Bob's Bullets - More on Roki Sasaki, Ichiro Hall of Fame Tour

TOKYO — Ira Stevens, MLB consultant on Japanese baseball, and founder of the well-respected ScoutDragon.com website, says of Chiba Lotte Marines ace Roki Sasaki:

“I have told MLB teams in the past, based on the overuse and over throwing experienced by NPB pitchers in Japan (and especially in HS), you can expect that sometime, if they are able to make the jump and play in the MLB, that they will have at least some kind of major arm issue and spend time on the DL (disabled list).

“It really is not that hard to project. Successful NPB pitchers throw a lot. And usually that is already on top of some heavy overuse in their HS days. Thus, when they reach the MLB on a big contract they are the best proven pitchers from the NPB, with ‘a lot of pitching’ history, it can be problematic.”