Update on North American Players in Japan, Part VI: “L” & “M”

Chase Lambin, Chibe Lotte Marines.  Lambin is a switch-hitter who turns 30 on July 7 and plays 2B, SS and 3B.  He played in the U.S. in the Mets and Marlins systems, hitting .300 with a .896 OPS at AAA Albuquerque in 2008.

His minor league numbers are not particularly impressive relative to North American players who have excelled in Japan, and he’s gotten off to a slow start for the Marines.  He hit .215 with a little bit of power and was sent down to the Marines’ minor league team.  He has hit better there, with a .327 batting average with a .920 OPS in 55 AB’s.  His 2009 contract is for a little over $200,000, so the Marines may have more patience with him than a more highly paid North American player.

Greg LaRocca, Orix Buffaloes. LaRocca is a 36 year old 3Bman playing in his sixth season in Japan.  He’s having a solid season, hitting .293 with a .894 OPS.  Unlike teammates Tuffy Rhodes and Alex Cabrera, LaRocca’s managed to stay healthy this year despite his advanced age.

LaRocca played for ten years in the Padres’ and Indians’ systems and had cups of coffee in 2000, 2002 and 2003 in which he received a grand total of 88 major league AB’s.  He was a solid, but unspectacular, minor league hitter with not enough power for a major league 3Bman.

He was signed by the Hiroshima Carp before the 2004 season, and in Japan’s smaller ballparks, he suddenly became a power hitter.  He hit 40 HR’s (his high for a minor league season is 15) with a .328 batting average for the Carp in ‘04.  LaRocca was 31 in ‘04, and he’s never come close to the numbers he put up that first year, although he did hit 27 HR’s for Buffaloes in 2007.  Injuries have limited him in other years.

LaRocca’s been a consistent hitter, however, hitting between .285 and .303 in four seasons including this one, with good power.

John Leicester, Orix Buffaloes.  Leicester is a 30 year old right-handed pitcher who played primarily in the Cubs’ and Orioles’ systems in the U.S.  At age 25, he appeared in 32 games for the Cubs and posted a 3.89 ERA with 35 K’s and 15 BB’s in 41.2 IP.

Leicester got off to a bad start the next year and was sent back to AAA Iowa, where he pitched poorly as a starter, apparently due to arm problems.  He pitched barely at all in 2006 (two starts at Oklahoma City, the Rangers’ AAA team), and when he resurfaced in 2007 at the Orioles’ AAA team at Norfolk, he had a 2.22 ERA in eleven starts and was promoted to the Orioles.

In 32 innings pitched for the ‘07 Orioles, Leicester got his brains beaten out (7.59 ERA) and spent 2008 back at Norfolk.  He went 3-8 there in ‘08 with a 5.26 ERA, but with 95 K’s and 40 BB’s in 106 IP.

Japanese teams like Americans with major league experience, and although Leicester had not pitched well in ‘08, the Buffaloes signed him for ‘09, reportedly for a contract of more than $400,000.

Leicester has not pitched particularly well in Japan so far.  In ten appearances and 12.1 IP, he posted an ugly 6.39 ERA and was sent down to the Buffaloes’ farm team.  He’s pitched better there, with a 3.79 ERA in 13 appearances and 19 IP.  His control has been a problem at both the Japanese major and minor league levels (21 BB’s in a total of 31.1 IP).

Colby Lewis, Hiroshima Toyo Carp. Colby Lewis is a tall, 29 year old right-hander who was the 38th player selected in the 1999 Draft.  He’s got a great arm, and he raced through the Rangers’ system, reaching the majors at age 22.

The Rangers in the early 2000’s were desperate for pitching so they rushed Colby, and the Ballpark at Arlington is one of the toughest places to pitch in the major leagues.  In 2002 and 2003, Colby went a combined 11-13, but had a 7.08 ERA in 161.1 IP.

Colby got off to a good start in 2004, posting a 4.11 ERA after three starts, but then tore up his shoulder and had to have rotator cuff surgery.  He didn’t pitch again until 2006 in the Tigers’ organization.  He pitched great at AAA Toledo, which got him a couple of late season games pitching for the Tigers.

Major league teams were already beginning to give up hope on Colby as a prospect, and he ended up with the A’s in 2007.  He pitched sensationally in 15 starts for the AAA Sacramento River Cats (8-3 with a 1.88 ERA, an amazing number for the Pacific Coast League), but when the A’s called him up to pitch in relief, he pitched poorly, posting a 6.45 ERA in 26 appearances over 37.1 IP.  His numbers weren’t terrible, but he gave up seven HR’s, which uglied up his ERA but good.

The Carp gave Lewis a nearly $1M contract to come to Japan for 2008, and he turned out to be worth every penny.  He went 15-8 with a 2.68 ERA and 183 K’s against only 27 BB’s in 178 IP.  Colby’s 183 K’s led the Central League that year.

Lewis’ 2009 is not going quite so well as 2008, but he’s still one of the Central League’s top pitchers.  After 13 starts, he’s only 4-4 with a 3.38 ERA, but his 76 K’s and only 6 BB’s allowed in 72 IP suggest he’s likely to start winning more games in the second half.

Todd Linden, Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles.  SF Giants fans will well remember Todd Linden. Linden was a five-tool player, who wasn’t able to make the adjustment to the major leagues fast enough to stick around.  In an earlier post, when the Golden Eagles signed him, I was doubtful that he would be successful in Japan, because playing in Japan requires American players to make huge adjustments very quickly.

Linden was signed on June 13, but it’s taken him a while to make it over to Japan.  After a one game stint at the Golden Eagles farm team, where Linden went 1 for 4, the Golden Eagles called him up.  In three games, he has gone 2 for 12 with a double and a walk.

