The mid-2010s was a time where MLB didn't really go after Japanese players, much less Japanese hitters, and most of the other generational talents were on anti-posting teams
2005 and prior to, My MLE to NPB with an analysis of fielding, i would add these players as the top 10 Japan players NPB (i didn't use non-japanese players in my list) 1. Takagi, Morimichi 高木 守道 (the best 2B defender, hands down) 2. Wada, Yutaka 和田 豊 3. Chiba, Shigeru 千葉 茂 4. Motoi, Mitsuo 基 満男 5. Oishi, Daijiro 大石 大二郎 6. Inoue, Noboru 井上 登 7. Yamazaki, Hiroyuki 山崎 裕之 8. Tsuji, Hatsuhiko 辻 発彦 9. Doi, Shozo 土井 正三 10. Fukura, Junichi 福良 淳一 Miyazaki, Takeshi 宮崎 剛 Kanayama, Jiro 金山 次郎 Most 2B are weak compared to 3B, 1B, OF.
Hey Gaijin crew, I'm an American of Japanese descent. Love your channel. I have a question since it seems like you guys follow NPB closely. Do you know anything about why Munetaka Murakami has been significantly worse the last two years following his incredible 2022? Injury rumors, etc.? Just wondering as he was looking like a generational talent and this is going to make his 2025 performance key for mlb teams to figure out a posting fee that makes sense.
In general Murakami doesn't tend to do well under pressure, and hasn't had much protection in the lineup since 2022. Of the Big 4 bats of Santana, Murakami, Yamada and Osuna, only Santana is still hitting well. The others are mediocre. Pitchers who face the Swallows can afford to focus all their efforts on beating him. There's also the dead ball skewing his numbers. A look at wRC+ shows Murakami is still one of the best bats in NPB. He was 7th among qualified hitters with a 153 wRC+. He's not nearly as dominant, but he's still raking.
@@GaijinBaseball Plus, Murakami's walk rate has actually gone down just slightly, but his strikeout rate has gone way up since his 20-22 peak. So they are pitching around him, but he is expanding the zone and getting himself out?
Is it me or is the Second Basemen position the weakest in these videos? Yeah, it's only the third video of the "All-Time" Series but the rest of the positions just feel soooo much more talented. Great work btw!
Errors (Since I'm not re-rendering this a 3rd time):
3:04 That should say 1664 Games.
9:10 That should say 1950
I don't know what Kikuchi thinking when he was posted. he just didn't have the bat to make it in MLB and your glove can only get you so far
I am a fan of yours. Your channel deserves a much larger following
I'm really glad Ryosuke Kikuchi made the list. WAR tends to hate defensive players.
3:51 holy moly, that Carp uniform with the scarf is beautiful , please tell me more about it. I want to look it up on google.
I think that scarf was a personal choice by Kikuchi
@TheBrainSpecialist oh I remembered that Mookie Bett used to wear one too on Covid year.
Yamada is a monster. I don’t know why he never posted to MLB
The mid-2010s was a time where MLB didn't really go after Japanese players, much less Japanese hitters, and most of the other generational talents were on anti-posting teams
2005 and prior to, My MLE to NPB with an analysis of fielding, i would add these players as the top 10 Japan players NPB (i didn't use non-japanese players in my list)
1. Takagi, Morimichi 高木 守道 (the best 2B defender, hands down)
2. Wada, Yutaka 和田 豊
3. Chiba, Shigeru 千葉 茂
4. Motoi, Mitsuo 基 満男
5. Oishi, Daijiro 大石 大二郎
6. Inoue, Noboru 井上 登
7. Yamazaki, Hiroyuki 山崎 裕之
8. Tsuji, Hatsuhiko 辻 発彦
9. Doi, Shozo 土井 正三
10. Fukura, Junichi 福良 淳一
Miyazaki, Takeshi 宮崎 剛
Kanayama, Jiro 金山 次郎
Most 2B are weak compared to 3B, 1B, OF.
Hey Gaijin crew, I'm an American of Japanese descent. Love your channel. I have a question since it seems like you guys follow NPB closely. Do you know anything about why Munetaka Murakami has been significantly worse the last two years following his incredible 2022? Injury rumors, etc.? Just wondering as he was looking like a generational talent and this is going to make his 2025 performance key for mlb teams to figure out a posting fee that makes sense.
In general Murakami doesn't tend to do well under pressure, and hasn't had much protection in the lineup since 2022.
Of the Big 4 bats of Santana, Murakami, Yamada and Osuna, only Santana is still hitting well. The others are mediocre.
Pitchers who face the Swallows can afford to focus all their efforts on beating him.
There's also the dead ball skewing his numbers. A look at wRC+ shows Murakami is still one of the best bats in NPB. He was 7th among qualified hitters with a 153 wRC+. He's not nearly as dominant, but he's still raking.
@@GaijinBaseball Plus, Murakami's walk rate has actually gone down just slightly, but his strikeout rate has gone way up since his 20-22 peak. So they are pitching around him, but he is expanding the zone and getting himself out?
@@GaijinBaseball After looking up some npb stats i am left perplexed - why do the teams have different numbers of games played in a season?
@@Asshat237 What do you mean? Every team played 143 games last season.
@@GaijinBaseball i think i was looking at years between 2005 and 10
theres no playlist in the description :(
There is now
@@GaijinBaseball thank you!
Is it me or is the Second Basemen position the weakest in these videos? Yeah, it's only the third video of the "All-Time" Series but the rest of the positions just feel soooo much more talented. Great work btw!