Pacific Perspectives: Final Prospect Roundup

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Pacific Perspectives: Final Prospect Roundup


I'll look at the Asian MLB standouts next week, but since the minor leagues
have finished their seasons, let's look back at our Asian prospect list to see
how they've done. I peeked in at them in midseason, during the Futures Game,
but now it's time for a full assessment.



1. Junichi Tazawa, SP, pitched well enough in the minors to earn a callup to
Boston, well before rosters expanded in September. His minor-league numbers
were very impressive, good enough to earn a spot on the Futures Game roster
(where his scheduled start was shut down due to a long rain delay).

With the AA Portland Sea Dogs, Tazawa started 18 games, putting up a 9-5 record
with a 2.57 ERA and 1.08 WHIP. After promotion to Pawtucket, he went 0-2 in 2
starts, despite a 2.38 ERA and 0.71 WHIP. His strikeouts slipped from 8.1 K/9
to 4.8 K/9, but the Red Sox liked him enough to bring him up to the bigs to see
how he’d do, and possibly fill a gaping rotation hole left by the losses of
both Wakefield and Matsuzaka.

After a rough initial outing when he gave up a game-winning homer to A-Rod,
Tazawa won 2 of his next 3 starts, with a 2.81 ERA against Detroit, Texas and
the Yankees, not the easiest lineup to throw a 23-year-old pro rookie against.
After back-to-back rough starts against the White Sox, when he gave up 14 ER in
7.2 IP and found himself back in the bullpen, in part due to the return of
Dice-K and Wakefield.

A left groin strain ended Tazawa's season early, although the move was made
more to free up a roster spot and because he’d reached his innings limit. He's
sure to be in the mix for a Red Sox roster spot—if not a rotation spot—in
spring training and is already looking forward to the challenge.



2. Chia-Jen Lo, RP, was also invited to the Futures Game, and he continued to
improve in the Astros organization at AA Corpus Christi. He threw 30 more
innings from their bullpen, improving his ratios from 7.7 to 9.0 K/9 and 1.14
to 1.95 BB/K, and he finished with an ERA of 2.31 and a WHIP of 1.28. Houston
chose him to play in the Arizona Fall League, where he should continue to hone
his craft for 2010.

Expect the RHP from Taiwan in AAA next year, and possibly the majors as the
season progresses. He moves up a spot with an impressive season.



3. Fu-Te Ni, RP, did well enough to make it to the majors like Tazawa, and shot
up this prospect list. The Taiwanese lefty impressed enough in 34.2 IP, with
2.60 ERA and 1.15 WHIP that the Tigers called him up to the bigs in late June.
With the big-league club, he did even better, throwing 30.0 IP, with a 2.70 ERA
and 1.03 WHIP.

Even more impressively, he's not done it as a lefty specialist. He's far more
dominating after fellow southpaws, who have a .492 OPS, while righties picked
up a .791 OPS against him. Still, he’s done very well, and will certainly be
up with the club in 2010, especially if he can help them get to the postseason
and win there.



4. Che-Hsuan Lin, CF, hopes to be the first Taiwanese outfielders, but he's
still a work in progress in the Boston organization. The 20-year-old moved up
to high-A Salem, hitting .265/.355/.365, a slight improvement on his
.249/.342/.359 line from single-A. The best signs are his BB/K rate, up to .88
from .69 in 2008 and .42 in 2007, and his contact rate, rising slightly to .84
from .83 (2008) and .79 (2007).

Those are good trends, and Lin has to hope those will lead to increased power,
the last piece of the puzzle to give him a major-league skill set. Until he can
show that, he's dropped on this list, and might slip farther in 2010.



5. Matt Tuiasosopo, 3B/2B was still hurt at midseason after elbow surgery, his
chance to take over for the injured Adrian Beltre spoiled by the injury; I
expected both to be done for the season. Instead, both returned much sooner,
and Tuiasosopo tuned up for a few games in Rookie league ball before coming
back to AAA Tacoma.

The Samoan's .268/.368/.473 line with the Rainiers earned him a call-up to
Seattle, where they’ve shifted him from 3B to 2B, where he’d also been
playing at times with Tacoma. He’s carried that hot hitting over to Seattle,
hitting .263/.318/.474 in just 19 ABs, though he did crank his first HR last
night against Toronto.

This kind of versatility is consistent with Seattle's new credo: positional
flexibility and strong defense over hitting. I’ll write more about that
approach in my column next week on Wakamatsu's Way, but it bodes well for Tui,
whether Seattle re-signs Beltre in 2010 or not. Look for him to be in the mix
in 2010 spring training, where he should earn himself a major-league roster
spot, if not a starting role.



6. Hak-Ju Lee, SS, the South Korean prospect for the Cubs, finished his
season with the class-A Boise Hawks with a .330/.399/.420 line, scoring 56 runs
and driving in 33 in 264 ABs. His average led the team, as did his 25 SBs, but
his defense is a work in progress, with 27 errors in 334 chances.

That's often an adjustment to proper fielding technique, and can sometimes
reflect a player whose incredible reach exceeds his grasp—Lee's sweet
5.03 RF/G is testament to that. Lee's just 18, so he’s going to work his way
up slowly, but his future still looks awfully bright. He's only fallen on this
list because others have overtaken overtaken him — he could easily rocket to
the topwith a strong 2010.

On the lighter side of things, here's a video of Lee singing the opening of
the Carpenter's “Superstar” at the team’s end-of-year picnic. He's got
some sweet karaoke pipes, too.



7. Kyeong Kang, OF, continued to work his way up the food chain for the Rays,
and jumped two spots up this list. The South Korean slugger improved in
virtually every aspect of his offensive game and even improved his defensive
range.