Frankly, when a player is coming to Japan mid-season and has had a long lay-off before making it over there, I don’t understand why Japanese teams don’t give American players eight or ten games at their minor league franchise so that the player can transition more smoothly to the Japanese game.  When Craig Brazell came over from the Independent A American Association after the Hanshin Tigers dumped Kevin Mench, the Tigers threw Brazell right into their starting line-up.  At least in Brazell’s case, he had played a full season in Japan the year before.

Kameron Loe, Fukuoka Softbank Hawks.  Loe is a player who I thought would have success in Japan this past off-season, because of his age (27) and past major league success with the Rangers.  In 343.2 major league innings, all with Texas, he posted a 4.77 ERA.  His strikeout and walks numbers are not impressive, but an ERA below 5.00 in that many innings pitching half of the time at the Ballpark in Arlington, strongly suggests that Loe knows how to pitch.

So far, Loes’ major league success hasn’t turned into success in Japan.  His Japanese major league and minor league numbers almost mirror Jon Leicester’s.  Loe went 0-4 in five starts for the Hawks with a 6.33 ERA and was sent down to their minor league team.  He’s pitched a little better there, going 2-2 in six starts with a 4.62 ERA.  Like Leicester, his poor control has been his undoing.  He has a combined 24 walks and only 36 K’s in a total of 64 IP.

Reflecting his past major league success, the Hawks signed Loe to a generous contract by Japanese standards of roughly $950,000 for 2009.  This means that Loe will have to get it together in the near future, or he will be unceremoniously dumped.

Tom Mastny, Yokohama Bay Stars.  Indians fans will remember Tom Mastny.  He pitched for them for all or parts of 2006, 2007 and 2008.  In 2007, he went 7-2 in 51 relief appearances for the Tribe, posting a 4.68 ERA, with 52 K’s but 32 BB”s in 57.2 IP.

Mastny had a fine half season at AAA Buffalo last year, posting a 1.78 ERA in 28 appearances, with excellent peripheral numbers, but he got bombed in 14 appearances for the Tribe.  The Bay Stars offered him a roughly $750,00 contract to pitch for them in 2009.

Mastny’s off to a solid start as a starting pitcher in Japan.  After eight starts, his record is only 0-2, but he has a 3.56 ERA in 43 IP with 26 K’s and 16 BB’s.  There’s obviously room for improvement, but he’s pitching well enough to hold his job for the time being.

Scott McClain, Hiroshima Toyo Carp.  I’ve written about McClain at length previously.  He’s a classic 4-A player, who at age 37 this year, is still playing at a 4-A level (he’s a AAA star).  McClain played in Japan before from 2001 through 2004 for the Seibu Lions.  He hit 39 HR’s for the Lions in 2001 and 26 HR’s in 2003, but injuries and a steadily dropping batting average ended his first stint in Japan prematurely.

McClain returned to the States and immediately reestablished himself as a AAA star, hitting 118 HR’s in the Pacific Coast League between 2005 and 2008, and earning September call-ups from the Cubs and Giants in 2005, 2007 and 2008.  He finally hit his first major league homerun last September for the Giants.

McClain started 2009 at AAA Fresno and was off to a solid start after 40 AB’s, when the Carp came calling.  Given his age, the Giants let him fly away to play in Japan for a substantial bump in salary.

McClain’s 2009 so far looks a lot like his past time in Japan.  He hit a couple of homeruns in his first couple of games, and then he didn’t hit at all for a two week stretch.  He’s now started to hit again, and, in fact, clubbed two HR’s for the Carp in a wild 13-7 loss to the Bay Stars today.  Through today’s game, he’s only hitting .225, but has six homeruns in 142 AB’s.

His OPS is currently .707, which is not terrible when one considers that he is playing mostly 3B for the Carp.  Also, he’s only making about $210,000 this year, which is very low for a North American player in Japan.

Kevin Mench, Hanshin Tigers.  The Tigers’ decision to sign Kevin Mench was one I heavily criticized this past off-season.  Mench once had substantial major league success, but at age 31 this year, he didn’t appear to have much left.  In 2008, he had a .678 OPS in 115 major league AB’s and a .760 OPS in 184 AAA AB’s.  Also, the trend in his career seemed to be going straight down from his top major league seasons in 2004 and 2005.

Turns out that I was right.  Hanshin signed him for a huge (by Japanese standards) $1.875M 2009 contract, Mench hit only .148 in his first 15 games with three doubles and two walks, and he was sent packing.  Hanshin then signed Craig Brazell to a $250,000 contract to replace Mench, a signing the Tigers should have made in the first place.

There’s a direct relationship between how well you play in Japan and what you get paid.  Brazell made approximately $1M to come to Japan and play for the Seibu Lions last year.  He hit 27 HR’s but hit for only a .234 average, and he was due to take a substantial pay cut, even when the Tigers were desperate to replace Mench.  Brazell has seven HR’s and is hitting .356 in only 73 AB’s this year.  If he keeps it up, his salary will likely bounce back to $1M in 2010.

Juan Muniz, Chiba Lotte Marines.  Muniz is a former member of the Cuban National Team, who must have defected some years ago.  He played in 2005 and 2006 mostly for the Florida Marlins’ AA team.  He played solidly, but unspectacularly there.

The problem for Muniz is that he is now 33 years old.  I’m not sure where he played in 2007 or 2008, but he’s spent 2009 playing for the Marines’ farm team.  He’s hitting .307 with 4 HR’s in 75 AB’s.  If he keeps it up, he should eventually get at least a cup of coffee with the Marines.