Eri Yoshida

[allstar1579]

While technically she is not draft eligible being an international player, I was watching some video of her and doing some homework on her and I had the thought...

How many people here would seriously sign her and give her a shot? An 18 year old that throws a 50 mph knuckleball and a 63 mph fastball usually won't generate a lot of buzz, but even Wakefield was impressed with the knuckle and just because a ML hitter knows a knuckleball is coming, doesn't mean they can hit it.

I was just curious to see where people stood on this.

[86this]

I'm all for it. As a pitcher, it's probably the only position that doesn't require her to have a bat and expect home runs from (not that there are some on the Orioles that exude that strength either...are you hearing me Garrett?). Now if you said she was a wide receiver on a football team, she'd get crushed. My goodness, there are a few puns with the "wide receiver" bit or "who's the pitcher and who's the receiver". :mwahaha:

And then there's the whole GI Jane thing. Would the club house need to segment the male and female players?

[allstar1579]

I'm all for it. As a pitcher, it's probably the only position that doesn't require her to have a bat and expect home runs from (not that there are some on the Orioles that exude that strength either...are you hearing me Garrett?). Now if you said she was a wide receiver on a football team, she'd get crushed. My goodness, there are a few puns with the "wide receiver" bit or "who's the pitcher and who's the receiver". :mwahaha:

And then there's the whole GI Jane thing. Would the club house need to segment the male and female players?

Yeah, I don't know how the culture will embrace a female player, I'm sure there a couple advocates here and there, but I have a feeling there will be detractors as well.

I mean it's not like she's a can't miss prospect, or has a 96 mph fastball or something, but a side-armed knuckleball with a ton of movement and good control is something that could play at least in the lower minors. I'm really interested how she'd do from AA upwards, but I know as a 17 year old she posted about a 6 ERA in the AFL, which should have been way above her talent level, and she didn't do amazing, but held her own.

I'll be following it pretty closely to see how she does and if she gets a job coming out of the Golden Independent league she's playing in now.

[square634]

Yeah, I don't know how the culture will embrace a female player, I'm sure there a couple advocates here and there, but I have a feeling there will be detractors as well.

I mean it's not like she's a can't miss prospect, or has a 96 mph fastball or something, but a side-armed knuckleball with a ton of movement and good control is something that could play at least in the lower minors. I'm really interested how she'd do from AA upwards, but I know as a 17 year old she posted about a 6 ERA in the AFL, which should have been way above her talent level, and she didn't do amazing, but held her own.

I'll be following it pretty closely to see how she does and if she gets a job coming out of the Golden Independent league she's playing in now.

I thought it was the Arizona Winter League, not the Fall League? And isn't the AWL much, much weaker than the AFL? From what I understand, the AWL is the instructional league for the independent league she is playing in now, while the AFL is between AA and AAA quality. In other words, there's no way any team should draft her.

[RVAbird]

Yeah, I don't know how the culture will embrace a female player, I'm sure there a couple advocates here and there, but I have a feeling there will be detractors as well.

I mean it's not like she's a can't miss prospect, or has a 96 mph fastball or something, but a side-armed knuckleball with a ton of movement and good control is something that could play at least in the lower minors. I'm really interested how she'd do from AA upwards, but I know as a 17 year old she posted about a 6 ERA in the AFL, which should have been way above her talent level, and she didn't do amazing, but held her own.

I'll be following it pretty closely to see how she does and if she gets a job coming out of the Golden Independent league she's playing in now.

Just treating this as a hypothetical, but yeah, baseball would be one of the last sports in the world to embrace mixed gender participation. Baseball doesn't even encourage girls to play baseball in their own leagues.

[Stotle]

I thought it was the Arizona Winter League, not the Fall League? And isn't the AWL much, much weaker than the AFL? From what I understand, the AWL is the instructional league for the independent league she is playing in now, while the AFL is between AA and AAA quality. In other words, there's no way any team should draft her.

Right, she was certainly not throwing in the AFL.

[allstar1579]

I thought it was the Arizona Winter League, not the Fall League? And isn't the AWL much, much weaker than the AFL? From what I understand, the AWL is the instructional league for the independent league she is playing in now, while the AFL is between AA and AAA quality. In other words, there's no way any team should draft her.

Ah, you're right, typo in the article I was reading. Didn't think much of it at the time.