His .307/.390/.491 line for the single-A Bowling Green Hot Rods included 29 2Bs
to go along with his 7 3Bs and 5 HRs. Those doubles are going to stretch into
homers eventually, and his poor .54 batting eye is still a huge improvement
over last season's .32.

He'll move up to AA in 2010 for sure with this performance, and looks to go
even farther.



8. Dae-Eun Rhee, SP, returned from TJS to throw a handful of innings at rookie
ball at Boise alongside his South Korean countrymen Lee and Jae-Hoon Ha,
forming what must be the first South Korean battery in the minors. His numbers
are not terribly impressive, since he only threw 8.2 IP at both level and was
working back from surgery, so I’m sure they were more interested in his
mechanics than the results.

I wouldn't be overly concerned, then, at his 9.84 ERA and 2.08 WHIP, which
screams both “small sample space” and “injury rehab,” but it did slide him
down this list. Expect the 20-year-old to return to single-A in 2010 after an
offseason of rehab work, ready to resume climbing the minor-league ladder, as
well as this prospect list.



9. Yung Chi Chen, UT, returned to Sacramento after his knee injury and hit an
adequate .283/353/.337 in only 27 games, mostly at 2B, but also SS and 3B and
even once in LF. Like Rhee, it's hard to judge these objectively, since he
didn't play long and was returning from injury.

The lanky Taiwanese righty is most likely to make it to the bigs as a utility
player, though 2B and 3B are his natural positions. His star has slipped, which
is why he's down to #9 on my list, but he'll be in spring training for the
A's, trying to stick with the major-league squad when they break camp.



10. Chin-Lung Hu, UT, redeemed himself well enough in AAA Albuquerque this
season to make it back up to the Dodgers in September. His .294/.332/.393 line
was a slight improvement over his 2008 line with AAA Las Vegas, but it's still
not as amazing as his breakout .318/.337/.505 campaign with that same club in
2007.The Dodgers need him down the stretch, with injuries to both Orlando
Hudson and Rafael Belliard at 2B, as well as 3B Casey Blake. It's unlikelyhe'll
get many starts or make the postseason roster, but it does mean his future
with the club isn't entirely bleak. His chances to stick with the club in
spring training just went up, as did his ability to stick on this list.



That brings us to the end of the Asian prospect list for 2009. Pacific
Perspectives continues next week!



http://www.baseballdailydigest.com/blogs/2009/09/29/
pacific-perspectives-final-prospect-roundup/


===

亞洲10新秀 台灣佔5人

2009.10.1 自由時報
記者林三豐／綜合外電報導

美國「棒球每日文摘」（Baseball Daily Digest）網站昨天評選出年度最看好的亞太
區十大農場新秀，台灣有多達5人入選，而且前5名就囊括3席，代表作者史崔特（
Michael Street）相當看好他們的潛力。

羅嘉仁評價 次於田澤

台灣球員獲得最高評價的是羅嘉仁，在該排名中獲得第2名，僅次於日籍投手田澤純
一。

史崔特認為，羅嘉仁今年從高階1A升上2A後，後援表現相當理想，不只入選今年未來
之星賽，也獲得太空人推薦參加亞歷桑納秋季聯盟，明年應能順利升級挑戰3A。如果
羅嘉仁也能維持相同的壓制能力，季中就有機會在大聯盟露臉。

倪福德今年6月被老虎升上大聯盟，雖在排行榜上落後羅嘉仁，但史崔特認為倪福德升
上大聯盟後適應良好，更令他印象深刻的是他不僅是功能性左投，對右打整體表現也
不差，老虎若打進季後賽，倪福德又能持續發揮作用，明年絕對能繼續在牛棚占一席
之地。

儘管林哲瑄今年還在紅襪高階1A，卻是榜上名次最高的野手，史崔特認為林哲瑄本季
成績微幅上揚，不過保送與三振比持續提升，擊球命中率也有進步，現在最重要的觀
察指標就是他的長打能力，不只關係到明年在排行榜上的名次，更影響他未來升上大
聯盟的速度。

另外2位旅美好手陳鏞基與胡金龍也在排行榜前10名，儘管陳鏞基今年沒有機會上大聯
盟，胡金龍也因道奇爭奪分區冠軍的重要關頭，上場空間有限，擠進季後賽名單的機
會也不高，但兩人共同特色是守備具多功能性，明年應該都還能受邀參加春訓，競爭
開季留在大聯盟的機會。

http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/2009/new/oct/1/today-sp1.htm



--
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◆ From: 118.160.67.212
※ 編輯: Belladonaa      來自: 118.160.67.212       (10/01 05:52)
推 phix:個人不看好田澤....看起來普通...
→ Belladonaa:哈哈，看好 Shelley Duncan 打整季有 30 轟的人
→ Belladonaa:眼光當然比 Baseball Daily Digest 這種低劣網站好
推 phix:個人覺得而已...當然又不一定正確.... 不用酸酸的吧...
推 phix:今年看田澤初登板 很多球投不到捕手想要的地方..
→ phix:後來防禦率就如預料的一直上升..看看以後能不能成長改善吧..
→ phix:控球跟變化球犀利程度還不到能站穩MLB的感覺 期待田澤加油///
推 MinChuan:田澤兩年內長不出來就糟糕了...
→ Ruri:田澤今年才第一年,2A->MLB,這樣要求也太高了吧,他還是新人耶
推 OrhanPamuk:田澤不是才第一年？是對他期望太高嗎？
推 RaXePhOnZeRo:別急 養成要時間的 除非明顯的壞了....
推 greengreen42:田澤可以長到四號就很OK了
推 st6012:一樓你太看太快了吧 今年對田澤才第一年職棒...