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Japan's Best Equated to MLB Averages (Part II)

Discussion in the NPB News forum
Japan's Best Equated to MLB Averages (Part II)
JT-san pointed out to me that Davenport-san has posted Part II to his "Japanese Baseball: How Good Is It?" article (previously mentioned here.

It looks like a lot of you contributed with some excellent feedback to the first article, making him take longer than the "later this week" he had mentioned at the end of it.

The most interesting piece of feedback that he had gotten has got to be the concept of a "homesickness factor" that wasn't being taken into account. While it does lower the relative level of Pro Yakyu to MLB, it doesn't lower it significantly, maintaining a level much higher than AAA.
Comments
Thoughts on Homesickness Effect and Foreign Limits
[ Author: westbaystars | Posted: Mar 12, 2002 8:48 AM | YBS Fan ]

Actually, this kind of data goes well together with another train of thought I've been having recently for possible changes that can help in Pro Yakyu. Many of you have often complained about the limit of foreign players, and the NPB Players' Association dooesn't appear to want that expanded - even though it looks like the owners do appear to in in your corner on this one.

My idea is a kind of compromise, extending the number of foreign players possible, while not raising the limits. (Is that self contradictory? Read on.) How about if foreign players could be excluded from the foreign player limits after a number of years, such as 5 or so? This will allow for more foreign players, but only after they have proven themselves to be well clear of the above mentioned "homesickness factor."

This kind of thing would help both teams and players, I think. Teams will be more motivated to develop foreign players who will be here for the long term. This will create more stability for both the given team and player as a player is slowly integrated in importance to the team in a role other than suketto ("helper").

As it is, there are several "foreign" players outside of the foreign limits. Chunichi's Taihoh is one, and has had a very good 13 year career in Japan (probably peaking in 1994 when he won the Batting and RBI titles). Taihoh (and several others from Taiwan) have gotten around the foreign limits by studying at Japanese universities before entering clubs. Very few Western ball players are going to take this path, so another window to opportunity (for both teams and players) would be welcome.

So, I've put my idea forth. What have I missed? How would you improve on it?
Re: Thoughts on Homesickness Effect and Foreign Limits
[ Author: Guest: changeup | Posted: Mar 18, 2002 6:38 AM ]

I am pretty sure the world home run king Sadaharu Oh holds passport of Republic of China, and do not have a Japanese citizenship. I think he was not considered to be a foreign player because he had his high school in Japan. Is that the case?
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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.

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Michael Westbay
(aka westbaystars)
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