Top Five Active Japanese Players in Major League Baseball – Part 2
Chicago Cubs’ out-fielder, Kosuke Fukudome was at Number four spot in the Japanese player rankings. He started his MLB career on March 31, 2008 for the Cubs. He played his first baseball game for the Chunichi Dragons in 1998 and designated as a short-stop
at that time. He worked hard and got fame in his country due to his extraordinary batting and fielding tricks.
In MLB, Fukudome played his debut against the Milwaukee Brewers. He displayed all his efforts during the game as he hit a three-run homer, including a walk and went 3-for-3 but unfortunately, the Cubs lost the game 4-3 in additional innings. Fukudome improved
his batting average day-by-day and gave his team some unbelievable wins.
In 2008, it was believed that he can serve as a starter but the Cubs’ manager, Lou Piniella secured him from condemnation and said, “[Fukudome] does such a good job in right field we hate to take him out of the lineup.”
Fukudome accepted the new challenge during 2009 by switching to centre-field position as a replacement of Milton Bradley. He played many games in that span due to the injury of the Cubs’ lead-off hitter, Alfonso Soriano. Fukudome achieved a milestone of
400 hits in the current season and had an exemplary record through June 28, 2011. He has 37 home-runs, 408 hits, 167 RBIs and batted with an average of .261.
Los Angeles Dodgers’ starting pitcher, Hiroki Kuroda was the fifth active player in the current Japanese players MLB rankings. He played a debut game on April 4, 2008 for the Dodgers.
Kuroda threw seven innings in his game against the San Diego Padres and got his first win in the American League. He played brilliantly against every team as he had an exemplary record of tossing seven shut-out innings against the Houston Astros in the beginning
of his career. He had an outstanding record with his pitching as he threw two shut-out innings and gave his team a convincing win in 2008 season.
Kuroda played his first series against the Cubs and delivered some tricky pitches with a mix-up of curve and fastballs. In 2009 season, Kuroda missed many games due to serious injuries but he recovered soon and maintained his Win-Loss record with an ERA
of 3.76. He also suffered a neck injury and was unable to come out of the disabled list until the play-offs.
Later on, Kuroda had a promising start after coming back from injuries and ended the 2010 season with a Win-Loss record of 11-13. He pitched the ball with an ERA of 3.39 in that span. He was designated as a free agent at the end of 2010 but he re-inked a
one-year contract worth $12 -million with the Dodgers. In his MLB statistics through 2010 season, Kuroda had 28-30 Wins-Losses, 3.60 ERA and 362 strike-outs.
Keeping an eye on the performance of these Japanese players in MLB, it will be interesting to see how they manage to adapt their playing style to compete amongst some of the highest ranked baseball players in the world.
One thing for certain is that the Japanese players have a great contribution in the MLB and they have performed above and beyond expectations.
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