struck out or you hit a weak fly ball or you, you, you basically went
763
00:52:46,080 --> 00:52:47,080
one for four.
764
00:52:47,080 --> 00:52:51,000
I'm not sure you hit a home run, but it's just, I know it's more flashy and that's what
765
00:52:51,000 --> 00:52:53,560
people like to see, but ah, God, I just, I hate it so much.
766
00:52:53,560 --> 00:52:55,800
What are your, what are your thoughts on that?
767
00:52:55,800 --> 00:52:56,800
Yeah.
768
00:52:56,800 --> 00:53:03,200
So, I mean, I'm much more in the, in the group that says, Hey, this is the most efficient
769
00:53:03,200 --> 00:53:04,360
way to play the game.
770
00:53:04,360 --> 00:53:05,960
So it's like, what can you do?
771
00:53:05,960 --> 00:53:06,960
Right?
772
00:53:06,960 --> 00:53:11,400
Like I think the evolution of any sport, and that's why I brought up the basketball example
773
00:53:11,400 --> 00:53:15,440
with three pointers, you know, you have guys who try to imitate Steph Curry, but they're
774
00:53:15,440 --> 00:53:16,440
not Steph Curry.
775
00:53:16,440 --> 00:53:20,840
So you have, you know, people just chucking threes from the logo and missing.
776
00:53:20,840 --> 00:53:22,920
And that's just a really aesthetically bad product.
777
00:53:22,920 --> 00:53:28,240
And I agree, like players like, you know, same Max Muncie, even for the Dodgers, not
778
00:53:28,240 --> 00:53:30,680
really aesthetically pleasing to watch.
779
00:53:30,680 --> 00:53:31,680
Why?
780
00:53:31,680 --> 00:53:32,680
Because he strikes out three times a game.
781
00:53:32,680 --> 00:53:35,320
And then the other time, maybe he hits a home run.
782
00:53:35,320 --> 00:53:41,960
Maybe he walks, you know, a lot of these players who play the game at the most, the most efficient
783
00:53:41,960 --> 00:53:48,000
way by trying to, you know, swing for the fences and then take your walks.
784
00:53:48,000 --> 00:53:49,880
We'll get into Munetakemaru Accomulator.
785
00:53:49,880 --> 00:53:52,360
That's a little more of his approach.
786
00:53:52,360 --> 00:53:57,840
I'm okay with it, but I do think there needs to be a balance and maybe in MLB, they've
787
00:53:57,840 --> 00:54:01,720
gone too far in that direction where most hitters are doing that.
788
00:54:01,720 --> 00:54:04,920
Whereas in Japan, only a very small handful of hitters are doing that.
789
00:54:04,920 --> 00:54:08,240
I think both leagues could benefit from having a blend of both.
790
00:54:08,240 --> 00:54:13,360
But from your perspective, a lot of people share that perspective, especially older baseball
791
00:54:13,360 --> 00:54:14,360
fans.
792
00:54:14,360 --> 00:54:19,680
And that's why I say if you want to watch that style, that old school style of contact,
793
00:54:19,680 --> 00:54:24,240
you know, bat to ball, you can still get that by watching MPB.
794
00:54:24,240 --> 00:54:25,240
And that's what's great.
795
00:54:25,240 --> 00:54:30,280
Like you can still enjoy the same game of baseball, but it's a different brand.
796
00:54:30,280 --> 00:54:34,240
And if you watch MPB versus MLB, it's really night and day.
797
00:54:34,240 --> 00:54:35,240
Yeah.
798
00:54:35,240 --> 00:54:39,880
I've been talking shit about, you know, betraying the angels and jumping to another team.
799
00:54:39,880 --> 00:54:43,200
I'm not going to do that, obviously, because like I stick with the team, right?
800
00:54:43,200 --> 00:54:49,000
But now that you're saying this about MPB, it's got me very on board to just go full
801
00:54:49,000 --> 00:54:51,480
into MPB to get to see what I want to see, right?
802
00:54:51,480 --> 00:54:56,960
Get to see the ball played, how I want to see it played and, you know, go from there.
803
00:54:56,960 --> 00:54:57,960
Yeah.
804
00:54:57,960 --> 00:55:05,920
And with the dead ball crisis right now and the dead balls, I'll just briefly explain
805
00:55:05,920 --> 00:55:08,120
the MPB balls right now.
806
00:55:08,120 --> 00:55:10,040
They are not flying at all.
807
00:55:10,040 --> 00:55:15,720
So even when the batter squares it up, it's dying on the warning track nine times out
808
00:55:15,720 --> 00:55:16,720
of 10.
809
00:55:16,720 --> 00:55:18,040
You have to perfectly square it up to hit a home run.
810
00:55:18,040 --> 00:55:22,800
We are on pace to have the fewest home runs hit ever in MPB history this year.
811
00:55:22,800 --> 00:55:25,360
And it's one of the lowest scoring seasons ever.
812
00:55:25,360 --> 00:55:30,600
It's really comparable to like 1968 in MLB with the year of the pitcher, Bob Gibson.
813
00:55:30,600 --> 00:55:36,800
Like league ERA is below three, Lego PS is in the low 600s.
814
00:55:36,800 --> 00:55:41,060
And I think that has hurt the product in more ways than it's helped.
815
00:55:41,060 --> 00:55:46,680
But it's going to be interesting to see if this continues for multiple years, how our
816
00:55:46,680 --> 00:55:55,240
team's going to adapt, how our hitters going to have success without hitting the ball over
817
00:55:55,240 --> 00:55:59,880
the fence or without the ability to hit the ball over the fence as easily.
818
00:55:59,880 --> 00:56:06,880
So I think it's definitely like shown the bad side of like what happens when there are
819
00:56:06,880 --> 00:56:08,120
no home runs at all.
820
00:56:08,120 --> 00:56:10,400
Like it's just, it's like, it's dull.
821
00:56:10,400 --> 00:56:11,400
Like there's no climax.
822
00:56:11,400 --> 00:56:16,200
It's like you're watching the entire game waiting for like that big hit and it never
823
00:56:16,200 --> 00:56:17,200
comes.
824
00:56:17,200 --> 00:56:21,320
But at the same time, you're forcing these teams to get very creative about the way they
825
00:56:21,320 --> 00:56:22,320
score.
826
00:56:22,320 --> 00:56:28,400
And I think the games are tight because, you know, obviously when not many players can
827
00:56:28,400 --> 00:56:35,720
slug, it forces everyone to just kind of, you know, sing hit singles the other way and,
828
00:56:35,720 --> 00:56:36,840
you know, steal bases.
829
00:56:36,840 --> 00:56:41,600
So it's definitely making the games, you know, very low scoring and very tight.
830
00:56:41,600 --> 00:56:42,600
Yeah.
831
00:56:42,600 --> 00:56:47,760
Did they, do you think this is happening because did they change the construction of the baseball
832
00:56:47,760 --> 00:56:48,760
itself?
833
00:56:48,760 --> 00:56:50,400
Did they change the way the bats work?
834
00:56:50,400 --> 00:56:54,800
Like what's actually causing the dead ball issue?
835
00:56:54,800 --> 00:56:56,280
Yeah.
836
00:56:56,280 --> 00:57:02,840
So the dead balls actually started around 2022, which makes Minnetocom's home run record
837
00:57:02,840 --> 00:57:03,840
even more impressive.
838
00:57:03,840 --> 00:57:10,000
But 2024 is the new low and Misono, the company that manufactures these balls, they keep claiming
839
00:57:10,000 --> 00:57:15,480
that no, we haven't changed anything, but all the research suggests, and you know, this
840
00:57:15,480 --> 00:57:20,800
gets into, you know, specifics that even I can't speak to with like air resistance or
841
00:57:20,800 --> 00:57:25,040
dragging and, you know, the coefficient of the ball and whatnot, but there's something
842
00:57:25,040 --> 00:57:26,040
wrong with the ball.
843
00:57:26,040 --> 00:57:27,420
Like that's for sure.
844
00:57:27,420 --> 00:57:28,600
You can even just see it.
845
00:57:28,600 --> 00:57:35,120
Like when it, if you hold both of the balls in your hand, an MLB ball and an MPB ball,
846
00:57:35,120 --> 00:57:38,360
the MLB ball is like significantly harder.
847
00:57:38,360 --> 00:57:42,320
The MPB ball has a little more give to it and it's pre-tacked, meaning it's kind of
848
00:57:42,320 --> 00:57:43,320
sticky.
849
00:57:43,320 --> 00:57:44,680
So it's easier for pitchers to manipulate.
850
00:57:44,680 --> 00:57:46,520
So it's a combination of those things.
851
00:57:46,520 --> 00:57:50,360
It's like easier for the pitcher to manipulate and spot his pitches on top of the fact that
852
00:57:50,360 --> 00:57:53,000
it's not flying as much.
853
00:57:53,000 --> 00:57:56,680
And I just think like that's really bad for like the hitters.
854
00:57:56,680 --> 00:58:01,520
They are getting like part of their careers taken away from them, like part of their career
855
00:58:01,520 --> 00:58:07,000
where they could be, you know, hitting a lot of home runs and adding to their resume.
856
00:58:07,000 --> 00:58:10,560
It's becoming incredibly difficult for them and you're not rewarding them for doing the
857
00:58:10,560 --> 00:58:11,560
right things.
858
00:58:11,560 --> 00:58:15,960
So I think the dead ball crisis in MPB right now definitely needs to be talked about even
859
00:58:15,960 --> 00:58:19,760
within the context of like, Hey, this guy's going over to MLB.
860
00:58:19,760 --> 00:58:21,200
Let's look at his stats.
861
00:58:21,200 --> 00:58:27,760
You know, people should know that MPB right now is heavily inflated in favor of pitchers.
862
00:58:27,760 --> 00:58:33,320
But you know, we had this 10 years ago, 2011, 2012, there was the same exact thing happening.
863
00:58:33,320 --> 00:58:37,720
And then in 2013, they juiced the balls and that's when Vladimir Valentin hit 60 home
864
00:58:37,720 --> 00:58:39,200
runs at the MPB home run record.
865
00:58:39,200 --> 00:58:42,760
So, you know, we might see something like that happen again.
866
00:58:42,760 --> 00:58:47,720
But right now, yeah, MPB is an all time low in terms of offense.
867
00:58:47,720 --> 00:58:48,880
That's very interesting.
868
00:58:48,880 --> 00:58:52,480
I'm a huge Mizuno shill because like when I play, that's all I use.
869
00:58:52,480 --> 00:58:58,520
I use Mizuno catcher gear, Mizuno gloves, Mizuno cleats, and I always loved all their products.
870
00:58:58,520 --> 00:59:00,640
Everything that they made was was top tier.
871
00:59:00,640 --> 00:59:02,720
It was way better than the American stuff.
872
00:59:02,720 --> 00:59:06,440
Not to not to talk shit about the American stuff necessarily, but you know, the rolling
873
00:59:06,440 --> 00:59:07,960
stuff All-Star.
874
00:59:07,960 --> 00:59:12,200
That stuff was just kind of it just felt cheap and, you know, just didn't feel like it was
875
00:59:12,200 --> 00:59:13,240
a good quality.
