Let’s throw this one out there and see if it gets shot down… multiple reports out of Japan are saying that the Phillies have agreed to a minor league deal with Osaka University of Commerce catcher Hiroya Yamamura. Commenter John Brooks first passed along Yakyu Baka’s post on the signing, but there have been several subsequent reports. Yomiuri says the details of the contract are still not finalized, and we have other reports saying that there will be a press conference on the 10th.
Yamamura was not selected in last year’s NPB draft, and only got a tertiary mention in Shukan Baseball’s draft guide, so I don’t know much about him. But (repeating what I put in the comments of another post), according to Draft Reports, he threw out 75% of would-be basestealers over his college career, but his hitting tanked in 2009. 23 k’s in 87 at-bats after controlling the strikezone pretty well the previous two years.
