Adjust Font Size: A A       Guest settings   Register

Teenager Tetusayo Yamaguchi signs with DBacks

Discussion in the Nichi-Bei forum
Teenager Tetusayo Yamaguchi signs with DBacks
Just thought I'd pass along a news item regarding the signing of 18 yr old Tetusayo Yamaguchi by the Diamondbacks yesterday:

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/diamondbacks/0213dbnb.html

Scouting director Mike Rizzo announced Tuesday that left-hander Tetusayo Yamaguchi signed a contract, pending approval from the commissioner's office.

Yamaguchi, 18, who is 6 feet and 170 pounds, immediately agreed to terms after working out last month in front of Rizzo at Grand Canyon University. The signing wasn't announced until Yamaguchi's parents agreed to the deal, which includes a low five-figure bonus.

Yamaguchi pitched at Yokohama High in Japan and was brought to the United States by a Valley agent. Rizzo said Yamaguchi has an exceptional curve and a slider to complement a fastball clocked in the high 80 mph range.

I can't recall hearing about a Japanese teenager being signed by an MLB team in the past. How unusual is it for a teenager to forsake the pros over in Japan to sign in the States? Does anybody know anything about this kid?

Click to reply to this topic  Reply to this topic
Comments
Re: Teenager Tetusayo Yamaguchi signs with DBacks
[ Author: westbaystars | Posted: Feb 17, 2002 10:13 PM | YBS Fan ]

- I can't recall hearing about a Japanese teenager being signed by an MLB team in the past. How unusual is it for a teenager to forsake the pros over in Japan to sign in the States?

Isn't this what "Mac" Suzuki did?
Click to reply to this topic  Reply to this post
Re: Teenager Tetusayo Yamaguchi signs with DBacks
[ Author: CFiJ | Posted: Feb 18, 2002 1:15 AM ]

> - I can't recall hearing about a Japanese teenager
> being signed by an MLB team in the past. How unusual
> is it for a teenager to forsake the pros over in
> Japan to sign in the States?
>
> Isn't this what "Mac" Suzuki did?

Yup! And he had it much tougher, too. He went over before Nomo signed with the Dodgers, and spent his first year as the clubhouse manager for one of Toronto's minor league teams before they would even let him try out. Then he just got the basic minor league contract, with no bonus.

Apparently, Yamaguchi had already been accepted by a Japanese university, and now will not be going. The dean of the university is crying foul, so there may yet be repercussions from this signing...
Click to reply to this topic  Reply to this post
Topic: Ishii Kazuhisa's Career Stats Previous Topic
Go back to the topic listing  Back to Topic List    Click to go to the top of the page  Top of the page
Next Topic Topic: May Joins Royals
Discussion
About

This is a site about Pro Yakyu (Japanese Baseball), not about who the next player to go over to MLB is. It's a community of Pro Yakyu fans who have come together to share their knowledge and opinions with the world. It's a place to follow teams and individuals playing baseball in Japan (and Asia), and to learn about Japanese (and Asian) culture through baseball.

It is my sincere hope that once you learn a bit about what we're about here that you will join the community of contributors.

Michael Westbay
(aka westbaystars)
Founder

Sidebar

Beta Version - Still a work in progress.

Search for Pro Yakyu news and information
Copyright (c) 1995-2024 JapaneseBaseball.com.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Some rights reserved.