Shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima

[reillymcshane]

Rotoworld reports that Hiroyuki Nakajima has been posted by the Seibu Lions of the Japanese Baseball League.

 

http://www.rotoworld.com/...b/5793/hiroyuki-nakajima

 

The shortstop has hit

.297 or better over the past five seasons. He has some pop, averaging 20 HR over the last four years.

 

Here's his 2007-2010 stats - http://www.baseball-refer...ayer.cgi?id=nakaji001hir

 

In 2011, he hit .297 with 16 HR and 100 RBI.

 

Of course, the history of Japanese middle infielders is a mixed bag - at best. The Twins bombed with Tsuyoshi Nishioka last year - who was coming off a batting title in Japan. But Nishioka never had Nakajima's power, which really hurt him in the big leagues. Baltimore and Seattle are both reportedly to have interest in him in the past.

 

By the way, here's a sweet video of him - guy isn't afraid of getting messed:

Here's a write up from fangraphs:

 

Hiroyuki Nakajima (SS, Seibu Lions, 28) – Nakajima gets

my vote as Japan’s second best hitter, behind Aoki. Nakajima doesn’t

quite match up with Aoki’s pure contact skill or plate discipline, but

is still very good in both categories and adds a bit more gap power to

the equation. Nakajima is a back-leg hitter, with a big stride that he

will occasionally shorten up. On the turf, Nakajima plays a solid

shortstop, among many good shortstops in his league. The best video I

could find of Nakajima was this one,

of him hitting an opposite field home run off Dicky Gonzales (I know,

not the best competition). Also of note in the video, you can see that

he’s made friends with teammate Dee Brown. The high-five routine they do after home runs shows up on Japanese highlight shows.

 

Thanks to Baldkin, who brought up Nakajima in another thread.

[Invader3K]

Sounds intriguing, but I bet the Brewers don't even bother investigating him.

[reillymcshane]

He's officially posted. Teams have until Friday to put in bids. I just don't see the Crew taking any sort of risk on a guy like this, especially after minnesota got burned last year. Still, it's an interesting option if they like what they see.

 

http://www.mlbtraderumors...t-hiroyuki-nakajima.html

[Invader3K]

Adam McCalvy confirms that the Brewers won't bid on Nakajima.

[DHonks]

A small bid makes sense. Likely better defensively than Yuni

[endaround]

Jack Moore just retweeted a retweet from NPB tracker linking to a story from sanspo.com saying the Brewers will bid on Nakajima

 

http://www.sanspo.com/mlb.../mla1112020501000-n1.htm

[PKBadger]

I plugged the text from the Sanspo link into Google Translate and here's the result. Some of it is high comedy.

 

 

30 New York 11 (Time, December 01, Japan) - Major League Brewers, posting system (bidding) Infielder Hiroyuki Nakajima on Seibu aims to measure transfer (29) found that the move to acquire. December 02 at 5:00 pm EST (7:00 am Japan time the same 3 days) before the deadline for bid.

 

Dark horse appeared. Active army is now clear, solid infielder Uni Esqui shortstop option Court was positive (29) has already waived the right to contract extension. Mets infielder from Hosereiesu of FA (28) Because of the difficulties negotiating with these big shortstop, caught Nakajima seems to work.

 

Some pipe. Mr. Gregg served as a representative of Gen ski Nakajima, All-Star second baseman second baseman Rickie Weeks forces are active (29) is also a customer. GM Dagumerubin active military (59) and there's a hotline.

 

Active military baseman Prince Fielder is a big gun (27) is concentrated in the FA transfer. There is sufficient money than usual reinforcement. Such bids are expected for the Giants, is up to the amount you can bid. But only after waiting for the results.

 

On this day, attended the convention Nakajima professional baseball, "I can say nothing from nothing is not decided yet," said Todometa to.

 

(From paper)

 

Note the following:

 

Uni Esqui shortstop option Court - love it

 

Hosereiesu (Jose Reyes)

 

GM Dagumerubin (Doug Melvin) - this would be a good handle for someone joining Brewerfan

 

Rickie Weeks forces are active - they sure are!

Active military baseman http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif Prince Fielder is a big gun

[reillymcshane]

Regarding Nakajima, he's got a more pop than a guy like Nishioka (the guy the Twins signed last year).

Nakajima was 9th in the Japanese Pacific Coast league in HR in 2010, and 8th in 2009 - that's out of about 70 or so players. He hit 20 HR each year. He hit 27 one year. Nishioka's lack of any sort of power really made him vulnerable. I read a couple of comments that

 

Nakajima has a longer stride and comes off the back foot more than a lot of Japanese players. It generates some extra power, but there was some concern as to whether he would be strikeout prone against better pitching (because of the bigger swing). I should say that I'm only going by things I've read - I haven't seen him bat.

 

By the way, there are no 2011 stats details available. I know

 

Nakajima fell off in average (.296) a bit (from .314 in 2010). He is 29 years old.

