Update on North American Players in Japan, Part I: The Letter A

Today seems like as good a day as any to let you know what’s been going on with North Americans playing in Japan’s Central and Pacific Leagues.  It’s the usual story: some guys are playing great, and others have already seen their Japanese careers end.

The Japanese Major Leagues have an English-language web site again, so you can follow all your favorite North American players, who didn’t make it in the States, but may or may not be having great careers in Japan.

 

Benny Agbayani, Chibe Lotte Marines.  You may remember Benny (that’s pretty much what they call him in Japan; “Agbayani” give them problems) from his glory days with the NY Mets.  He had a more successful major league career than most of the North Americans who have had careers as long as his in Japan. 

His best year in the States was 200o, when he hit .289 in 350 AB’s with 20 doubles and 15 HRs.

Benny’s first year in Japan was 2004 at age 32.  It was by far his best year.  He hit .315 with 35 HRs and 100 RBI’s in 457 AB’s.  He’s kind of lived off that season and his popularity (Benny’s always been a likeable guy) ever since. 

Subsequent to ‘04, his hasn’t hit higher than .283, hasn’t hit more than 17 HR’s or driven in more than 71.  It’s been a tale of age and injuries, which are usually intertwining.

This year Benny is hitting a robust .285, but has only 3 HRs in 130 AB’s.

 

Chris Aguila, Fukuoka Softbank Hawks.    Like a lot of 4-A players who end up in Japan, Aguila is guy who flew over there underneath my radar.  He has 230 AB’s of MLB experience, but didn’t do much (.230 batting average, .623 OPS).  He’s an outfielder.

Aguila had a big year for the Mets AAA team in New Orleans last year, hitting .295 with 29 HR’s and a .938 OPS in 420 AB’s.  His OPS was only good for 15th in the Pacific Coast League, a true hitters’ league.

However, the Japanese teams have a soft-spot for guys with major league experience coming off a big minor league season.  Aguila is 30 this year and was born in Redwood City, California.

Unfortunately, it looks like his Japanese career is already over.  He got off to a 4 for 42 start (an .095 batting average) with no extra base hits in 14 games and has likely been released.  They have little patience in Japan (or the in MLB, for that matter) for players who get off to starts like Aguila’s.

 

Edgardo Alfonzo, Yomiuri Giants.  I’m sure you remember him as a Mets’ star and a SF Giants’ free agent bust.  He had a long major league career, but he got old in a hurry in 2005.  He was listed as 31 years old that year, but sure played that year and all the years immediately preceding it like a guy a couple of years older.

Alfonzo played poorly for both Angels and Blue Jays in 2006 and then played so poorly in AAA that he was banished for the next two seasons to the Indendent A Atlantic League.  He had a solid season for the Long Island Ducks in ‘08 and, as I recall, played well in Winter Ball this past offseason.

However, it was a dumb move by the Yomiuri Giants to sign him.  At this point, the Japanese Leagues are simply too good to waste time with players who are no longer at least great AAA players.

As I expected, Alfonzo went 4-for-34 with a lone HR and was sent packing after playing in 15 games.

 

Scott Atchison, Hanshin Tigers.  Giants and Mariners fans may remember him.  He pitched for the Mariners in ‘04 and ‘05 and the Giants in ‘07.

I’ve always (or at least since 2007 when he crossed my radar as a member of the Giants’ organization) liked Atchison.  His numbers suggest that he is a much better pitcher than anyone in the U.S. gave him credit for.  In 68 major league innings, he has a career ERA of 4.10 with 68 hits allowed, 25 BB’s and 70 K’s.  

That’s a lot better than a whole lot of relievers who have had long major league careers. 

He’s kind of a low-rent Kevin Gregg, who was way under-appreciated until the Florida Pinch-Pennies made him their league-minimum (well, almost: the Marlins beat Gregg in arbitration and only had to pay him $575,000, an arbitration decision that still galls me) closer in 2007.

Even though he was already 31 when he started his Japanese League career last year, Atchison has pitched great over there.  Last year, as a sometime reliever and sometime starter, he went 7-6 with a 3.70 ERA with 26 BB’s and 85 K’s in 104.2 IP.

This year, as a full-time reliever, Atchison has a 2.91 ERA in 34 IP over 29 appearances with 10 BB’s and 32 K’s.  He has no saves, so I have to assume he is being used in a set-up role.

He’s obviously doing a fine job.

This raises another point worth making: in  projecting players into the future, age is less important for pitchers than for position players.  For pitchers K’s-to-IP is more important, followed by K’s-to-BB’s ratio.

If a pitcher is still striking out seven or more hitters per nine innings, he’s still a good bet to perform well the next season.