From our Daily Sports Online column / デイリースポーツの連載コラムから
It feels good to welcome two new foreign hitters to the Hanshin Tigers in 2023. Yohan Mieses and Sheldon Neuse, we wish you all the best! We should also tell you about the team’s track record with foreign hitters in the past two decades, in case you were unaware…
Foreign position players 2001-22: 27 (see list here)
Over 300 games played: 5 (George Arias 367, Andy Sheets 412, Craig Brazell 443, Matt Murton 832, Mauro Gomez 425).
Reached Japan Series: 4 (Arias, Sheets, Murton, Gomez)
Had a foreign hitting coach: 3 (Arias, Murton, Gomez)
Coincidence? What, you think the team just happened to recruit its best hitters at the same time as they were able to assist them with a coach who spoke their language?
Now let’s set the record straight: I am not criticizing the Tigers’ Japanese hitting coaches. What I am criticizing is the absence of a foreign hitting coach on the team. Maybe *that* is the missing piece to the puzzle… the one that will help Mieses and Neuse adjust and succeed, and contribute to the team winning a pennant.
Let’s back things up a little and tell you more about the foreign coach that all three guys had. Back in the early 1990s when the team had comfortably made itself a mainstay in the lower half of the CL standings, an outstanding American hitter and personality named Tom O’Malley found himself in the heart of the lineup. He played four seasons with the Tigers (1991-94), won the batting title (.329 in 1993), released a CD singing Rokko Oroshi (off-key in a way that is cringey but catchy), and left for greener pastures when the team said he was not hitting enough home runs (15 and “just” a .314 batting average in 1994). He went on to win CL MVP and Japan Series MVP the very next season with the Yakult Swallows.
Fast-forward to 2002. Sen’Ichi Hoshino is new team manager, and he has named Yutaka Wada hitting coach after a successful 17-year playing career with the Tigers, which included 4 years as O’Malley’s teammate. O’Malley was brought on board to help the team (and especially the foreign bats) produce better. (Ironic, in that they discharged him because they did not like *his* production in 1994.) The main benefactor of O’Malley’s guidance was Arias, who had already hit 64 home runs across two seasons with the Orix BlueWave (2000-01). Arias continued to put up outstanding numbers in 2002, and in 2003, the team won its first pennant in 18 years, thanks in no small part to Arias’ contributions. And while you might think that Arias already had baseball figured out before coming to the Tigers, this is what he had to say about having a foreign coach on staff: “He (O’Malley) was a huge help for me. I give a lot of credit to him for my success. He put things in perspective for me and gave me some advice on game planning. It was a blessing to have him by my side. He wasn’t just my hitting coach, he help me out with the ‘Japanese style’ of playing.”
I also asked Murton (2010-15) what he thought about having O’Malley on the bench (in 2014-15), and he said, “For me, it wasn’t so much the help with mechanics, but just having someone there to talk to, someone that I knew was on my side. I know he did a lot of work with Mauro (Gomez) as well.”
Here’s the thing about these import players. They might get along and they might talk baseball with each other… but they might not. They have to worry about themselves first and foremost. Their success supersedes their mates’ hardships. I mean, the foreigners have precious limited roster spots and, consequently, playing time. They don’t necessarily have the time (or interest) in helping each other out that much. They’re mates, but also potential competition against each other.
But the coach, well, he’s there to bring out the best in both (all?) foreign players. He will listen, advise, and represent them equally when talking to the coaching staff. And of course, the team has outstanding translators on staff… I have heard multiple foreigners say that they really benefited from that crew… but ultimately, the translators are property of the team and have the team’s best interests in mind (which is how it should be). So would it not give the import hitters a little more peace of mind to have someone on staff who makes their success top priority?
O’Malley himself had this to say: “The team does an outstanding job taking care of the foreign players and their families. I can’t say that enough. But during the season, when they are slumping or struggling with something, whether on or off the field, they need someone to confide in, someone who understands what they are going through. No one knew those guys (the foreign hitters) like I did. I was like an extra set of eyes that could help them see what they were unable to see themselves, partly because I have been through it before and have knowledge of the game in Japan. That’s something the first-year foreigners might not have.”
The Yomiuri Giants recently announced that they are bringing Zelous Wheeler on board to help their foreigners adjust to Japan – both on and off the field. I am not saying we need to do what the Giants are doing… but in this case, maybe it’s not such a bad idea.
Good foreign batters mean a scarier lineup. When they play well, the team scores more, wins more, and ultimately, give the team a better chance at the pennant. Arias got his in 2003. Murton and Gomez got to the Japan Series in 2014. All of this happened on O’Malley’s watch. Coincidence? Perhaps. But how about the number of foreign hitters who have come and gone without a taste of either personal or team success? That is more than a coincidence, if you ask this fan.
