Kamado Report: Yoshinori Yamarin

January 27, 10:23 PMAsian-American Sports ExaminerMichael Street

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Kenshin Kawakami (shown here) was a big reason that
Yamarin signed with the Braves (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

The effects of two Japanese signings are already being felt, as the Atlanta Braves signed high-school junior Yoshinori Yamarin to a minor-league contract yesterday. Those two signings were Junichi Tazawa and Kenshin Kawakami.

I'll explain the connection in a moment, but for now, let's look at Yamarin and figure out why the Braves would want to sign a guy that 12 Nippon Professional Baseball teams took a pass on in their recent draft (recapped here in fine form on Marinerds, a great NPB baseball blog).

After all, this is a kid who stands 6'1" and throws a 92 MPH fastball, both of them good indicators for MLB teams. It's not clear why the NPB teams passed up on him, although they're not as enamored of fastballs as MLB teams; perhaps his breaking ball doesn't compare.

Regardless, the Braves snatched him up, a product of their new dedication to scouting Japanese players. Yamarin will finish high school, then report to the Braves' Australian player development center.

"I'll throw hard and, in two or three years' time, want to be able to sign a major-league contract," he said after he was introduced. That's on the early side of the timeline for an eighteen-year-old, but he's clearly got the confidence in his stuff.

And now about those connections. The Tazawa one is rather obvious, as Yamarin becomes the first player in the post-Tazawa era to suffer from the NPB's new three-year penalty for players who skip straight to the United States. After Tazawa announced that he'd go straight to MLB—the first player of his stature to do so, and only the third ever—the league created new penalties to prevent other players from following Tazawa's lead.

Clearly it didn't work; Tazawa, who pitched beyond high school, can't return to NPB until two years after his MLB service is over, but Yamarin's penalty is one year longer. Even if he washes out in his first season after high school, Yamarin won't be able to return until he's twenty-two, which would make him a very old NPB rookie.

And the Tazawa connection doesn't stop there; Tazawa joined the Red Sox so that he could one day pitch with his idol, Daisuke Matsuzaka. Japanese players are also loyal to their organizations, and Boston showed itself to be friendy to Asian players. So Tazawa had a double incentive to sign with the Sox.

Atlanta recently signed its first Asian player, Kenshin Kawakami, selling themselves to him by showing the strong Asian population in their city. Having Kawakami there makes it easier for other players to follow—I mentioned this in my article on the signing, but I didn't expect the dividends to be paid quite so quickly.

Yamarin referenced his elder countryman in his press conference. "I want to try and play in the United States, where baseball began," he said. "I want to become the kind of pitcher who can play alongside Kenshin Kawakami."

I knew the tide was turning, and that Japanese players would want to come over in greater numbers, but this speed is unexpected. The blending of East and West continues, bringing us ever closer to the day where Japanese and American teams draft amateurs together.