876
00:59:13,240 --> 00:59:15,840
But the Mizuno stuff was like A level, man.
877
00:59:15,840 --> 00:59:17,840
It was top tier.
878
00:59:17,840 --> 00:59:21,080
Yeah, that's that's what makes it so odd.
879
00:59:21,080 --> 00:59:25,960
Like there has to be something because I don't think they would have done this on purpose.
880
00:59:25,960 --> 00:59:32,080
So you know, something in the manufacturing, I think, has has gone wrong to where the balls
881
00:59:32,080 --> 00:59:34,440
just are not flying at all.
882
00:59:34,440 --> 00:59:39,440
And so I think, you know, MPB needs to step in and regulate that to some extent.
883
00:59:39,440 --> 00:59:41,700
All right.
884
00:59:41,700 --> 00:59:50,680
So I guess I'm going to tag in and I want to transition over to, I guess, free agency.
885
00:59:50,680 --> 00:59:59,760
So as far as the recent acquisitions of, I guess, Shohei Otani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto,
886
00:59:59,760 --> 01:00:04,080
what ways has I guess the Dodgers or even I guess I could throw in the Cubs as well with
887
01:00:04,080 --> 01:00:05,320
Shota Ibanaga.
888
01:00:05,320 --> 01:00:11,400
But in what ways have both these teams impacted the free agency of Japanese players, if at
889
01:00:11,400 --> 01:00:14,200
all?
890
01:00:14,200 --> 01:00:22,600
So I would say the Dodgers, they kind of proved that they own the Japanese market by going
891
01:00:22,600 --> 01:00:26,000
out and spending a billion dollars on Otani and Yamamoto.
892
01:00:26,000 --> 01:00:28,840
The Dodgers have always been, you know, being on the Japanese market.
893
01:00:28,840 --> 01:00:33,640
But this kind of definitively stamped down like, no, the Dodgers own Japan.
894
01:00:33,640 --> 01:00:38,360
That's not to say other franchises like the Yankees, the Padres, the Giants, the Red Sox,
895
01:00:38,360 --> 01:00:39,360
the Mariners.
896
01:00:39,360 --> 01:00:44,120
There's a lot of them that still are players for Japanese talent down the line.
897
01:00:44,120 --> 01:00:51,320
But the Dodgers will always be viewed as the top dog now for many, many years to come.
898
01:00:51,320 --> 01:00:55,640
Like just, I mean, because they secured both of them.
899
01:00:55,640 --> 01:00:57,440
And I think they did come as a package.
900
01:00:57,440 --> 01:01:01,760
I think if Otani had gone elsewhere, I think Yamamoto would have gone with him too.
901
01:01:01,760 --> 01:01:04,280
But it would have been different if they only got one.
902
01:01:04,280 --> 01:01:08,200
It would have been like, OK, well, that could be just a one off.
903
01:01:08,200 --> 01:01:10,320
You know, Otani, he was an angel.
904
01:01:10,320 --> 01:01:12,800
He just wanted to go across town to a better team.
905
01:01:12,800 --> 01:01:13,800
That makes sense.
906
01:01:13,800 --> 01:01:18,760
But the fact that they secured both Yamamoto and Otani in the same off season, that makes
907
01:01:18,760 --> 01:01:25,360
the Dodgers like the heavy front runner for all Japanese talent for the next decade, at
908
01:01:25,360 --> 01:01:26,360
the very least.
909
01:01:26,360 --> 01:01:28,800
Especially because it just seems like they have unlimited money.
910
01:01:28,800 --> 01:01:34,240
And I do want to bring the geographical factor into account too.
911
01:01:34,240 --> 01:01:37,600
Like the West Coast is always going to have an advantage over the East Coast for Japanese
912
01:01:37,600 --> 01:01:39,800
talent just because it's closer to Japan.
913
01:01:39,800 --> 01:01:41,160
It's closer to home for a lot of guys.
914
01:01:41,160 --> 01:01:46,480
They want to play in California a lot of the time.
915
01:01:46,480 --> 01:01:48,560
That's not to say, you know, that's for everyone.
916
01:01:48,560 --> 01:01:52,480
Like Shota Imanaga, Seiya Suzuki, Kodai Senga, those guys didn't care.
917
01:01:52,480 --> 01:01:53,480
They went to the Midwest.
918
01:01:53,480 --> 01:01:54,700
They went to the East Coast.
919
01:01:54,700 --> 01:01:57,640
Some players, it's on an individual basis, right?
920
01:01:57,640 --> 01:02:00,920
Maybe they care more about what team they're going to be a part of.
921
01:02:00,920 --> 01:02:02,760
Maybe they like a specific city.
922
01:02:02,760 --> 01:02:07,960
But in general, California is the place to be for Japanese players.
923
01:02:07,960 --> 01:02:08,960
And who's the best team?
924
01:02:08,960 --> 01:02:09,960
Who's the biggest team in California?
925
01:02:09,960 --> 01:02:12,460
That would be the Dodgers.
926
01:02:12,460 --> 01:02:13,720
I guess that's true.
927
01:02:13,720 --> 01:02:21,000
I mean, it is a little bit worrisome and it's going to lead into my next question because
928
01:02:21,000 --> 01:02:27,120
I mean, as much as I personally love this as a Dodger to have even the prospect of potentially
929
01:02:27,120 --> 01:02:34,360
getting Roki Sasaki, who we'll talk about a bit later, I would prefer if Japan was just
930
01:02:34,360 --> 01:02:41,200
open season for every team because I mean, it'd be just as cool to see Roki Sasaki maybe
931
01:02:41,200 --> 01:02:46,960
pitch for Seattle Mariners and, you know, wear the same uniform as Randy Johnson or
932
01:02:46,960 --> 01:02:49,680
even Ichiro Suzuki.
933
01:02:49,680 --> 01:02:53,840
I think that would be just as cool as if he was in a Dodgers uniform.
934
01:02:53,840 --> 01:02:57,600
But I wanted to follow up and ask.
935
01:02:57,600 --> 01:03:03,880
So specifically on Yaku Cosmopolitan, your YouTube channel, you discuss a topic with
936
01:03:03,880 --> 01:03:13,080
Sean Spradling that brought attention, which was the end of the international team partnerships
937
01:03:13,080 --> 01:03:15,720
for MLB with other international leagues.
938
01:03:15,720 --> 01:03:18,920
That's NPB, KBO, most notably.
939
01:03:18,920 --> 01:03:22,340
These are partnerships that included data and personal sharing.
940
01:03:22,340 --> 01:03:28,640
Some of the teams that had relationships were the Mets and Sabu Lions, D-backs and the Bay
941
01:03:28,640 --> 01:03:32,120
Stars, Rangers and Ham Fighters.
942
01:03:32,120 --> 01:03:40,200
Overall, this was an effort to prevent pre-negotiations, pre-negotiation tampering before a player
943
01:03:40,200 --> 01:03:42,960
is able to get posted.
944
01:03:42,960 --> 01:03:47,640
How do you feel about this subject currently after some time away from it?
945
01:03:47,640 --> 01:03:54,200
Yeah, so this was something that came at the beginning of this season, this current season
946
01:03:54,200 --> 01:03:55,200
out of nowhere.
947
01:03:55,200 --> 01:03:57,080
Like people didn't see this coming.
948
01:03:57,080 --> 01:04:02,800
And I think it was mostly viewed as something negative because a lot of these partnerships
949
01:04:02,800 --> 01:04:09,160
that teams had, you know, sharing data, maybe sending over a coach, you know, exchanging
950
01:04:09,160 --> 01:04:15,000
coaches and getting like different outlooks on philosophies, that was viewed as a good
951
01:04:15,000 --> 01:04:16,000
thing.
952
01:04:16,000 --> 01:04:20,280
So there's more cooperation, more globalization of baseball.
953
01:04:20,280 --> 01:04:27,800
We still have to wait and see like to what extent a lot of these like restrictions apply.
954
01:04:27,800 --> 01:04:34,040
However, what's interesting is that this month it was announced that NPB executives along
955
01:04:34,040 --> 01:04:39,420
with representatives from all 12 NPB teams are going to be meeting with MLB to discuss
956
01:04:39,420 --> 01:04:42,560
things like data exchange and broadcasting rights.
957
01:04:42,560 --> 01:04:47,000
So we'll definitely see what comes of it, but it's interesting to see like, you know,
958
01:04:47,000 --> 01:04:51,680
I think MLB was the one that walked back on these kind of partnerships initially, but
959
01:04:51,680 --> 01:04:56,000
now NPB is coming back to the table and saying, you know what, maybe we need to open up the
960
01:04:56,000 --> 01:04:58,240
cooperations again.
961
01:04:58,240 --> 01:05:04,840
In general, I would say the main thing here, like when anyone talks about a relationship
962
01:05:04,840 --> 01:05:08,560
between MLB and NPB, the only thing people care about at the end of the day is the posting
963
01:05:08,560 --> 01:05:09,920
system.
964
01:05:09,920 --> 01:05:13,640
And the posting system does need to be overhauled.
965
01:05:13,640 --> 01:05:20,280
I think most people would agree that the posting system as in its current form is not sustainable.
966
01:05:20,280 --> 01:05:26,880
And if the posting system is changed as a result of these measures that MLB is taking,
967
01:05:26,880 --> 01:05:29,120
then perhaps it ends up being a good thing.
968
01:05:29,120 --> 01:05:34,240
But right now the posting system does not really, it definitely doesn't benefit the
969
01:05:34,240 --> 01:05:40,520
NPB teams, it doesn't particularly benefit the NPB players either, because some guys
970
01:05:40,520 --> 01:05:46,360
want to come over to MLB at an earlier age, they're not necessarily allowed to do that.
971
01:05:46,360 --> 01:05:50,080
But you know, we will see what comes of this.
972
01:05:50,080 --> 01:05:51,880
But for now, that's what I would say.
973
01:05:51,880 --> 01:05:54,920
I would say that it probably looks like it's negative.
974
01:05:54,920 --> 01:05:56,520
This is not a great thing.
975
01:05:56,520 --> 01:06:00,560
But if the posting system is overhauled as a result of this, then it could lead to something
976
01:06:00,560 --> 01:06:01,560
better.
977
01:06:01,560 --> 01:06:07,320
Yeah, and I just wanted to quickly mention, I mean, because, you know, we're talking about
978
01:06:07,320 --> 01:06:14,320
some of the future stars of baseball and well, I mean, established stars like Roki Sasaki,
979
01:06:14,320 --> 01:06:20,040
I mean, Andrew Friedman had, I guess, I don't know how to word it, but he's had conversations
980
01:06:20,040 --> 01:06:23,280
with Roki Sasaki in the offseason.
981
01:06:23,280 --> 01:06:26,720
And I'm just like, not down for that.
982
01:06:26,720 --> 01:06:32,920
As much as I love the Dodgers, I am very much in the camp that everybody should have an
983
01:06:32,920 --> 01:06:34,440
equal chance at every player.
984
01:06:34,440 --> 01:06:39,400
And I don't think that front running should be allowed in its entirety.
985
01:06:39,400 --> 01:06:43,480
So yeah, I just had to quickly make that comment.
