Wladimir Balentien

[DrungoHazewood]

The Yakult Swallows' RFer is currently hitting .339/.463/.826, good for a 1.289 OPS. In 100 games he's hit 51 homers. With a little more than 30 games left in the season he's four shy of the Japanese record shared by Sadaharu Oh, Tuffy Rhodes, and Alex Cabrera.

Just thought it was kind of cool. He's apparently under contract for a fair sum of money through his age 31 season (just turned 29) so he likely won't come back to the States to try to duplicate that success. But it would interesting if he could/would.

[waroriole]

I remember talking about him during the Bedard to SEA talks as someone who could come here.

[CA-ORIOLE]

Cool. Lastings MIlledge is also on that team. Japan is a great gig.

[DrungoHazewood]

Cool. Lastings MIlledge is also on that team. Japan is a great gig.

Yea, what's not to like? Your homesickness is easily remedied by great food, cool culture, and being paid good money to be a star in front of big crowds that are louder and more active than you'll see at MLB parks. I think I'd rather be Wladimir Balentien than Russ Canzler.

[CA-ORIOLE]

Yea, what's not to like? Your homesickness is easily remedied by great food, cool culture, and being paid good money to be a star in front of big crowds that are louder and more active than you'll see at MLB parks. I think I'd rather be Wladimir Balentien than Russ Canzler.

Spent almost 3 years there. 1.5 in Okinawa (single) and 1.5 on the mainland with may family. The mainland was a lot nicer and the people were so friendly to me and my family. Many wonderful memories. The language barrier is pretty rough, but yeah, it must be pretty awesome being a ballplayer there. Kings life I bet.

[waroriole]

Yea, what's not to like? Your homesickness is easily remedied by great food, cool culture, and being paid good money to be a star in front of big crowds that are louder and more active than you'll see at MLB parks. I think I'd rather be Wladimir Balentien than Russ Canzler.

Plus, you can go to the double decker golf driving ranges and let the baseballs fly, ala Tom Selleck.

[Can_of_corn]

The Yakult Swallows' RFer is currently hitting .339/.463/.826, good for a 1.289 OPS. In 100 games he's hit 51 homers. With a little more than 30 games left in the season he's four shy of the Japanese record shared by Sadaharu Oh, Tuffy Rhodes, and Alex Cabrera.

Just thought it was kind of cool. He's apparently under contract for a fair sum of money through his age 31 season (just turned 29) so he likely won't come back to the States to try to duplicate that success. But it would interesting if he could/would.

Don't you just love that they have all the NPB info now?

Wada for instance, or Chen.

[Malike]

I can't think of anyone outside of Cecil Fielder who came back to the states and was able to duplicate those type of numbers. Lack of pitching depth in the NPB has a lot to do with the success of guys like Balentien, Rhodes, etc.

[CA-ORIOLE]

I can't think of anyone outside of Cecil Fielder who came back to the states and was able to duplicate those type of numbers. Lack of pitching depth in the NPB has a lot to do with the success of guys like Balentien, Rhodes, etc.

Which is kind of interesting, because if I had to categorize the JP players that did will in the ML it would be pitchers. As you said, depth though.

[DrungoHazewood]

Don't you just love that they have all the NPB info now?Wada for instance, or Chen.

That's great. It's just today that they posted that the comprehensive Japanese data has been incorporated. They had some information before, but there were gaps.

I can't think of anyone outside of Cecil Fielder who came back to the states and was able to duplicate those type of numbers. Lack of pitching depth in the NPB has a lot to do with the success of guys like Balentien, Rhodes, etc.

That has something to do with it. It's the independent league issue, that there are players there who would be MLB stars, or at least minor stars, playing alongside guys who wouldn't make it out of AA in the states. I guess one way to frame that is as a lack of depth.How many Japanese hitters or (US hitters who've played in Japan) have come over? How many were power hitters in Japan? I think part of the issue is that there just aren't many Japanese power hitters who come to the US while still in their primes.

[Can_of_corn]

That's great. It's just today that they posted that the comprehensive Japanese data has been incorporated. They had some information before, but there were gaps.That has something to do with it. It's the independent league issue, that there are players there who would be MLB stars, or at least minor stars, playing alongside guys who wouldn't make it out of AA in the states. I guess one way to frame that is as a lack of depth.How many Japanese hitters or (US hitters who've played in Japan) have come over? How many were power hitters in Japan? I think part of the issue is that there just aren't many Japanese power hitters who come to the US while still in their primes.

Yep, saw it on Twitter. Hopefully they can do the KBO next.

[Malike]

That's great. It's just today that they posted that the comprehensive Japanese data has been incorporated. They had some information before, but there were gaps.That has something to do with it. It's the independent league issue, that there are players there who would be MLB stars, or at least minor stars, playing alongside guys who wouldn't make it out of AA in the states. I guess one way to frame that is as a lack of depth.How many Japanese hitters or (US hitters who've played in Japan) have come over? How many were power hitters in Japan? I think part of the issue is that there just aren't many Japanese power hitters who come to the US while still in their primes.

I'm not framing anything. There is a serious lack of pitching depth in Japan compared to the MLB. There is a reason that Rhodes hit 13 HR in 6 years in the Majors and hit nearly 300 in Japan in 8 years. That reason isn't that Rhodes suddenly became a crazy power hitter thanks to the cuisine and water in Japan.

[Can_of_corn]

I'm not framing anything. There is a serious lack of pitching depth in Japan compared to the MLB. There is a reason that Rhodes hit 13 HR in 6 years in the Majors and hit nearly 300 in Japan in 8 years. That reason isn't that Rhodes suddenly became a crazy power hitter thanks to the cuisine and water in Japan.

What is the PED testing like over there?

[DrungoHazewood]

Yep, saw it on Twitter. Hopefully they can do the KBO next.

That would be nice. I know I'm getting greedy (when I was a kid a hardcopy of the 1980 MacMillian Baseball Encyclopedia from the library was heaven) but I look forward to a day where bb-ref has comprehensive, searchable numbers from pretty much every league in the world as far back as they exist.I'm very slightly annoyed that Willis Otanez is missing the data from his 2004 season with Campeche in the Mexican League, complicating my tracking of his quest for 3000 professional hits.

[CA-ORIOLE]

What is the PED testing like over there?

If you get caught you have to commit Hari Kari. No issue with repeat offenders.