Sox sign Shunsuke Watanabe to minor league deal...

Bozo Texino

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Per Osaki Makkura's Twitter feed: 37 year old former #chibalotte submariner Shunsuke Watanabe will sign a minor league contract with #RedSox.
 
A submariner.  Interesting.
 
Edit: Oh yeah.  I remember this guy from the WBC.  Duh.
 

mpjc

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Here's some Youtube footage (filmed off a TV, apparently): 
 
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzOmYUooZF8[/media]
 
And here he is in super slo-mo:
 
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoW6RCob1Io[/media]
 

Doctor G

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mpjc said:
Here's some Youtube footage (filmed off a TV, apparently): 
 
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzOmYUooZF8[/media]
 
And here he is in super slo-mo:
 
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoW6RCob1Io[/media]
 Notice where the rosin bag is.
 

The Gray Eagle

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I assumed that as a sidearmer, he would be a reliever, but he's only pitched as a reliever 5 times in the last 10 years. Was he hurt last year? He started 6 games but only threw 25 innings.
 
Interesting signing, not sure what role they envision for him. In Pawtucket's rotation? Maybe he will transition to a reliever in the minors and be available as a righty-only reliever if we need one? The sidearm and deceptive delivery could be effective the first couple times a team sees him.
 
He pitches like Brad Chadford and has the same last name as the guy who played Long Duk Dong.
 

Sprowl

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mpjc said:
And here he is in super slo-mo:
 
 
Super slo-mo indeed: it looks like his average pitch is 118 km/h = 73 mph. :blink:
 
He looks like a poor man's Cla Meredith or a minor-league Chadford. He might baffle a few hitters for a few games, but I doubt it would work for long. Also, he'd better not pitch with a man on first -- that must be the longest, slowest reliever windup in decades.
 

TheYaz67

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It is both to the right of the pitcher, and near the crown of the pitching mound (rather than on the back slope where it should be).  I suspect it may be visible from home plate, and just happens to be white and in the exact same area in which the ball is being released by this unconventional pitcher....
 

Hoplite

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He's garbage. Throws in the low 70's and struggles to strike out 3 batters per 9 innings in a contact happy league. My first thought is that the Red Sox might hope that the deception in his delivery could make him effective for a couple of years against hitters who had never seen him. Upon further reading, I read that David Ortiz hit the longest home run in Tokyo Dome history against him. Maybe this will be part of their pitch to Tanaka, that they have the most Japanese-born players and it's a friendly place for Japanese players to come. Who knows.
 

mpjc

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The major J sports-news paper/site Sponichi is already fantasizing about a three-Japanese-pitcher relay (in Japanese).
 
Article makes much of Boston's experience with J pitchers, notes that Watanabe was "fascinated" with the team and wanted to join the Sox as long as there's a "not zero" chance of getting to the majors.
 

koufax32

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DrewDawg said:
Ok. What am I missing?
Easy to be effective when a little white ball is coming out of a little white background. The rosin back is right in line with the batter's eye and the pitcher's release point. How on earth can he get away with that?
 

Lose Remerswaal

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Hoplite said:
He's garbage. Throws in the low 70's and struggles to strike out 3 batters per 9 innings in a contact happy league. My first thought is that the Red Sox might hope that the deception in his delivery could make him effective for a couple of years against hitters who had never seen him. Upon further reading, I read that David Ortiz hit the longest home run in Tokyo Dome history against him. Maybe this will be part of their pitch to Tanaka, that they have the most Japanese-born players and it's a friendly place for Japanese players to come. Who knows.
 
That's possible.
 
Yet the Sox signed him.  Why?
 

Hoplite

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IHateDaveKerpen said:
 
Longest home run in the history of the Tokyo Dome, per Wikipedia.  525 feet.
 
The reactions are priceless (the crowd, the players and Watanabe especially).
 

Tokyo Sox

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Yeah, I was at that game.  I have posted this in these pages before, but there was an ad for Secom (some home security company) against the back wall in right center, featuring ex-Giants legend Shigeo Nagashima with a glove in his hand.  There were a couple young Japanese kids in the row in front of us, I joked to them before the at bat that Ortiz would hit it into Nagashima-kantoku's glove.  A joke of course, because that was crazy far.  But then he hit it even farther.  He hit it so far that nobody had any idea where it went, and it was confusing to watch because no one moved -- Watanabe didn't turn around at first, the RF didn't take a step back towards the fence like he might try to track it down, etc.  So we knew it was gone, but there wasn't any commotion in the RF stands either, no one scrambling for the ball or anything.  Just an insane moon shot.   
 

alwyn96

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Lose Remerswaal said:
 
That's possible.
 
Yet the Sox signed him.  Why?
 
Well, you need warm bodies to fill out the AAA roster. His delivery is fun to watch, at least. Pawtucket fans might find him more interesting than say...Jeremy Kehrt