986
01:06:43,480 --> 01:06:47,960
But I think Josh here, or unless you had to say you had something to say about that particular
987
01:06:47,960 --> 01:06:48,960
statement.
988
01:06:48,960 --> 01:06:49,960
Yeah.
989
01:06:49,960 --> 01:06:56,880
Well, I mean, not just Friedman, like the AJ Prellor, the Pottery's GM, like literally
990
01:06:56,880 --> 01:07:01,120
name dropped Roki Sasaki while giving a speech talking about players he wants to add to the
991
01:07:01,120 --> 01:07:02,120
Pottery's family.
992
01:07:02,120 --> 01:07:06,400
And it was funny that these restrictions came the week after he said that.
993
01:07:06,400 --> 01:07:10,920
So it almost seemed like it was a response from other owners to being like, you know
994
01:07:10,920 --> 01:07:16,240
what, AJ, you can't just like name drop one of the best young pitchers in the world and
995
01:07:16,240 --> 01:07:17,960
expect us not to do something about it.
996
01:07:17,960 --> 01:07:18,960
But yeah, like I agree.
997
01:07:18,960 --> 01:07:26,160
It's obviously, you know, teams having the upper hand before negotiations even begin.
998
01:07:26,160 --> 01:07:30,920
That's not good for the ecosystem of negotiations by any means.
999
01:07:30,920 --> 01:07:32,480
Yeah, true.
1000
01:07:32,480 --> 01:07:36,520
Now that we're on the subject of, I guess, kind of the interface between MLB and the
1001
01:07:36,520 --> 01:07:42,080
NPB and or just Japanese baseball in general, I have this theory and I just want to run
1002
01:07:42,080 --> 01:07:43,600
it by you just to get your thoughts on it.
1003
01:07:43,600 --> 01:07:49,400
I have I have a theory that the MLB obviously sees dollar signs, they're motivated by money
1004
01:07:49,400 --> 01:07:51,080
in this huge market.
1005
01:07:51,080 --> 01:07:54,680
The Asian Pacific market for baseball is huge.
1006
01:07:54,680 --> 01:07:56,760
It's probably obviously behind MLB.
1007
01:07:56,760 --> 01:08:01,720
It's probably close to being number two in the world for the sport of baseball.
1008
01:08:01,720 --> 01:08:06,480
So this theory I have is that with all these games being played in other countries, they're
1009
01:08:06,480 --> 01:08:10,640
starting to expand and kind of maybe test the market over the last few years.
1010
01:08:10,640 --> 01:08:14,320
The NFL is doing it, you know, other sports are doing it.
1011
01:08:14,320 --> 01:08:20,280
But I have this theory that the MLB is eventually going to incorporate a third league.
1012
01:08:20,280 --> 01:08:24,160
You'd have essentially American, the National League, and then you'd have some sort of Asian
1013
01:08:24,160 --> 01:08:25,160
Pacific.
1014
01:08:25,160 --> 01:08:26,160
I don't know what they would call it.
1015
01:08:26,160 --> 01:08:31,160
But I feel like they're going to eventually have like a Japan, Korea, Taiwan, like an
1016
01:08:31,160 --> 01:08:35,840
Asian kind of league that gets thrown into the mix here.
1017
01:08:35,840 --> 01:08:40,640
And yeah, maybe they're not interfacing with like, you know, like how we have the Internet
1018
01:08:40,640 --> 01:08:43,160
Inter League play, I guess, here.
1019
01:08:43,160 --> 01:08:44,960
Maybe it's not interfacing to that level.
1020
01:08:44,960 --> 01:08:48,320
But I do think that that's kind of where it's headed.
1021
01:08:48,320 --> 01:08:49,320
What are your thoughts on that?
1022
01:08:49,320 --> 01:08:53,060
And do you have any indications that that could be a potential thing that might happen
1023
01:08:53,060 --> 01:08:55,320
in the future?
1024
01:08:55,320 --> 01:09:01,320
I think that concept is very similar to like the Super League concept in European soccer,
1025
01:09:01,320 --> 01:09:05,140
where, you know, all of the big clubs from these various countries thought about getting
1026
01:09:05,140 --> 01:09:08,400
together forming a Super League.
1027
01:09:08,400 --> 01:09:14,080
And most fans obviously were not on board with that necessarily.
1028
01:09:14,080 --> 01:09:18,680
That could possibly be something like way into the future, like, you know, several decades
1029
01:09:18,680 --> 01:09:19,680
down the line.
1030
01:09:19,680 --> 01:09:23,760
I could totally see that happening, especially, you know, as we continue to get more and more
1031
01:09:23,760 --> 01:09:30,440
globalized, maybe if travel becomes not as much of an issue like right now, it would
1032
01:09:30,440 --> 01:09:36,840
be logistically almost impossible to do that unless it's like, as you mentioned, like a
1033
01:09:36,840 --> 01:09:41,640
very like brief kind of interlink period.
1034
01:09:41,640 --> 01:09:48,960
Right now, in terms of interactions between an MPB team playing an MLB team, the issue
1035
01:09:48,960 --> 01:09:53,080
is a lot of people have proposed, wouldn't it be cool if the winner of the Japan series
1036
01:09:53,080 --> 01:09:55,480
plays the winner of the World Series?
1037
01:09:55,480 --> 01:09:59,400
And you know, because then it would be a true World Series, right?
1038
01:09:59,400 --> 01:10:03,240
It wouldn't just be like the American series or the World Series.
1039
01:10:03,240 --> 01:10:09,920
The issue is like no MLB team would ever like give that much effort against an MPB team,
1040
01:10:09,920 --> 01:10:13,840
because in their minds, winning the World Series is the ultimate prize.
1041
01:10:13,840 --> 01:10:16,760
And you don't need to prove yourself against an MPB team.
1042
01:10:16,760 --> 01:10:18,120
So that just wouldn't work.
1043
01:10:18,120 --> 01:10:24,640
The only way that you could ever have that kind of competitive spirit is through tournaments
1044
01:10:24,640 --> 01:10:29,640
like the World Baseball Classic, or as you mentioned, if they actually played in the
1045
01:10:29,640 --> 01:10:30,640
same league.
1046
01:10:30,640 --> 01:10:33,960
And that would be a true like global baseball league.
1047
01:10:33,960 --> 01:10:40,760
It would probably, you know, require like buy in from the biggest teams in Japan, like
1048
01:10:40,760 --> 01:10:44,080
the Omiere Giants and the SoftBank Hawks.
1049
01:10:44,080 --> 01:10:45,920
Definitely an interesting idea.
1050
01:10:45,920 --> 01:10:50,640
I wouldn't say that it's impossible, but probably still many decades away.
1051
01:10:50,640 --> 01:10:52,120
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
1052
01:10:52,120 --> 01:10:54,080
I don't think it's happening anytime soon.
1053
01:10:54,080 --> 01:10:59,760
But I think that the MLB looks at an organization like FIFA and sees, OK, they're arguably
1054
01:10:59,760 --> 01:11:03,680
probably one of the largest global sports brands that exists.
1055
01:11:03,680 --> 01:11:08,960
And hey, if we can throw together some kind of a super league or incorporate teams from
1056
01:11:08,960 --> 01:11:12,600
around the world, maybe even just have different, you know, because they have different levels,
1057
01:11:12,600 --> 01:11:13,600
like you said, with soccer.
1058
01:11:13,600 --> 01:11:18,280
I'm not a big soccer guy, but you know, they have different leagues and levels of professional
1059
01:11:18,280 --> 01:11:20,200
play, I guess, for lack of a better term.
1060
01:11:20,200 --> 01:11:24,960
So maybe that could be sort of applied to the professional aspect of it, where maybe
1061
01:11:24,960 --> 01:11:28,240
it's not just like a minor league system up to pro.
1062
01:11:28,240 --> 01:11:33,600
There's like maybe two or three levels in between that of varying degree of, you know,
1063
01:11:33,600 --> 01:11:35,120
pay and success, I guess.
1064
01:11:35,120 --> 01:11:37,480
But yeah, no, I definitely think that's something for sure.
1065
01:11:37,480 --> 01:11:40,840
Maybe in the next 10 to 20 years, we might be able to see.
1066
01:11:40,840 --> 01:11:43,040
Yeah, certainly.
1067
01:11:43,040 --> 01:11:47,360
It'd be difficult logistically in terms of like, you know, what if an American player
1068
01:11:47,360 --> 01:11:49,420
just straight up doesn't want to play in Japan?
1069
01:11:49,420 --> 01:11:54,000
So then the Japanese teams are going to be made up of, you know, almost purely Japanese
1070
01:11:54,000 --> 01:12:01,240
talent, much as it is now, obviously, with a couple foreigners, you know, five or six.
1071
01:12:01,240 --> 01:12:06,480
You know, there's going to be a lot of like competitiveness issues that they have to sort
1072
01:12:06,480 --> 01:12:07,480
out.
1073
01:12:07,480 --> 01:12:13,820
So it would definitely be like, it's a pipe dream in many ways, but I wouldn't count it
1074
01:12:13,820 --> 01:12:18,140
out as a possibility.
1075
01:12:18,140 --> 01:12:24,760
So I wanted to follow up and transition over to, I guess, the nitty gritty of baseball.
1076
01:12:24,760 --> 01:12:30,420
Now we're going to get down to, I guess, statistics and players.
1077
01:12:30,420 --> 01:12:36,000
So my next question to you is, when it comes to looking at players, what are some advanced
1078
01:12:36,000 --> 01:12:41,440
statistics you look at that help you shape your perspective or analysis of a player,
1079
01:12:41,440 --> 01:12:47,620
whether that is position specific, offense or defense specific, anything that you could
1080
01:12:47,620 --> 01:12:51,920
share to enlighten us, I guess?
1081
01:12:51,920 --> 01:13:00,600
Yeah, I would say both with pitching and hitting, there are results based and process based
1082
01:13:00,600 --> 01:13:02,680
ways you can look at a player.
1083
01:13:02,680 --> 01:13:07,120
So like results based is just straight up seeing how well the player is performing.
1084
01:13:07,120 --> 01:13:12,880
And to do that, the best stat for a hitter would probably be like weighted on base average,
1085
01:13:12,880 --> 01:13:14,700
WOBA or WRC plus.
1086
01:13:14,700 --> 01:13:19,320
These are like catch all statistics that are combining all the important nitty gritty numbers
1087
01:13:19,320 --> 01:13:20,780
into one single statistic.
1088
01:13:20,780 --> 01:13:25,160
So if you want to just look at one number, like I like WRC plus personally, that's a
1089
01:13:25,160 --> 01:13:27,800
results based way to look at hitting.
1090
01:13:27,800 --> 01:13:30,480
Process based would be more like chase rate.
1091
01:13:30,480 --> 01:13:34,760
So how often is a player swinging outside the strike zone and also zone contact rate.
1092
01:13:34,760 --> 01:13:40,560
Zone contact rate is a popular way that people analyze prospects.
1093
01:13:40,560 --> 01:13:47,280
Zone contact rate is kind of a very pure form of just bat to ball skills because that is
1094
01:13:47,280 --> 01:13:51,680
how often when a pitch is inside the strike zone, are you hitting it, making contact with
1095
01:13:51,680 --> 01:13:55,040
it because it removes the factor of like, is this guy disciplined?
