Table

[Corsi Combover]

Quote

Late word tonight from our man Daigo Fujiwara regarding muliple news reports out of Japan that the Sox are close to signing an independent league catcher, Hayato Doue, to a minor-league deal.

Doue (pronounced Dough-oo-eh, according to Daigo, which is pronounced DYE-GO, according to me) is 25 and hit .322 with 7 HRs and 50 RBIs in 89 games playing for the Kagawa Olive Guyners of the independent Shikoku Island league. Evidently he caught the eye of Sox scouts, presumably Jon Deeble, while playing winter ball in Australia.

A little late to get much confirmation, and I can't even begin to speculate on the quality of play in Japanese independent ball, but leave it to Daigo to find a clip of the player on YouTube. ( Check back later for futher developments.

Source: http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/reds...rolling_fo.html

<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/1HZFrDBcYVw&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/1HZFrDBcYVw&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

[ScubaSteveAvery]

I'm having a hard time finding stats for the Shikoku Island League, a league where the Kagawa Olive Guyners play. Apparently the league is only three years old. I did find his stats for Australia winter ball.

According to this website, he appeared in three games, starting two of them. He batted .222 (2-9) with one double, one RBI and two strikeouts. Not really much you can tell from that data.

[Corsi Combover]

The only info I can find on Hayato is from his current team in Australia:

http://www.surfersba...14.htm#TEAM.MLB

In 15 AB, he's posted a .257 / .353 / .333 line.

Defensively, he has a 1.000 FLD%

He has stolen one base.

[Corsi Combover]

If emailed the email address at surfersbaseball.com for more info on the kid. I'll pass any info I get along.

[Corsi Combover]

Born 3/12/1982

Blood Type: B

[941827]

Perhaps the fellow in your avatar has seen him play.

I'm intrigued because they must see something special in this guy to bother signing him.

How's this for sheer speculation: they could sign him, have he and 'Belli do the catching during the games in Japan, and let 'Tek remain in the U.S. with starting pitchers #3-5 to prevent him from getting too worn out early in the year. And if you believe 'Tek's got a sleep disorder, preventing him from getting his body clock completely thrown off by playing in Japan might make sense.

This post has been edited by 941827: 07 February 2008 - 01:49 AM

[SoxScout]

http://www.shikoku-np.co.jp/sports/basebal...=20080207000084
http://64.233.179.104/translate_c?hl=en&am...D20080207000084

This post has been edited by SoxScout: 07 February 2008 - 01:36 AM

[ScubaSteveAvery]

941827, on Feb 6 2008, 10:26 PM, said:

I'm intrigued because they must see something special in this guy to bother signing him.

I wonder if they are applying their bullpen theory to their catching situation? Throw a bunch of stuff against the wall and hope something sticks. They now have four catchers age 25 and under with all seemingly similar skill sets. Its a pretty crowded situation of mediocre talent throughout the minors and maybe they thought this could be somebody who might catch on?

Definitely intrigued, but want to know more. Hopefully we get some more stuff tomorrow.

SoxScout, on Feb 6 2008, 10:31 PM, said:

http://www.shikoku-np.co.jp/sports/basebal...=20080207000084
http://64.233.179.104/translate_c?hl=en&am...D20080207000084

Something positive:

Quote

As a cornerstone of the team's offensive and defensive third consecutive winning season and second consecutive win overall, contributing to Japan's Independent League. - 06 individual title in batting, home run king's crown to win two league MVP and bright, late 07's MVP was chosen.

This post has been edited by ScubaSteveAvery: 07 February 2008 - 01:41 AM

[Corsi Combover]

A bigger version of Scout's pic:

[mpjc]

He has a page on J Wikipedia: http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/堂Ç...#38588;人

and "bright, late 07's MVP was chosen" is actually "was chosen MVP for the second half of the '07 season"

This post has been edited by mpjc: 07 February 2008 - 02:30 AM

[Corsi Combover]

mpjc, on Feb 7 2008, 02:26 AM, said:

He has a page on J Wikipedia: http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/堂Ç...#38588;人

Can you tell us what that says? I'm getting 18 million question marks.

[SoxScout]

Table

Year	AVG	HR	RBI	AB	H	BB	SB
2006	.327	11	45	--	--	--	--
2007	.322	7	50	298	96	54	10

At least he can draw a walk. And I like the Wiki translation of him as a "defensive firearm".

[mabrowndog]

Corsi Combover, on Feb 7 2008, 01:17 AM, said:

Blood Type: B

Leave it to Corsi to dig up a tidbit like this.

I assume the Sox have already completed a transfusion compatibility analysis on this guy...

[SoxScout]

Blood type in Japan baseball is huge. It's listed on sports sites and baseball cards, ect.

Many prominent baseball players are Type O.

