The Latest on Nishioka

Hello,

I was wondering if you could give your opinion on Nishioka and whether or not he will be successful in the MLB. Many of us see the numbers but are really not familiar with him. I read that he is injury prone and is it true that he has a rather big ego? Will he have fielding issues like Kazuo Matsui? Can you compare him to Ichiro in ability?

Thanks,
Scott

I posted my opinion of Nishioka as a reply on NPB Tracker. But I'll reiterate it here:

Nishioka’s 2009 season, capped off with his war of words against the oendan really made him look like a lowly weasel. Him being named team captain made it look even more like he was an on-the-field spy for the front office in their battle against Bobby. At the end of 2009, Nishioka was not a very well liked man in Chiba.

But sitting with some Lotte fans on Saturday in the game against SK, and watching all the flashes going off in Nishioka’s last at bat, it was clear that the fans fully forgave him for his 2009 indiscretions on the field. And looking at the career year he had this past season, it isn’t hard to see why they were willing to forgive his inability to hit the year(s) before. He finally lived up to his self-hyped (self-serving?) potential.

I don’t know what was responsible for his turn around in 2010. It may well have been the incentive of getting to go to the Majors while he was still young enough to prove himself. Whether or not he has the self discipline to adapt will be played out next season. (I have my own doubts, but would love to be proven wrong.)

Directed more toward your questions:

• If he has had any injuries then they weren't reported in the press. All I can find is a neck ache in 2007 and a toothache during Spring Training 2010.


• Yes, he has a very large ego. But that would be a requirement for any player heading to the Majors. Without that self-confidence, he shouldn't even try. So long as he wants to protect his pride, I'm sure he'll work hard. While it may not make him a very likable person, his ego is actually a plus as far as I'm concerned.


• Fielding will certainly be interesting. He can make some very "sparkling" fine plays, and boot some easy ones. Most of the games I've seen him play in have been the sparkling kind. But he's ranked 4th in the Pacific League in Fielding Percentage this season (.972) with 19 errors (although he's also assisted and turned two more than any other shortstop in the PL), so I've clearly missed a number of those fumbles. My impression has been that he's got a very good range at short, but I also thought that of Kazuo, so please take that with an appropriate grain or two of salt.


• The newspapers compare him to Ichiro because he's a punch hitter, not a power hitter. Also due to his breaking the 200 hit barrier this season. While I did think that Nishioka had more potential than he'd been showing, I never imagined he'd break 200 hits. Reviewing his career numbers, I'm impressed by the number of triples he's hit (42 over 8 seasons - 6 seasons full time), something more impressive than his career of 55 home runs.

So my review is a little mixed. He really peeved me off at the end of the 2009 season. And I've often thought of him as a bit of a flake, like Shinjo. This past season has hopefully shown what Nishioka is capable of. I sincerely hope he has the maturity and self-discipline now to follow through on that potential in the Majors.

Thanks for the information. Just wanted to know what may be in store for us next year. My team, SF Giants, will probably need a shortstop but the price will be too high.