1096
01:13:55,040 --> 01:13:56,040
Does he have a good eye?
1097
01:13:56,040 --> 01:13:59,360
If you're swinging at bad pitches, obviously you can't make great contact.
1098
01:13:59,360 --> 01:14:02,440
But if it is a pitch that is hittable, how often do you make contact?
1099
01:14:02,440 --> 01:14:09,240
So if you see a guy that has like a zone contact percentage north of 90%, that's a great contact
1100
01:14:09,240 --> 01:14:10,680
talent.
1101
01:14:10,680 --> 01:14:16,120
Likewise for chase rate, if you see a guy that has a chase rate below like 25%, that's
1102
01:14:16,120 --> 01:14:22,080
like an elite guy with elite patients like a Juan Soto in MLB.
1103
01:14:22,080 --> 01:14:27,400
On the pitching side for results based, you might want to look at skill interactive ERA.
1104
01:14:27,400 --> 01:14:31,520
So Sierra in MPB, that's not widely available.
1105
01:14:31,520 --> 01:14:36,360
So instead I would look at expected fielding independent pitching, which is ex-FIP.
1106
01:14:36,360 --> 01:14:42,120
It's the same as FIP basically, except it neutralizes the home run to fly ball ratio
1107
01:14:42,120 --> 01:14:45,740
to be same as the league average basically.
1108
01:14:45,740 --> 01:14:53,080
So FIP is typically reducing a pitcher's performance down to all the things they can control, which
1109
01:14:53,080 --> 01:14:56,520
is very simply strikeouts, walks and home runs.
1110
01:14:56,520 --> 01:15:01,880
Nothing that might be affected by the defense behind them with batted ball luck.
1111
01:15:01,880 --> 01:15:07,560
And then ex-FIP I think is even better because while preventing home runs and keeping the
1112
01:15:07,560 --> 01:15:11,720
ball in the park, that is a skill to an extent, there is a little bit of luck involved there
1113
01:15:11,720 --> 01:15:14,160
and it depends on the ballpark you play in as well.
1114
01:15:14,160 --> 01:15:16,200
So I like looking at ex-FIP.
1115
01:15:16,200 --> 01:15:19,280
And then process based pitching stats.
1116
01:15:19,280 --> 01:15:22,900
Once again, chase rate, how often are you getting a guy to swing at pitches outside
1117
01:15:22,900 --> 01:15:23,900
the strike zone?
1118
01:15:23,900 --> 01:15:29,140
That probably means you are fooling hitters a lot, especially with your off-speed pitches.
1119
01:15:29,140 --> 01:15:34,420
In Japan, the most popular off-speed pitch being a splitter or a fork ball.
1120
01:15:34,420 --> 01:15:36,200
And then called strike plus whiff rate.
1121
01:15:36,200 --> 01:15:41,360
I think that's a stat that was made by Nick Pollock of Pitchers List a while ago, but
1122
01:15:41,360 --> 01:15:43,100
it is like widely used now.
1123
01:15:43,100 --> 01:15:47,640
So just combining how many whiffs a pitcher gets with called strikes.
1124
01:15:47,640 --> 01:15:51,480
If you get a lot of whiffs and you get a lot of called strikes as a pitcher, this sounds
1125
01:15:51,480 --> 01:15:55,520
kind of obvious, but you're probably going to get good results.
1126
01:15:55,520 --> 01:16:00,920
And as far as you acquiring this information or understanding this information, is that
1127
01:16:00,920 --> 01:16:06,360
something you did on your own time or is that something you learned from some type of institution
1128
01:16:06,360 --> 01:16:14,720
like maybe part of your degree or is that just something you just learned on your own?
1129
01:16:14,720 --> 01:16:19,400
It's something I learned on my own and I think all baseball fans are capable of this.
1130
01:16:19,400 --> 01:16:24,040
As long as you have the data in front of you and you are interested in it, I think it is
1131
01:16:24,040 --> 01:16:28,800
– it can be daunting at first, like all these different stats and numbers that you
1132
01:16:28,800 --> 01:16:33,880
might not understand, but you just have to reduce everything down to the fundamentals.
1133
01:16:33,880 --> 01:16:39,880
Like I said with chase rate, it very much – some people might be like, oh, why do
1134
01:16:39,880 --> 01:16:41,360
we care about something like that?
1135
01:16:41,360 --> 01:16:43,660
If they're doing well, they're doing well.
1136
01:16:43,660 --> 01:16:47,240
But these are things that are predictive of future results because if you do the right
1137
01:16:47,240 --> 01:16:51,780
things over and over, it will lead to good results.
1138
01:16:51,780 --> 01:16:54,040
So I think it is a philosophical difference.
1139
01:16:54,040 --> 01:16:57,880
Some people don't really care about how you get to the finish line as long as you get
1140
01:16:57,880 --> 01:16:58,880
there.
1141
01:16:58,880 --> 01:17:02,440
Other people – and I think I'm a bit more in this category – I like looking at how
1142
01:17:02,440 --> 01:17:06,100
a guy gets to the finish line.
1143
01:17:06,100 --> 01:17:08,360
And they might be underperforming.
1144
01:17:08,360 --> 01:17:11,440
They might be doing all the right things, but there's a little bit of bad luck involved.
1145
01:17:11,440 --> 01:17:17,080
Maybe they didn't execute just one time and that kind of has a dominant effect on everything.
1146
01:17:17,080 --> 01:17:22,280
Because one small adjustment could lead to much better results.
1147
01:17:22,280 --> 01:17:28,760
And so in terms of MPB data, I know it's difficult for a lot of English speaking fans
1148
01:17:28,760 --> 01:17:31,960
to find access to any kind of advanced stats.
1149
01:17:31,960 --> 01:17:37,360
The site that everyone should go to is called DeltaGraphs, which if MLB fans know fan graphs,
1150
01:17:37,360 --> 01:17:39,440
it's basically like a carbon copy of that.
1151
01:17:39,440 --> 01:17:44,600
It gives you all like the – it doesn't give you super in-depth like stat-cast data
1152
01:17:44,600 --> 01:17:48,000
or anything, but it's going to give you all the stats I just named.
1153
01:17:48,000 --> 01:17:49,000
So yeah, DeltaGraphs.
1154
01:17:49,000 --> 01:17:54,520
It is a subscription-based system, but definitely something that if you are a stat head and
1155
01:17:54,520 --> 01:17:56,960
you like MPB, check it out.
1156
01:17:56,960 --> 01:18:04,240
Man, just hearing you talk like waxed intellectual on the statistics of baseball, man, it just
1157
01:18:04,240 --> 01:18:05,760
– it gets me fired up.
1158
01:18:05,760 --> 01:18:15,080
So I wanted to follow up and ask as far as – now we're getting towards the players themselves.
1159
01:18:15,080 --> 01:18:22,840
A few names that I have available for me is Roki Sasaki, Chusei Minami, I hope I'm pronouncing
1160
01:18:22,840 --> 01:18:26,200
that correctly, Munetaka Murakami.
1161
01:18:26,200 --> 01:18:32,120
Chusei has been making the rounds on different publications and media for baseball.
1162
01:18:32,120 --> 01:18:38,000
As far as his arm goes, it's been – it's gone viral and everything.
1163
01:18:38,000 --> 01:18:46,520
Roki Sasaki is the generational pitching talent and Munetaka Murakami is the youngest – if
1164
01:18:46,520 --> 01:18:51,520
I'm not mistaken, the youngest player to hit 200 home runs at 24 years old and possibly
1165
01:18:51,520 --> 01:18:54,040
coming to the MLB.
1166
01:18:54,040 --> 01:19:03,680
So I wanted to ask what each of these players – what makes each of these players so special?
1167
01:19:03,680 --> 01:19:10,080
And I don't know if Chusei Minami is coming to the MLB at all, but I wanted to ask where
1168
01:19:10,080 --> 01:19:15,720
do you believe the landing spots of each player will be when they eventually make their way
1169
01:19:15,720 --> 01:19:18,960
to the MLB, if at all?
1170
01:19:18,960 --> 01:19:21,200
Yeah, absolutely.
1171
01:19:21,200 --> 01:19:25,040
Talking about players is my favorite thing to do.
1172
01:19:25,040 --> 01:19:28,440
So let's go through each one.
1173
01:19:28,440 --> 01:19:31,440
With Chusei Minami, as you mentioned, he is making the rounds.
1174
01:19:31,440 --> 01:19:38,160
I saw he got a thread on him on Twitter, got over 100,000 likes.
1175
01:19:38,160 --> 01:19:44,360
People love watching this guy throw because he plays right field, he has an absolute cannon.
1176
01:19:44,360 --> 01:19:49,680
I always say he has the best arm for a Japanese outfielder since Ichiro Suzuki and that is
1177
01:19:49,680 --> 01:19:51,920
high, high praise.
1178
01:19:51,920 --> 01:19:57,240
Minami is a guy that I've been in on pretty much since he was in high school and that's
1179
01:19:57,240 --> 01:20:02,800
not based on me being a scout and analyzing his talent like, oh, I knew he was going to
1180
01:20:02,800 --> 01:20:03,800
be good.
1181
01:20:03,800 --> 01:20:04,800
It's the fact that he's half.
1182
01:20:04,800 --> 01:20:10,240
He's half Congolese, so he's half African, half Japanese.
1183
01:20:10,240 --> 01:20:14,840
And me being a half person, I always have a special place in my heart for half players,
1184
01:20:14,840 --> 01:20:15,840
half of the players.
1185
01:20:15,840 --> 01:20:20,760
So Minami, ever since he was at Yokohama, I've liked him.
1186
01:20:20,760 --> 01:20:27,360
And then in 2020, 2021, I saw he was doing excellent on the farm, the Nippon Handfighters
1187
01:20:27,360 --> 01:20:29,920
farm, that's their minor league team.
1188
01:20:29,920 --> 01:20:34,200
And I viewed him as like a top prospect in the league because his power is legit and
1189
01:20:34,200 --> 01:20:35,580
his defense is so good.
1190
01:20:35,580 --> 01:20:38,480
And we see him blossoming into a superstar today.
1191
01:20:38,480 --> 01:20:45,020
Roki Sasaki, as you mentioned, I mean, he is a phenom, 22 years old, and he can average
1192
01:20:45,020 --> 01:20:48,240
over 100 miles per hour on his fastball as a starter.
1193
01:20:48,240 --> 01:20:52,280
Basically only Jacob DeGrom, Hunter Green, Paul Skeens, Bobby Miller.
1194
01:20:52,280 --> 01:20:57,880
It's a very short list of players in the world who can match his velocity as a starter.
1195
01:20:57,880 --> 01:21:04,080
And it's not only him throwing hard because he has excellent command and then he has two
1196
01:21:04,080 --> 01:21:05,400
great breaking balls.
1197
01:21:05,400 --> 01:21:09,000
Before he was mostly a two-pitch guy, a fastball and a split finger.
1198
01:21:09,000 --> 01:21:14,460
But now he has added a slider that he's using a lot more often.
1199
01:21:14,460 --> 01:21:19,880
So the slider and the splitter together, that gives him three true out pitches.
