Update on North American Players in Japan, Part IV: “E”, “F” & “G”

Brian Falkenborg, Fukuoka Soft Bank Hawks. He’s a 31 year old right-handed pitcher who was the 51st player selected in the 1996 MLB Draft. He pitched in a total of 64 major league games over parts of six seasons for the Orioles, Cardinals, and two different times with both the Dodgers and Padres.

His career 5.59 ERA pretty much tells you how much success he had in the States.

In his rookie season in Japan, he’s having mind-blowing success as a set-up man. In 29.1 innings pitched in 25 appearances, he’s got a 0.92 ERA with 18 hits allowed, two BB’s, and 35 K’s. He’s 3-0 with one save so far this year.

The Hawks’ current closer is 27 year old Takahiro Mahara, who already has 112 career saves, a career 2.96, and nearly 3-1 K’s-BB’s ratio, so it doesn’t look like Falkenborg will become the Hawks’ closer any time soon.

However, Mahara had injury problems last year and his current 2.91 ERA so far this year is his highest since 2005. Falkenborg might move into the closer role if Mahara gets hurt again.

Jose Fernandez, Orix Buffaloes. He’s the youngster, at 34 years old, of the Buffaloes’ assemblage of power-hitting foreigners; along with Tuffy Rhodes, Alex Cabrera, and Greg LaRocca. Fernandez is mostly playing 1B and DH this year (the Pacific League uses the DH, while the Central League has pitchers hit).

Fernandez had cups of coffee for the Expos in 1999 and the Angels in 2001, where he failed to impress.

At age 26, he had a terrific season in the Pacific Coast League, hitting .338 with a 1.045 OPS. According to Wikipedia, he played in Korea in 2002, and the Chibe Lotte Marines signed him for the 2003 season.

He was star right off the bat, having probably his best Japanese season in ‘03; hitting .303 with 32 HR’s.

He spent ‘04 and ‘05 with the Seibu Lions, and ‘06 through ‘08 with the Rakuten Golden Eagles. He hit .302 in ‘06 and .301 last year, and he clubbed 33 HRs in ‘04, and 28 HR’s in ‘06.

In short, he’s been a solid and consistent hitter in Japan through 2008.

He appears to be showing his age this year, however. He’s hitting only .233 with six HR’s in 176 AB’s so far in ‘09, and he’s been riding the pine and only pinch hitting for most of the last week or so.

He’ll need to have a strong second half to keep his Japanese career going into 2010.

Justin Germano, Fukuoka Soft Bank Hawks. Padre fans will certainly remember Germano, who went 7-10 with a 4.46 ERA in 2007.

The 4.46 ERA looks pretty good until one remembers that Petco Park is now almost certainly the worst hitters’ park in the majors. He pitched poorly for both the Padres and their AAA team, the Portland Beavers, in 2008.

This last off-season, the Hawks signed Germano to a one-year contract for 50M yen (approximately $525,000). Germano is only 26 years old this year, and his minor league numbers suggest he’s got great control and knows how to pitch (he has a 4-1 minor league K’s-BB’s ratio), although he likely does not have great stuff.

He may have had some injury problems coming out of Spring Training, because the Hawks started him in their mino

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