Quote

A person can have one of four blood types, A, B, AB or O, and while the most common blood type in Japan is Type A, many of the more prominent Japanese players are like Matsuzaka, Type O. That group includes Hideki Matsui of the Yankees, Kazuo Matsui of the Colorado Rockies (and formerly of the Mets, with whom he was a huge disappointment) and Tadahito Iguchi of the Chicago White Sox.

Sadaharu Oh, the great Japanese home run hitter? He is type O, too, as is Kei Igawa, the 27-year-old Hanshin Tigers left-hander who has until Dec. 28 to sign with the Yankees. In Japan, people with Type O are commonly referred to as warriors because they are said to be self-confident, outgoing, goal-oriented and passionate. Type B, known as hunters, are said to be highly independent and creative.

This post has been edited by SoxScout: 07 February 2008 - 02:58 AM

[mpjc]

Corsi Combover, on Feb 6 2008, 11:28 PM, said:

Can you tell us what that says? I'm getting 18 million question marks.

this may take a while (and probably is full of mistakes). it starts:

in his fourth year in the college league, he participated in the Japan-US college baseball player tournament. He attracted attention for his strong arm and strong bat, and received overtures from several teams as a candidate for the draft, but he was not drafted.

after graduating, he joined the very strong Nissan team, but left in his second year.

in may 2006, on the advice of his coach from his college years, he joined the Kagawa Olive Guyners, and soon flourished as the heart of the team.

...

[Corsi Combover]

From Scout's link:

Quote

But there are exceptions to any categorization, and in this instance one of them would appear to be Ichiro Suzuki of the Mariners, who has become one of the great hitters in major league baseball since joining the Seattle Mariners in 2001. Suzuki is Type B.

“That makes sense in a way,” said Jennifer Robertson, a professor of anthropology at the University of Michigan who specializes in Japanese culture and history. Robertson added that people with Type B, known as hunters, are said to be highly independent and creative.

[Corsi Combover]

Every translated news report mentions his "strong arm," so that's a good sign.

And FWIW, Daigo Fujiwara, who broke the story to Edes, is the webmaster of JapeneseBallplayers.com

[mpjc]

the Wikipedia page continues:

he was selected MVP for the month of may in the Shikoku Island League [previously noted statistics here]... [in 2006] with his defensive talent, a cannon of an arm, and his daring leads, he pulled the team, and made a big contribution to various victories. He was chosen league MVP for 2006. again in 2006 he was a candidate for the draft, but was not drafted by any team.

in 2007, he continued to be the backbone of the team, contributing to victories in the first and second half, the championship series, and the Independent League grand championship series. that year, he ranked second in average and homeruns and third in RBIs, and was chosen league MVP for the second half, and MVP of the grand championship. however, at the 2007 draft meeting, he went undrafted.

(a loose and provisional translation; any corrections, please post!)

This post has been edited by mpjc: 07 February 2008 - 04:04 AM

[Mike in CT]

181 cm/84 kg

He's just about 6 feet tall, 185 lbs.

[kazuneko]

Quote

http://www.shikoku-n...=20080207000084

Here's a translation I threw together:

Yesterday (2/06) the Boston Red Sox entered into final negotiations with catcher Hayato Doue (25) of the Kagawa Olive Guyners. The contract appears be a minor league deal though Doue says that “my dream is to play in the Majors but for now I will have to wait. I will do my best to earn a major league contract”.
From January 11th Doue along with his teammate pitcher Kouji Tsukamoto had competed in the Australian Amateur League. After watching him in a game the Red Sox regional scout for Asia began negotiations with Doue. The Red Sox have a shortage of catchers and with Japanese pitchers Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima on the team it appears that the Red Sox see Doue as a player who could compete for a job on the team soon (their interest in him is as a player who could be “ready fire power”) . Doue planned to be in Australia until mid-March but returned to Japan Monday to confirm to the Kagawa Olive Guyners his intentions (i.e. to sign with the Sox).
When Doue attended Yokohama Business College he was a phenomenon who represented Japan in the Japan-America College All Star tournament. Doue joined Nissan’s industrial team after college and from May 2006 he joined the Kagawa Olive Guyners. The strong-armed Doue is able to throw a ball 130 meters and being a powerful hitter is seen as the nucleus of his team. Assuming that the contract is completed the plan will be for Doue to join the team in training camp (in Florida).
The cornerstone of his team’s offense and defense Doue led his team to three straight league championships and two straight Japanese independent league championships.
In 2006 Doue won both the home run title and the battling title while also taking the league MVP. In the 2007 late-season (don’t know exactly what this refers to; it seems to be referencing some of type of secondary season like a winter or fall league) he was again selected league MVP. Doue was also receiving interest from the NPB (the Japanese Major Leagues). In the past two years Doue had been seen as a possible candidate to be selected in NPB’s college/corporate league draft.

This post has been edited by kazuneko: 11 February 2008 - 12:51 AM