1200
01:21:19,880 --> 01:21:21,720
The fastball is usually the setup pitch.
1201
01:21:21,720 --> 01:21:25,160
He uses that earlier in the count and then he puts you away with the splitter or the
1202
01:21:25,160 --> 01:21:26,160
slider.
1203
01:21:26,160 --> 01:21:31,880
During the World Baseball Classic, he also worked on that pitch with Yu Darvish.
1204
01:21:31,880 --> 01:21:35,840
And Yu Darvish obviously is kind of like the godfather of Japanese pitching at this point
1205
01:21:35,840 --> 01:21:40,280
as the respect of a lot of the younger generation.
1206
01:21:40,280 --> 01:21:45,240
And Roki this year, he is currently hurt right now with some kind of right arm discomfort.
1207
01:21:45,240 --> 01:21:47,960
He hasn't been able to put together a full healthy season yet.
1208
01:21:47,960 --> 01:21:50,080
That's been his one flaw.
1209
01:21:50,080 --> 01:21:55,160
But obviously it's really hard for anybody who throws as hard as he does with kind of
1210
01:21:55,160 --> 01:21:56,680
a lanky build as well.
1211
01:21:56,680 --> 01:21:59,520
He's tall, but he's not like a big built guy.
1212
01:21:59,520 --> 01:22:05,560
So his whole thing for the rest of his career, whether that be in Japan or stateside, is
1213
01:22:05,560 --> 01:22:06,840
going to be health.
1214
01:22:06,840 --> 01:22:13,960
And then finally, Munetaka Murakami, my favorite player to watch in Japan currently, honestly,
1215
01:22:13,960 --> 01:22:18,560
in terms of raw power that he has to all fields, it is among the best in the world.
1216
01:22:18,560 --> 01:22:23,800
You see this guy, like he can be beat on a fastball, like blowing away in the zone.
1217
01:22:23,800 --> 01:22:28,400
He just kind of flicks his wrist at it and he can take it out of the park the other way.
1218
01:22:28,400 --> 01:22:29,920
And that's with the dead balls.
1219
01:22:29,920 --> 01:22:33,480
This guy has hit the ball outside of Meiji Jingu Stadium with the dead balls.
1220
01:22:33,480 --> 01:22:38,720
He has colossal power, incredibly disciplined approach as well.
1221
01:22:38,720 --> 01:22:39,960
So his chase rate is always low.
1222
01:22:39,960 --> 01:22:46,360
He walks a lot kind of in that Max Muncie, Matt Olson kind of build.
1223
01:22:46,360 --> 01:22:48,440
He is going to swing and miss a lot.
1224
01:22:48,440 --> 01:22:54,840
He definitely, the hit tool is there for sure because he won a triple crown in 2022 back
1225
01:22:54,840 --> 01:22:59,080
when he set the Japanese born home run record with 56 home runs.
1226
01:22:59,080 --> 01:23:01,060
That surpassed the great Saraharu Oh.
1227
01:23:01,060 --> 01:23:02,240
So he does have a hit tool.
1228
01:23:02,240 --> 01:23:07,040
He's won a batting title before, but in terms of consistency there with the contact, that's
1229
01:23:07,040 --> 01:23:10,240
probably not going to be his strong suit for the rest of his career.
1230
01:23:10,240 --> 01:23:16,040
But yeah, Roki Sasaki, Chusei Manami, Minataka Murakami, all these guys at some point have
1231
01:23:16,040 --> 01:23:18,040
expressed MLB aspirations.
1232
01:23:18,040 --> 01:23:21,300
There's no timeline, especially with Roki.
1233
01:23:21,300 --> 01:23:23,500
That's the hardest one to tell.
1234
01:23:23,500 --> 01:23:25,800
We know for a fact he wants to go to MLB.
1235
01:23:25,800 --> 01:23:30,960
He has said this and supposedly he said this the day he was drafted.
1236
01:23:30,960 --> 01:23:33,940
That's what he told the Lote Marines the day he was drafted is that eventually he wants
1237
01:23:33,940 --> 01:23:34,940
to go to MLB.
1238
01:23:34,940 --> 01:23:37,440
He already had his sights set on that.
1239
01:23:37,440 --> 01:23:38,480
We don't know when that's going to be.
1240
01:23:38,480 --> 01:23:44,440
Is that going to be next year or is that going to be maybe even as far as like 2027?
1241
01:23:44,440 --> 01:23:49,300
And then Manami said he would like to play in MLB down the line.
1242
01:23:49,300 --> 01:23:50,600
He said that last year.
1243
01:23:50,600 --> 01:23:52,840
Murakami, he said that two years ago.
1244
01:23:52,840 --> 01:23:56,880
So Murakami, the ETA for him is probably 2026.
1245
01:23:56,880 --> 01:24:05,280
I would say for somebody like Roki, the Dodgers or the Padres right now are still the top
1246
01:24:05,280 --> 01:24:12,760
destinations, not least because Friedman and Preller have already had contact with them.
1247
01:24:12,760 --> 01:24:20,640
And with Manami, maybe he's somebody who could play for a team that's not as big.
1248
01:24:20,640 --> 01:24:24,480
He could be more of a Midwest market team even.
1249
01:24:24,480 --> 01:24:29,420
I think a lot of different teams would have a shot at signing Manami if and when he chooses
1250
01:24:29,420 --> 01:24:30,420
to go to MLB.
1251
01:24:30,420 --> 01:24:35,000
When it comes to Murakami, I know that the Yankees have had their eyes on him for a while.
1252
01:24:35,000 --> 01:24:36,720
A lot of Yankee fans already love him.
1253
01:24:36,720 --> 01:24:40,240
I'm not sure that would be the best fit for him based on the fact that he can kind of
1254
01:24:40,240 --> 01:24:41,240
get in his head a lot.
1255
01:24:41,240 --> 01:24:46,240
And if the fans aren't behind him, the Yankee fans, the Phillies fans, East Coast fans,
1256
01:24:46,240 --> 01:24:50,000
they can be kind of a tough crowd if you're in a slump.
1257
01:24:50,000 --> 01:24:54,720
I think for Murakami, a different West Coast team even like the Giants or the Mariners
1258
01:24:54,720 --> 01:24:56,280
could be in there as well.
1259
01:24:56,280 --> 01:24:59,680
But yeah, for now, there's still an MPB.
1260
01:24:59,680 --> 01:25:03,400
So it's all speculation at this point.
1261
01:25:03,400 --> 01:25:07,800
Happy to watch them do their thing in Japan for as long as possible.
1262
01:25:07,800 --> 01:25:14,640
And do you believe that as far as I hate to ask a leading question, but as far as Munataka
1263
01:25:14,640 --> 01:25:22,960
Murakami, do you believe that his ceiling could potentially just be doing DH or is he
1264
01:25:22,960 --> 01:25:25,840
more than that?
1265
01:25:25,840 --> 01:25:30,160
I think in Major League Baseball, he is likely to be a DH.
1266
01:25:30,160 --> 01:25:32,200
He can play first base for sure.
1267
01:25:32,200 --> 01:25:36,520
He's been a third baseman for most of his career in Japan now, although he was drafted
1268
01:25:36,520 --> 01:25:37,520
as a catcher.
1269
01:25:37,520 --> 01:25:38,880
So he is an athletic guy.
1270
01:25:38,880 --> 01:25:44,720
Basically, ever since he bulked up, he has been a below average defender at third base,
1271
01:25:44,720 --> 01:25:46,240
just doesn't quite have the range.
1272
01:25:46,240 --> 01:25:51,120
He'll make the routine plays, but he's not going to make many spectacular plays.
1273
01:25:51,120 --> 01:25:57,680
That's kind of the drawback of being such a strong guy is that he's not really fit to
1274
01:25:57,680 --> 01:25:59,040
play third base anymore.
1275
01:25:59,040 --> 01:26:05,200
So we're looking at a first baseman DH down the line in MLB.
1276
01:26:05,200 --> 01:26:11,880
And just to follow up on Chuse and Roki, Chuse, I don't know why, but he kind of gives me
1277
01:26:11,880 --> 01:26:15,760
like Yasee El Puig vibes for like the strength of his arm.
1278
01:26:15,760 --> 01:26:21,080
Because I mean, if you remember back in the days, Yasee El Puig had like a live arm that
1279
01:26:21,080 --> 01:26:26,920
he could just throw guys out from right field to third base.
1280
01:26:26,920 --> 01:26:32,880
And Roki Sasaki, man, so I just wanted to make a quick observation or comment because
1281
01:26:32,880 --> 01:26:38,080
I don't know if I've ever seen this before, but when he throws his fastball, at least
1282
01:26:38,080 --> 01:26:43,680
from some of the videos that I've seen, and maybe it's just because of the baseball itself,
1283
01:26:43,680 --> 01:26:52,200
but when I see him release the ball, there was like a puff or a cloud of baby rosin that's
1284
01:26:52,200 --> 01:26:57,320
coming out of his hand or whatever substance is being used.
1285
01:26:57,320 --> 01:27:00,880
And I'm like, this is the craziest thing that I've ever seen.
1286
01:27:00,880 --> 01:27:09,800
This guy that is a giant and a worldly talent for pitching is like releasing the ball.
1287
01:27:09,800 --> 01:27:15,280
And there's like, it's like cartoon physics.
1288
01:27:15,280 --> 01:27:16,920
Am I seeing something crazy?
1289
01:27:16,920 --> 01:27:17,920
Am I crazy?
1290
01:27:17,920 --> 01:27:19,720
Or are you seeing this as well?
1291
01:27:19,720 --> 01:27:23,320
And like, what does it mean?
1292
01:27:23,320 --> 01:27:25,520
I think your eyes are not deceiving you.
1293
01:27:25,520 --> 01:27:33,040
I think a lot of Japanese pitchers, I feel like they use more rosin than a lot of American
1294
01:27:33,040 --> 01:27:34,040
pitchers.
1295
01:27:34,040 --> 01:27:37,960
I mean, that might just be a perception I have, but one of his teammates on Samurai Japan,
1296
01:27:37,960 --> 01:27:44,360
Kiromi Ito, who plays for the fighters, he is known for putting a lot of rosin on his
1297
01:27:44,360 --> 01:27:45,360
hand.
1298
01:27:45,360 --> 01:27:47,640
And when he throws the ball, you see an even bigger puff.
1299
01:27:47,640 --> 01:27:50,080
So it's kind of a, it's kind of gamesmanship.
1300
01:27:50,080 --> 01:27:53,960
You're tricking the batter by adding like an extra effect there.
1301
01:27:53,960 --> 01:27:58,680
It is kind of cartoonish, but it makes you, you know, for Roki, it looks really cool.
1302
01:27:58,680 --> 01:28:01,240
It's like he's an actual flame thrower.
1303
01:28:01,240 --> 01:28:08,080
And then, yeah, with Manami, he's a guy you likened him to a guy like Puig.
1304
01:28:08,080 --> 01:28:12,280
I would also say, you know, fellow Cuban, like Uena Cespidus in terms of like just the
1305
01:28:12,280 --> 01:28:14,720
raw strength of his arm is ridiculous.
1306
01:28:14,720 --> 01:28:21,160
He can throw a laser beam dart to home plate from way deep in the outfield.