 

I hope the team at least investigates him, but unless his glove is really good, I don't know if he profiles as being any more than average - at best. But then again, average at SS would be pretty awesome for us after the past couple of years.

[Warning Track Power]

So what you're saying is that we may be going from Yuni to Yuki?

[brettac1]

I'm hoping Dagu makes this happen. The FA options outside of Reyes (which is/was likely not realistic) don't inspire much confidence at all.

[Kelbysdaddy]

i'd like it if they got this guy. i know really nothing about him but even if he doenst work out great, its something different.

[reillymcshane]

Dagumerubin - I like it. I think we should call him that all the time.

[chadomac]

Does anyone know how he rates defensively?

[Raw Biz]

Does anyone know how he rates defensively?

According to wikipedia, he has a strong arm and can make flashy plays but sometimes messes up the routine ones. That sounds a bit like Yuni but he did win a gold glove in 2008.

[Bernman23]

Does anyone know how he rates defensively?

According to wikipedia, he has a strong arm and can make flashy plays but sometimes messes up the routine ones. That sounds a bit like Yuni but he did win a gold glove in 2008.

"relying on his great athleticism"

 

There goes the Yuni comparison.

 

Great athleticism, excellent throwing arm, but often flubs the routine play is the profile for Rafael Furcal.

 

In fact offensively he seems similar to Furcal in his earlier years as well, assuming a discernible but not huge drop-off in #'s, but I have no gauge on how well his hitting will translate without seeing him.

 

From what I do know, he looks like a good gamble, as long as the Brewers wouldn't have to break the bank for him.

[reillymcshane]

Here's a write up on NPBtracker.com - a site that follows Japanese baseball. The site's authors are, admittedly, not pros, but they are pretty informed.

 

 

Hiroyuki Nakajima (SS, Seibu Lions) — Nakaji made multiple requests to be posted last offseason, all of which were denied by Seibu’s management, citing a desire to compete this season. It hasn’t really worked out, as the Lions are currently in last place in the Pacific League (despite my preseason optimism). Like most of NPB, Nakajima’s numbers have been suppressed by the new ball, but he still sports a .279/.339/.431 line. Sadly that .430 slugging percentage is good for sixth in the Pacific League. I don’t really see Nakaji as an MLB shortstop, but if he can come close his current .770 OPS at the MLB level, he’d be a useful second baseman.

 

 

 

It should be noted that the article was written mid season, and nakajima ended up hitting .297.

 

Also, he says something about a new baseball. Apparently the Japanese league started using new baseballs last year, which suppressed hitting. Sort of like adding a humidor to all the parks.

[RWeeksFan23]

I thought I read somewhere the Brewers won't be bidding on him

[Invader3K]

I thought I read somewhere the Brewers won't be bidding on him

Adam McCalvy had reported earlier this week that they "probably wouldn't", but perhaps that changed in the last couple days? Maybe they just aren't seeing any realistic signings among Reyes, Furcal, Rollins, etc. I guess we'll see today. It's interesting to at least hear the Brewers connected with an international free agent.

[reillymcshane]

Jim Breen at Bernie's Crew has probably the best info about Nakajima that I've seen.

 

http://www.jsonline.com/b.../fanblogs/134888638.html

 

Here's a quote from Patrick Newman from NPB Tracker:

 

"A lot of scouts seem to be quite negative on him at shortstop, and

I've actually cooled off a bit too. He's bulked up a bit this year and

given up some mobility. This year, I watched him a bit more closely and

saw some bad instincts ... I think he would do okay at third base, but

he might struggle at shortstop."

 

Read the entire article - he has some other info on Nakajima (as well as other SS candidates).

[Invader3K]

Haudricourt just tweeted that Melvin told him he in fact won't be making a bid on Nakajima, so there goes that idea.

[reillymcshane]

Haudricourt just tweeted that Melvin told him he in fact won't be making a bid on Nakajima, so there goes that idea.

I suppose it just becomes a shot in the dark if you haven't scouted any of the players. Seems kind of stupid not to at least have someone watching the Japanese league.

 

But it'll cost a few million to post, then a few more million to sign. And if you're not sold on the guy because you haven't scouted him, why risk it.

[PKBadger]

DAMN YOU DAGUMERUBIN!

 

http://ramblinganicdotes.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/be-angry.jpg

[SoCalBrewfan]

Some pipe.

[TooLiveBrew]

I know, that was the oddest part to me, SoCal. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out what that was supposed to mean. Pipe dream? That's the best I came up with.

 

 

Seems kind of stupid not to at least have someone watching the Japanese league.

 

I totally agree, especially with how much money the Brewers are clearly making. It shouldn't be cost-prohibitive to have one or even two full-time Japanese scouts. At least, it's an investment I'd hope the team would make just in case it may pay off down the line. They've scouted other countries well, & I would expect that'd continue in Japan.

[Point Beer Is Best]

Sounds like at least one team bid on Nakajima. HBT brought up the Brewers as a possibility, so they either missed/ignored Melvin's last comments. Although if you were bidding a player, you probably wouldn't be making that public knowledge.