I mean heck at least we went for something back then.
Pohlads would never consider this today.
I’ll always remember the story of Tom Kelly talking to a columnist during that spring training a couple weeks in and observing, “the Japanese kid can’t play.”
At least we got Kiyatchi
I mean, Nick Swisher breaking his leg certainly didn’t help
Lest we forget Nick Swisher broke his leg sliding into second only a week into Nishioka’s MLB career.
I’m kinda glad we had Maeda come into to clean up the Japanese player image among some of the fanbase. Nishioka was a really talented player, but very much a victim of circumstance.
I think the skill gap between NPB and MLB is decreasing now though. A good NPB pitcher will likely succeed in the US while a hitter that has some power can give it a good crack.
PARK BANG!
Oh wait, wrong terrible international player from Asia
I will forever maintain he was on the verge of figuring it out…then broken
I blame him
The kicker was that he had never shown any signs of being an outstanding contact hitter outside of that one outlier season. They dumped JJ Hardy to buy high on a guy who was a year removed from hitting .260 in NPB.
Sometime around 2013 my dad bought 12 nishioka shirts for $2 a peice from MOA and both me and fiancé are in possession of one still.
My thought was if he was going to be that good of a player. The Red Sox’s or Yankees would have out bid us for him. Those two teams had no problem throwing around/away their money back then.
That hat is sick
This guy had minnesota media hyping him up so much it was like we had ourselves the next Ichiro.
At a Twins game this past summer a dozen or so rows in front of me I see a lone Nishioka jersey on a aging fan. I comment to my daughter, “Maybe he picked it up at a garage sale from the ‘free with purchase table’.”
No one will ever be able to convince me that his name doesn’t loosely translate to “Ground ball double play”
Ahead of their time
I’m confused by all the people commenting about his unrealized MLB skill. Did you watch any games?
It was clear he couldn’t play at this level. His leg was broken because he didn’t know how to get out of the way. Again… not ready for that level.
This guy gave me the completely wrong impression of Japanese baseball
19 comments
I mean heck at least we went for something back then.
Pohlads would never consider this today.
I’ll always remember the story of Tom Kelly talking to a columnist during that spring training a couple weeks in and observing, “the Japanese kid can’t play.”
At least we got Kiyatchi
I mean, Nick Swisher breaking his leg certainly didn’t help
Lest we forget Nick Swisher broke his leg sliding into second only a week into Nishioka’s MLB career.
I’m kinda glad we had Maeda come into to clean up the Japanese player image among some of the fanbase. Nishioka was a really talented player, but very much a victim of circumstance.
I think the skill gap between NPB and MLB is decreasing now though. A good NPB pitcher will likely succeed in the US while a hitter that has some power can give it a good crack.
PARK BANG!
Oh wait, wrong terrible international player from Asia
I will forever maintain he was on the verge of figuring it out…then broken
I blame him
The kicker was that he had never shown any signs of being an outstanding contact hitter outside of that one outlier season. They dumped JJ Hardy to buy high on a guy who was a year removed from hitting .260 in NPB.
Sometime around 2013 my dad bought 12 nishioka shirts for $2 a peice from MOA and both me and fiancé are in possession of one still.
My thought was if he was going to be that good of a player. The Red Sox’s or Yankees would have out bid us for him. Those two teams had no problem throwing around/away their money back then.
That hat is sick
This guy had minnesota media hyping him up so much it was like we had ourselves the next Ichiro.
At a Twins game this past summer a dozen or so rows in front of me I see a lone Nishioka jersey on a aging fan. I comment to my daughter, “Maybe he picked it up at a garage sale from the ‘free with purchase table’.”
No one will ever be able to convince me that his name doesn’t loosely translate to “Ground ball double play”
Ahead of their time
I’m confused by all the people commenting about his unrealized MLB skill. Did you watch any games?
It was clear he couldn’t play at this level. His leg was broken because he didn’t know how to get out of the way. Again… not ready for that level.
This guy gave me the completely wrong impression of Japanese baseball