1307
01:28:21,160 --> 01:28:26,880
And yeah, like he's a very, very exciting player to watch on both sides of the ball.
1308
01:28:26,880 --> 01:28:33,280
So I'm glad you brought up these three players in particular, because, you know, if you want
1309
01:28:33,280 --> 01:28:38,640
to get into MPB right now and you have no other place to start, I would recommend with
1310
01:28:38,640 --> 01:28:42,320
these three players, just like watch these guys play and you will probably fall in love
1311
01:28:42,320 --> 01:28:43,600
with the league.
1312
01:28:43,600 --> 01:28:45,200
Undoubtedly, man.
1313
01:28:45,200 --> 01:28:56,520
I mean, I go on YouTube to see replays of Chusei and Roki and Murataka Murakami.
1314
01:28:56,520 --> 01:29:01,220
I'm just like, I'm becoming a real fan of Nippon professional baseball.
1315
01:29:01,220 --> 01:29:08,280
So to follow up on that, I wanted to ask about the World Baseball Classic and Samurai Japan
1316
01:29:08,280 --> 01:29:09,280
baseball.
1317
01:29:09,280 --> 01:29:16,720
I know we're a bit of ways away, but what what speculations do you have about the WBC
1318
01:29:16,720 --> 01:29:22,880
and Samurai Japan baseball, maybe potential prospects for the roster itself or anything
1319
01:29:22,880 --> 01:29:24,360
like that?
1320
01:29:24,360 --> 01:29:25,760
Yeah.
1321
01:29:25,760 --> 01:29:32,320
So before the World Baseball Classic in 2026, we do have the Premier 12 this November.
1322
01:29:32,320 --> 01:29:38,080
The Premier 12 is for the top 12 baseball countries in the world, according to the WBSC
1323
01:29:38,080 --> 01:29:39,760
rankings.
1324
01:29:39,760 --> 01:29:46,160
It cannot include major league players, but it can include some top prospects in major
1325
01:29:46,160 --> 01:29:47,160
league systems.
1326
01:29:47,160 --> 01:29:52,040
Still yet to be seen if it 40 man roster status, if those guys can play.
1327
01:29:52,040 --> 01:29:58,640
But a lot of superstars now in MLB like Julio Rodriguez of the Mariners did play in the
1328
01:29:58,640 --> 01:30:02,900
previous Premier 12, Seiya Suzuki, Shota Imanaga, Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
1329
01:30:02,900 --> 01:30:04,800
So it is a huge tournament.
1330
01:30:04,800 --> 01:30:10,280
And Japan is going to be expected to win, not winning gold would be a colossal failure
1331
01:30:10,280 --> 01:30:14,240
for them in 2015, the first iteration of the tournament.
1332
01:30:14,240 --> 01:30:16,960
They placed third.
1333
01:30:16,960 --> 01:30:17,960
So that was a failure.
1334
01:30:17,960 --> 01:30:18,960
They lost to Korea.
1335
01:30:18,960 --> 01:30:23,640
The last time they did get their revenge on Korea, their main rival.
1336
01:30:23,640 --> 01:30:32,400
And then in 2026, which, you know, because the WBC, the 2021 edition, I guess, was pushed
1337
01:30:32,400 --> 01:30:35,520
back because of COVID, became 2023.
1338
01:30:35,520 --> 01:30:40,340
There's only three years now between 2023 and 2026.
1339
01:30:40,340 --> 01:30:45,720
Not too much turnover there in terms of the roster looking ahead to this upcoming WBC.
1340
01:30:45,720 --> 01:30:49,960
And they have a very good chance to repeat much like they did in 06 and 09.
1341
01:30:49,960 --> 01:30:54,840
They could definitely win the world baseball classic again.
1342
01:30:54,840 --> 01:31:00,240
In 06 and 09, it was Daisuke Matsuzaka, who played for the Sabre Lions and then later
1343
01:31:00,240 --> 01:31:02,560
the Boston Red Sox.
1344
01:31:02,560 --> 01:31:03,560
He won MVP both times.
1345
01:31:03,560 --> 01:31:08,680
It would be cool to see Shohei Otani win MVP in back to back tournaments as well.
1346
01:31:08,680 --> 01:31:13,480
Roki Sasaki, Monotaka Murakami, those guys will definitely be there, you know, barring
1347
01:31:13,480 --> 01:31:14,480
health.
1348
01:31:14,480 --> 01:31:18,080
And then Chusei Manami definitely has the talent to be there.
1349
01:31:18,080 --> 01:31:22,840
Japan's outfield is absolutely loaded with guys like Seiya Suzuki, Masataka Yoshida,
1350
01:31:22,840 --> 01:31:29,800
Lars Newpar, Tensuke Kondo, you know, talent that play in Major League Baseball already.
1351
01:31:29,800 --> 01:31:33,080
So we'll see if there's a spot on the roster for him, but I definitely think he can make
1352
01:31:33,080 --> 01:31:34,080
it.
1353
01:31:34,080 --> 01:31:40,600
And, you know, kind of the important overarching theme of Samurai Japan, the national team,
1354
01:31:40,600 --> 01:31:45,840
is that even though there are more and more top stars going to MLB than ever before, the
1355
01:31:45,840 --> 01:31:49,560
foundation of Samurai Japan is still based on MPB talent.
1356
01:31:49,560 --> 01:31:56,080
And that's huge because you saw that in the finals last year against Team USA.
1357
01:31:56,080 --> 01:32:01,340
The way Japan won that was not by throwing out, you know, Yu Darvish for the entire game
1358
01:32:01,340 --> 01:32:06,360
or, you know, Shohei Otani closed it, but he was only throwing that one inning.
1359
01:32:06,360 --> 01:32:10,200
Everyone else that came before Otani and Darvish were MPB players at the time.
1360
01:32:10,200 --> 01:32:17,120
You had Shota Imanaga, you had Shosei Togo, Hiroto Takahashi, Hiromi Ito, Taisei.
1361
01:32:17,120 --> 01:32:19,400
These are players in MPB.
1362
01:32:19,400 --> 01:32:23,920
These are the top arms in MPB, and they proved that they can shut down even the best American
1363
01:32:23,920 --> 01:32:24,920
hitters.
1364
01:32:24,920 --> 01:32:28,680
So maybe those guys will end up in MLB like way down the line.
1365
01:32:28,680 --> 01:32:32,520
But I think it really speaks to how good the talent pool is in MPB.
1366
01:32:32,520 --> 01:32:35,240
And you have, you know, way harder throwers than ever before.
1367
01:32:35,240 --> 01:32:39,840
So for a lot of like casual people who thought, you know, oh, MPB is just kind of a feeder
1368
01:32:39,840 --> 01:32:40,840
league.
1369
01:32:40,840 --> 01:32:41,840
It's not very good.
1370
01:32:41,840 --> 01:32:43,840
The talent is like, you know, it's triple A level.
1371
01:32:43,840 --> 01:32:46,720
I think it really kind of proved people wrong.
1372
01:32:46,720 --> 01:32:50,520
So even though a short tournament like the World Baseball Classic can't really tell you
1373
01:32:50,520 --> 01:32:55,640
too much about like where every country's standing is in the world, I think it definitely
1374
01:32:55,640 --> 01:32:59,680
can have a lot of cultural impact in that way by showing people that, yeah, like Japan
1375
01:32:59,680 --> 01:33:03,240
has a lot of legit players, even guys you've never heard of.
1376
01:33:03,240 --> 01:33:10,760
Yeah, I just have to say that I'm very disappointed as far as when it comes to U.S. players that
1377
01:33:10,760 --> 01:33:20,120
they're not willing to take on, I guess, national pride or they prioritize money in their career.
1378
01:33:20,120 --> 01:33:25,640
I guess I would understand that, you know, they want to get paid and all that stuff and
1379
01:33:25,640 --> 01:33:31,080
maybe playing for a national team is problematic to that because, you know, the health of baseball
1380
01:33:31,080 --> 01:33:36,600
players that can unravel and, you know, they'll they'll be on the outs as far as making money
1381
01:33:36,600 --> 01:33:37,600
goes.
1382
01:33:37,600 --> 01:33:43,800
But man, I just really wish that there would be more players that can fill out the team
1383
01:33:43,800 --> 01:33:50,600
that are the best of the best as far as the U.S. goes and just taking like national pride
1384
01:33:50,600 --> 01:33:57,800
so that we really could get the best, the best of the best for both, you know, for the
1385
01:33:57,800 --> 01:34:05,320
future of baseball to have Japan going at it with Korean baseball and U.S. baseball,
1386
01:34:05,320 --> 01:34:09,560
that we get the best incarnations of all, all teams.
1387
01:34:09,560 --> 01:34:11,840
But I mean, I can't control that.
1388
01:34:11,840 --> 01:34:17,080
I would certainly love to have, you know, I mean, shoot, it would be great to have Paul
1389
01:34:17,080 --> 01:34:23,400
Skeens be on the national team so we can get those, you know, what if scenarios?
1390
01:34:23,400 --> 01:34:27,680
What if he was in a world baseball classic scenario to pitch against, you know, Muta
1391
01:34:27,680 --> 01:34:28,680
Takamura Kami?
1392
01:34:28,680 --> 01:34:33,280
I think everybody would be would love to talk about that type of situation.
1393
01:34:33,280 --> 01:34:36,840
Yes, absolutely.
1394
01:34:36,840 --> 01:34:41,040
The thing that's missing still for Team USA is the pitching, because on the hitting side,
1395
01:34:41,040 --> 01:34:45,560
you had, you know, Mike Trout participating was huge.
1396
01:34:45,560 --> 01:34:49,920
You know, it was still missing the likes of Aaron Judge and Bryce Harper, Harper due to
1397
01:34:49,920 --> 01:34:50,920
injury.
1398
01:34:50,920 --> 01:34:54,160
But like a lot of the talent there was there.
1399
01:34:54,160 --> 01:34:59,800
But it still was missing too many key names to really be like this is the best team that
1400
01:34:59,800 --> 01:35:00,800
USA can put out there.
1401
01:35:00,800 --> 01:35:06,680
Now, a lot of other countries like Venezuela, Puerto Rico, they definitely care about the
1402
01:35:06,680 --> 01:35:07,680
tournament.
1403
01:35:07,680 --> 01:35:10,520
A lot of the Latin players would say that the WBC is more important to them than the
1404
01:35:10,520 --> 01:35:11,520
World Series.
1405
01:35:11,520 --> 01:35:16,440
And that's the same thing that Japanese players will tell you, Korean players will tell you.
1406
01:35:16,440 --> 01:35:20,200
Once you get that full buy in from the US players, and I think it will eventually come
1407
01:35:20,200 --> 01:35:24,720
as this tournament becomes more and more legitimized, people are going to get like crazy FOMO.
1408
01:35:24,720 --> 01:35:30,320
They're going to be like, oh, my God, I can't believe I missed out on like this amazing
1409
01:35:30,320 --> 01:35:31,740
tournament.
1410
01:35:31,740 --> 01:35:35,120
That's when you're going to begin to see a lot more players signing up like, yeah, I
1411
01:35:35,120 --> 01:35:38,600
do want to play October style baseball in March.
