MLB Insider Jon Paul Morosi joins Hot Stove and provides scouting reports on Japanese stars Munetaka Murakami, Tatsuya Imai and Kazuma Okamoto during @MLBNetwork.

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Good morning to you. A beautiful day in Las Vegas. Coming off an Epic World Series. Good morning again to, I feel like the juxtaposition of the Japanese stars in that World Series and Then the next influx of Japanese stars, where are we , where will they land? What’s their future and where? Good morning again, it is one of the best off seasons ever in terms of Japanese talent, arriving in major league baseball, three superstars that we could see joining MLB teams in the coming weeks and the news came out Friday, Munetaka Murakami officially posted by the Tokyo Yakult swallows a significant left handed bat, Kazuma Okamoto as well and Tsui Iai. But let’s focus on Murakami. We saw him here. He had the walk off hit against Mexico in the semifinals of the W BC. And because of his youth, I believe he will have the richest contract of this class in terms of a a per year basis among the position players, at least that is a significant power bat. Uh We saw him of course, have the, the record setting season in terms of home runs by a Japanese born player. And Then this man, Kazuma Okamoto from the Tokyo Yumuri Giants. So he is Okamoto. Is this pure right handed bat? That reminds me a bit of a Vinny castilla and Then Tatsu Imai, that was the news yesterday of the Cebu Lions, the same team that years ago gave us DATs Matsusaka, Iai is someone Lauren that, that I’ve had people describe to me as being similar and profile to a Kodai Senga, he’s not at the level of Yamamoto necessarily, but the belief is he is going to be a top, at least a number two starter in major league baseball was heavily scouted last year in the last couple of years actually. So when you look at this collection of stars lauren, these three players, uh it’s going to be one of the best years ever in terms of talent coming over and we just saw as you documented what, what we witnessed in the World Series with Yamamoto and Otani and Sasaki has on kim coming over from Korea. It is in extraordinary level of talent coming over from Asia. And there was a reason lauren that on this date last year, I was on my way to Taiwan. So I was gathering, I was gathering my scouting reports in preparation for this hot stove episode and segment on this date. One year ago, I was flying, I was flying, I was flying to Taipei go to Google dot com and.com. I was in Taiwan. That’s your level of Commitment.

26 Comments

  1. 日本人選手がこれだけフィーチャーされる時代になったの誇り過ぎる

  2. 今井はどのチームでも先発3番手か4番手位を十分こなしてくれると思う。ボールと環境に慣れればそれ以上も見込める。

  3. Based on the statements from the GM meetings, it looks like:
    Imai: Padres, Blue Jays
    Murakami: Mariners
    Okamoto: Astros
    A few years ago, Takahashi was evaluated even higher than Imai, so a team like the Astros (who helped revive Kikuchi's career) might quietly acquire him for a low price.

  4. As a Japanese person, I want them to go to a team on the East Coast. It would be a problem if they were on the same airtime as the Dodgers.

  5. I saw Murakami in a game in Japan on August 30. He hit three home runs and each one would be a home run in any MLB stadium. However, he’s not a third baseman because he’s not very agile. He could be a first baseman or a DH. And, we don’t know if he can hit MLB pitching and he already strikes out a lot. Furthermore, he’s looking for a contract in the 200k USD range. I don’t know of any team that would pay that kind of scratch for a potentially very-limited player.

  6. Regarding probable strarting pitchers posted from Japan, individual ERA thruout NPB are; Kaima Taira (25yo) 1.92, Hiroto Takahashi (23) 2.32, Hiroya Miyagi (24) 2.48, Tatsuya Imai (27) 3.15.
    Fyi, Yamamoto 1.82, Sasaki 2.10, Shohei 2.52, Imanaga 3.28.

  7. I think Murakami is gonna need a year to adjust, but Imai is going to be better than what people expect. His last season in the NPB he had an 1.92 ERA. Yamamoto in his last few seasons averaged 1.6

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