1412
01:35:38,600 --> 01:35:43,320
And World Baseball Classic, yeah, it's just like it's an amazing way to watch the blend
1413
01:35:43,320 --> 01:35:48,240
of different baseball cultures and different philosophies of players that would never ever
1414
01:35:48,240 --> 01:35:50,160
get a chance to play against each other.
1415
01:35:50,160 --> 01:35:55,960
Otherwise, you get to see a sneak peek of, you know, like future talent that, you know,
1416
01:35:55,960 --> 01:35:58,040
isn't in MLB yet.
1417
01:35:58,040 --> 01:36:00,240
So there's a reason to watch for everybody.
1418
01:36:00,240 --> 01:36:06,360
And yeah, I just think that the WBC is like that's where we should all place our that's
1419
01:36:06,360 --> 01:36:07,760
where we should all head your bets.
1420
01:36:07,760 --> 01:36:12,200
I think that that is the future of globalized baseball.
1421
01:36:12,200 --> 01:36:13,440
Right.
1422
01:36:13,440 --> 01:36:18,800
I guess I have two final questions that I want to ask.
1423
01:36:18,800 --> 01:36:25,480
And I just want to know in terms of in grand scheme, like how do you feel about the state
1424
01:36:25,480 --> 01:36:31,320
of baseball itself and what do you believe the future holds?
1425
01:36:31,320 --> 01:36:35,120
I think baseball globally isn't a really good place.
1426
01:36:35,120 --> 01:36:38,920
In the U.S., you might have heard in like past years like, oh, baseball is dying.
1427
01:36:38,920 --> 01:36:41,000
It's a boomer's game.
1428
01:36:41,000 --> 01:36:43,440
Like that's absolutely not the case.
1429
01:36:43,440 --> 01:36:45,880
I mean, the core of baseball is always going to be the same.
1430
01:36:45,880 --> 01:36:52,480
The style, you know, the strategies are going to evolve based on just how much of a of a
1431
01:36:52,480 --> 01:36:55,400
data based sport that it is.
1432
01:36:55,400 --> 01:36:59,680
And you know, I think we are going to see some some big changes over time, like the
1433
01:36:59,680 --> 01:37:03,320
velocity revolution that we've seen with guys throwing harder than ever, like the average
1434
01:37:03,320 --> 01:37:06,200
major like fastball now being close to 95 miles per hour.
1435
01:37:06,200 --> 01:37:07,200
That is crazy.
1436
01:37:07,200 --> 01:37:09,360
It's just like unthinkable before.
1437
01:37:09,360 --> 01:37:11,440
Maybe that entails having to push the mound back.
1438
01:37:11,440 --> 01:37:15,920
Maybe that, you know, we've already had like the shift band and things like that.
1439
01:37:15,920 --> 01:37:19,160
So there might have to be tweaks, you know, the pitch clock and whatnot.
1440
01:37:19,160 --> 01:37:23,160
We'll see if Japan chooses to adapt that because they haven't yet.
1441
01:37:23,160 --> 01:37:29,560
In terms of Japanese baseball, I do think some like adaptation and evolution is necessary.
1442
01:37:29,560 --> 01:37:37,040
Like as much as it is cool to see them still playing small ball, the lack of like saber
1443
01:37:37,040 --> 01:37:42,440
metrics, the lack of acceptance of analytics here and sort of the Shoah era, that's like
1444
01:37:42,440 --> 01:37:49,080
the era before this current generation, their influence on the game can can hold a lot of
1445
01:37:49,080 --> 01:37:53,000
players back, I think, by having too much of an old school approach.
1446
01:37:53,000 --> 01:37:55,760
And that doesn't mean you have to completely get rid of the tradition.
1447
01:37:55,760 --> 01:38:01,320
You keep the good aspects of it, but you change the aspects that can be built upon.
1448
01:38:01,320 --> 01:38:06,280
And I think that Japan winning the WBC last year with a roster that was made up of, you
1449
01:38:06,280 --> 01:38:09,360
know, players that profile more like MLB guys.
1450
01:38:09,360 --> 01:38:16,760
Like you had a lot of power pitchers, for instance, on the roster instead of like previous
1451
01:38:16,760 --> 01:38:21,320
iterations of the team where they would choose like, oh, this guy, he's a finesse specialist.
1452
01:38:21,320 --> 01:38:23,200
This guy is a control pitcher.
1453
01:38:23,200 --> 01:38:24,780
This guy's a submariner.
1454
01:38:24,780 --> 01:38:28,160
We can outsmart our way to being the best of the world.
1455
01:38:28,160 --> 01:38:31,120
And in 2013 and 2017, they couldn't do that.
1456
01:38:31,120 --> 01:38:34,120
They fell short in the semifinals.
1457
01:38:34,120 --> 01:38:39,120
And this previous tournament in 2023, Deki Kurayama, the manager said, you know what,
1458
01:38:39,120 --> 01:38:43,840
I don't care about like seniority, even though in Japan it is like, oh, the veterans, you
1459
01:38:43,840 --> 01:38:48,360
know, should be able to earn respect over like the younger players.
1460
01:38:48,360 --> 01:38:51,120
He said, I'm just going to select the best roster that Japan has.
1461
01:38:51,120 --> 01:38:56,920
So a key example of that was him selecting Yuki Udagawa, who is a half Japanese, half
1462
01:38:56,920 --> 01:39:01,560
Filipino player who had just made his MPB debut in August of the previous year.
1463
01:39:01,560 --> 01:39:05,440
So he only had like 20 innings of MPB top level experience and he made the national
1464
01:39:05,440 --> 01:39:07,960
team because he had the stuff to be on the team.
1465
01:39:07,960 --> 01:39:08,960
He deserved that spot.
1466
01:39:08,960 --> 01:39:13,000
That would have never happened under previous iterations of the team, I think.
1467
01:39:13,000 --> 01:39:17,840
So you are beginning to see evolution in that sense.
1468
01:39:17,840 --> 01:39:20,560
And so, yeah, I think baseball is in a good place right now.
1469
01:39:20,560 --> 01:39:23,480
I'm excited for the future.
1470
01:39:23,480 --> 01:39:26,680
Seeing tournaments like the Premier 12 and World Baseball Classic getting even bigger
1471
01:39:26,680 --> 01:39:33,120
and bigger, getting more recognized, like having more, you know, of an audience that
1472
01:39:33,120 --> 01:39:34,800
is going to legitimize it even more.
1473
01:39:34,800 --> 01:39:39,160
And if there's money in it, then you're going to have the best players playing in it.
1474
01:39:39,160 --> 01:39:44,160
Yeah, that's a great answer and very informative.
1475
01:39:44,160 --> 01:39:51,000
I mean, man, it's been a real treat to just sit here with you and talk for an hour or
1476
01:39:51,000 --> 01:39:53,400
nearly two hours now.
1477
01:39:53,400 --> 01:40:01,480
So my final question to you to for us that live here in the U.S. and have dreams or even
1478
01:40:01,480 --> 01:40:08,720
aspirations of going to Japan and really getting the nitty gritty of Japan, I wanted to ask
1479
01:40:08,720 --> 01:40:12,680
or rather transition over to, you know, food and travel.
1480
01:40:12,680 --> 01:40:18,120
But I wanted to ask for someone like yourself, who has lived in Japan for some time, you've
1481
01:40:18,120 --> 01:40:20,480
been able to do as the locals do.
1482
01:40:20,480 --> 01:40:27,400
What are some food and places and whether that is specific to Hokkaido or not, what
1483
01:40:27,400 --> 01:40:32,000
are some foods and places you enjoy that a visitor wouldn't know about otherwise?
1484
01:40:32,000 --> 01:40:38,440
Yeah, so that's a very difficult question because Japan has has a lot to offer depending
1485
01:40:38,440 --> 01:40:40,240
on the city you're in.
1486
01:40:40,240 --> 01:40:47,040
In terms of just like things that a lot of travelers might not know about, because I
1487
01:40:47,040 --> 01:40:51,240
do think a lot of tourists these days are very well researched.
1488
01:40:51,240 --> 01:40:56,080
There's kind of a running joke in Japanese television that tourists know more about Japan
1489
01:40:56,080 --> 01:41:01,520
than even Japanese people because they look up some really obscure places and they just
1490
01:41:01,520 --> 01:41:03,000
become like tourist hubs.
1491
01:41:03,000 --> 01:41:08,860
But beyond just Japanese food, like Japan has, especially Tokyo, has a great selection
1492
01:41:08,860 --> 01:41:12,120
of like South and South East Asian food.
1493
01:41:12,120 --> 01:41:19,160
So you know, if you want like legit food from different regions of Asia, like Tokyo has
1494
01:41:19,160 --> 01:41:20,160
it all.
1495
01:41:20,160 --> 01:41:27,240
And whether that be like Thai food, Indian food, Nepalese food, they have it all.
1496
01:41:27,240 --> 01:41:31,480
One place I would like to recommend just because it's near a baseball stadium by Tokyo Dome,
1497
01:41:31,480 --> 01:41:37,040
home of the Omeri Giants, by Suidobashi Station, they have a place called Kaguraya.
1498
01:41:37,040 --> 01:41:40,240
Kaguraya is a chicken ramen place.
1499
01:41:40,240 --> 01:41:43,680
So for people who don't eat red meat, or even if you do eat red meat, but you just want
1500
01:41:43,680 --> 01:41:48,920
to try chicken ramen, which is not really that common, that place is fantastic.
1501
01:41:48,920 --> 01:41:54,600
In Hokkaido, which I have only visited once, the seafood is great there.
1502
01:41:54,600 --> 01:41:56,400
They have their own special kind of ramen.
1503
01:41:56,400 --> 01:42:00,960
They have a burger chain called Lucky Pierrot that's famous.
1504
01:42:00,960 --> 01:42:04,280
And then you got to check out Eskon Field, you know, state of the art, beautiful new
1505
01:42:04,280 --> 01:42:09,600
stadium there in Kita Hiroshima, which is not too far from Sapporo.
1506
01:42:09,600 --> 01:42:14,560
One city that I would recommend for people that I don't think is as is as well known
1507
01:42:14,560 --> 01:42:19,000
among like overseas people is Atami.
1508
01:42:19,000 --> 01:42:22,680
Atami is like a seaside city in Shizuoka.
1509
01:42:22,680 --> 01:42:24,920
It's only like an hour or two from Tokyo by bullet train.
1510
01:42:24,920 --> 01:42:25,920
That's a beautiful city.
1511
01:42:25,920 --> 01:42:27,400
And they have a lot there.
1512
01:42:27,400 --> 01:42:31,360
You could take a boat to a nearby tiny island.
1513
01:42:31,360 --> 01:42:33,320
You can visit the trick art museum.
1514
01:42:33,320 --> 01:42:37,400
They have the Atami Castle there looking over the ocean.
1515
01:42:37,400 --> 01:42:40,440
Atami is a really good city.
1516
01:42:40,440 --> 01:42:44,080
And you know, Yokohama Chinatown is right next to Yokohama Stadium.
1517
01:42:44,080 --> 01:42:47,600
So if you want to catch a Bay Stars game and then go to Chinatown, a lot of great Chinese
1518
01:42:47,600 --> 01:42:48,600
food there.
1519
01:42:48,600 --> 01:42:52,480
Yeah, like Japan has a lot to offer.
1520
01:42:52,480 --> 01:42:55,500
And I think everyone should visit if you can.
1521
01:42:55,500 --> 01:42:57,800
If you do, make sure you check out a baseball game.
1522
01:42:57,800 --> 01:43:02,680
That's all that's like the obviously as somebody talks about Japanese baseball all the time,
1523
01:43:02,680 --> 01:43:07,160
I have to say like you have to check out a baseball game if you come to Japan.
1524
01:43:07,160 --> 01:43:12,840
But I think even if you don't, you're going to have a great time.
1525
01:43:12,840 --> 01:43:17,840
What baseball stadium do you enjoy the most?
1526
01:43:17,840 --> 01:43:21,000
I do think Eskon Field Hokkaido is just beautiful.
1527
01:43:21,000 --> 01:43:24,160
I mean, I got a chance to visit that for the first time last month.
1528
01:43:24,160 --> 01:43:30,720
And I mean, it's the same kind of architecture blueprint as the Texas Rangers new stadium.
1529
01:43:30,720 --> 01:43:31,720
It's beautiful.
1530
01:43:31,720 --> 01:43:35,680
It's totally state of the art and has a huge jumbotron.
1531
01:43:35,680 --> 01:43:40,520
Tokyo Dome gets a lot of shit from people because it's like, oh, this is an it's old.
1532
01:43:40,520 --> 01:43:41,520
It's called the egg.
1533
01:43:41,520 --> 01:43:44,560
You know, it's just like a dome.
1534
01:43:44,560 --> 01:43:45,960
I actually like Tokyo Dome.
1535
01:43:45,960 --> 01:43:48,840
Like it's air conditioned, at least, which is good.
1536
01:43:48,840 --> 01:43:51,560
Major Jingu Stadium is getting torn down.
1537
01:43:51,560 --> 01:43:59,320
Unfortunately, that's kind of the Wrigley Field kind of vibes that you get from, you
1538
01:43:59,320 --> 01:44:01,200
know, it's a classic old stadium.
1539
01:44:01,200 --> 01:44:02,560
Unfortunately, it's getting torn down.
1540
01:44:02,560 --> 01:44:07,480
If you go down to Kobe near Osaka, you can go to Koshien Stadium, which is again, that's
1541
01:44:07,480 --> 01:44:10,640
like the Wrigley or Fenway of Japan, just a classic stadium.
1542
01:44:10,640 --> 01:44:14,760
Babe Ruth played there at one point.
1543
01:44:14,760 --> 01:44:16,920
And I haven't been there yet.
1544
01:44:16,920 --> 01:44:19,320
But Hiroshima Stadium is really nice as well.
1545
01:44:19,320 --> 01:44:22,800
It's an outdoor stadium, a lot of domes in Japan just because it rains a lot.
1546
01:44:22,800 --> 01:44:25,840
I think people like outdoor stadiums a little more than domes.
1547
01:44:25,840 --> 01:44:30,320
But yeah, I would say Eskon Field Hokkaido is number one.
1548
01:44:30,320 --> 01:44:38,720
As far as the stadiums go, do they have like interesting things that are not here in the
1549
01:44:38,720 --> 01:44:46,600
US like vending machines or anything interesting that just separates it from, I guess, US stadiums?
1550
01:44:46,600 --> 01:44:49,720
Yeah, I would say I mean, the food is definitely different.
1551
01:44:49,720 --> 01:44:52,400
Like I'm trying to think because I'm so used to it now.
1552
01:44:52,400 --> 01:45:00,040
Like what is different about US stadiums like Yakisoba, like, you know, like noodles, you're
1553
01:45:00,040 --> 01:45:02,280
going to see in a lot of Japanese stadiums.
1554
01:45:02,280 --> 01:45:06,720
You're not going to see that in the US.
1555
01:45:06,720 --> 01:45:12,640
You have vendor like girls and boys that walk through the aisles carrying like, you know,
1556
01:45:12,640 --> 01:45:16,240
different beer or, you know, soft drinks on their backs.
1557
01:45:16,240 --> 01:45:17,960
And you can just kind of flag them down.
1558
01:45:17,960 --> 01:45:21,440
That's different than what you see in like a lot of American stadiums where you might
1559
01:45:21,440 --> 01:45:24,440
just see like a guy with hot dogs or something.
1560
01:45:24,440 --> 01:45:25,440
Right.
1561
01:45:25,440 --> 01:45:28,320
So you'll notice like a little different quirks here and there.
1562
01:45:28,320 --> 01:45:32,560
But you know what, in general, it's a baseball stadium at the end of the day.
1563
01:45:32,560 --> 01:45:33,560
And I do like that.
1564
01:45:33,560 --> 01:45:37,920
Like even if there's small differences, we're all going to be united in the fact that it's
1565
01:45:37,920 --> 01:45:38,920
baseball.
1566
01:45:38,920 --> 01:45:39,920
Yeah.
1567
01:45:39,920 --> 01:45:44,960
I mean, I just want to say thank you again.
1568
01:45:44,960 --> 01:45:49,320
I don't have any additional questions and I just wanted to thank you again for taking
1569
01:45:49,320 --> 01:45:55,600
time out of your day to come and talk to us and talk baseball and talk about your personal
1570
01:45:55,600 --> 01:45:57,540
story.
1571
01:45:57,540 --> 01:45:58,540
It's been a real privilege.
1572
01:45:58,540 --> 01:46:04,480
And, you know, we can't wait to share this specific episode with everybody for anybody
1573
01:46:04,480 --> 01:46:10,080
that loves Nippon professional baseball, MLB or just baseball in general, or want to learn
1574
01:46:10,080 --> 01:46:12,240
about journalists that are writing about baseball.
1575
01:46:12,240 --> 01:46:14,240
I mean, it's been a real treat.
1576
01:46:14,240 --> 01:46:15,240
Yeah.
1577
01:46:15,240 --> 01:46:17,960
Thank you guys so much for having me on.
1578
01:46:17,960 --> 01:46:23,360
I love the work you guys are doing touching all your bases in all these different topics.
1579
01:46:23,360 --> 01:46:29,940
And yeah, I'm going to keep doing coverage of Japanese baseball in English.
1580
01:46:29,940 --> 01:46:34,720
So I recommend anyone who's interested because I know there's a market for it.
1581
01:46:34,720 --> 01:46:37,020
It's just that the language barrier can be tough.
1582
01:46:37,020 --> 01:46:39,560
It's hard to get information, but it's out there.
1583
01:46:39,560 --> 01:46:40,560
And it's not just me.
1584
01:46:40,560 --> 01:46:47,920
If you want to look at like the work Jim Allen does or my friend, Gaijin baseball, there's
1585
01:46:47,920 --> 01:46:53,400
a lot of good people in this community who will help you get into Japanese baseball if
1586
01:46:53,400 --> 01:46:54,860
you so choose to.
1587
01:46:54,860 --> 01:46:56,960
So yeah, thank you guys so much for having me on.
1588
01:46:56,960 --> 01:47:01,240
Yeah, no, it's it's definitely been our privilege and our honor to have you on.
1589
01:47:01,240 --> 01:47:02,880
And don't don't hang up.
1590
01:47:02,880 --> 01:47:05,960
Don't disconnect because we're going to play our little outro music here in a minute.
1591
01:47:05,960 --> 01:47:08,520
And then we just want to talk to you for just a couple minutes after we're done here.
1592
01:47:08,520 --> 01:47:10,520
So just don't, you know, disconnect or whatever.
1593
01:47:10,520 --> 01:47:11,520
All right.
1594
01:47:11,520 --> 01:47:12,520
Sounds good.
1595
01:47:12,520 --> 01:47:13,520
I'm going to go to the bathroom really quick.
1596
01:47:13,520 --> 01:47:14,520
Okay.
1597
01:47:14,520 --> 01:47:15,520
Oh, that's perfect.
1598
01:47:15,520 --> 01:47:16,520
Yeah, perfect.
1599
01:47:16,520 --> 01:47:17,520
So anyways, yeah.
1600
01:47:17,520 --> 01:47:20,320
If you want to check our stuff out, our other podcast, you can go to game rage magazine
1601
01:47:20,320 --> 01:47:21,320
dot com.
1602
01:47:21,320 --> 01:47:25,080
You can hear our full menu of podcasts and content that we produce.
1603
01:47:25,080 --> 01:47:28,720
You can go to game rage magazine on Instagram and tick tock at game rage mag on Twitter
1604
01:47:28,720 --> 01:47:33,520
slash X follow Yuri the.
1605
01:47:33,520 --> 01:47:34,520
Yeah.
1606
01:47:34,520 --> 01:47:35,520
You cosmopolitan on YouTube.
1607
01:47:35,520 --> 01:47:36,520
Yeah.
1608
01:47:36,520 --> 01:47:37,520
You cosmopolitan on Instagram.
1609
01:47:37,520 --> 01:47:41,820
He I believe he's you cosmopolitan on Twitter as well.
1610
01:47:41,820 --> 01:47:46,600
But when the episode comes out, I'll be sure to include all that information if you want
1611
01:47:46,600 --> 01:47:50,560
to follow him specifically on any particular platform.
1612
01:47:50,560 --> 01:47:52,720
So just be on the lookout for that.
1613
01:47:52,720 --> 01:47:54,200
And I don't know if I have anything else to add.
1614
01:47:54,200 --> 01:47:55,200
Do you have?
1615
01:47:55,200 --> 01:47:56,200
You want to.
1616
01:47:56,200 --> 01:47:57,200
That's pretty much it.
1617
01:47:57,200 --> 01:47:58,200
Thanks you guys for thank you guys for listening.
1618
01:47:58,200 --> 01:47:59,920
Stay tuned for future interviews that we have.
1619
01:47:59,920 --> 01:48:04,240
We're going to have one of the CIF Division one champion Corona Panthers baseball players
1620
01:48:04,240 --> 01:48:07,260
on a young prospect here in the next week or two.
1621
01:48:07,260 --> 01:48:08,260
So look out for that.
1622
01:48:08,260 --> 01:48:10,480
Plus the many more interviews we have lined up.
1623
01:48:10,480 --> 01:48:12,040
So anyways, thank you guys for listening.
1624
01:48:12,040 --> 01:48:23,320
We'll catch you on the next one.
1625
01:48:23,320 --> 01:48:24,320
That was without.
1626
01:48:24,320 --> 01:48:25,320
The game.
1627
01:48:25,320 --> 01:48:35,960
A rage magazine interview podcast visit www.gameragemagazine.com for the full menu of podcasts.
1628
01:48:35,960 --> 01:48:40,160
Follow us on Instagram and TikTok at GameRage magazine.
1629
01:48:40,160 --> 01:48:44,600
Go on accent game rage mag for all the latest episodes and content.
1630
01:48:44,600 --> 01:48:45,600
Thanks again for listening.
1631
01:48:45,600 --> 01:48:49,160
Except if you're with the FCC, then go on, get get out of here.
1632
01:48:49,160 --> 01:49:10,760
Go on, go on get.