Where Eagles Dare A Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles Fansite

Regular Season Report Card: #20 Hasebe

Photo © www.rakuteneagles.jp

Since the Eagles have the day off I finally have time to write another Report Card.  Left-handed Kohei Hasebe is the first (un)lucky pitcher to be graded at Where Eagles Dare.  I could rant about Hasebe for hours, or sum him up in one sentence:

He doesn't have what it takes to be anything other than mediocre in NPB.

Hasebe was given twenty starts this season before mercifully being demoted to the bullpen, where he hasn't fared any better.  It may seem like such a quick judgement on just a second year player, but in all the times I've seen him pitch I never saw anything that remotely justified his roster spot on the big club.

His current 2009 stats:
24 G, 20 GS, 106.1 IP, 129 H, 66 R, 61 ER, 12 HR, 47 BB, 65 K, 5 W, 8 L, .333 BAA, 5.16 ERA

Photo © Yahoo! Japan

Strengths

I've been staring at this blank section of the report card for about five minutes now, racking my brain for something positive to say.  Here goes:

Youth - He's only twenty-four years old.

Resolve - He keeps going out there, seemingly thinking that this time is going to be better than all the rest even though the end result is inevitable.  I haven't seen him cry... yet.

Weaknesses

Size - He's not a big guy at 173cm (5'8") and 73kg (153lbs).  This is the root of about half of his problems.

Pitching Style - This is the root of the second half of his problems.  It seems that Hasebe fancies himself as a fastball pitcher.  Thanks to the good people over at NPB Tracker, we can see that his fastballs generally sit in the 88mph area, occasionally maxing out at 92.  His changeup averages around 79-80mph.  Both of these pitches are thrown quite flat with not a lot of movement however, providing an easy target for batters to tee off on.  This season opposing hitters are batting .333 on him. They're feasting on him.  With his lack of size and velocity, he should be focusing more on his breaking pitches... which leads us to the next problem.

Breaking Pitches - Just like his fastball and changeup, he throws a very flat slider and rarely ever throws a curveball.  His shuuto is generally ineffective as well.  The pitches just don't break enough to fool the hitters.  He's got to improve his breaking balls if he wants to stick around.

Confidence - While he keeps going out to the mound, continually getting rocked has got to have affected his mental makeup.  When he enters the game even the crowd wonders aloud how long he'll last until he gets smacked around.

Current Grade: D-

If there's one thing that I'm absolutely certain about is that he isn't ready to be a starting pitcher at the top level of NPB.  The only thing keeping him from an "F" grade is that he can be somewhat effective as a spot reliever.  It's possible to squeeze one decent inning of work out of him, but he can't even make it through a lineup once before he starts getting lit up.

If management still considers him part of their future he's going to need more seasoning at the ni-gun (farm team) level.  With the emergence of fellow lefty rookie Hiromichi Fujiwara however, his long-term status with the team would seem tenuous at best.

Related posts:

1. Regular Season Report Card: #46 Teppei
2. Regular Season Report Card: #3 Linden
3. Regular Season Report Card: #7 Yamasaki
4. 2009 Report Card: #5 Fernando Seguignol
5. Todd Linden and Kohei Hasebe Injured

About Andrew

Andrew has lived in Japan since 2006, spending time exploring the Tohoku region. He frequently attends Rakuten Eagles games in Sendai. You'll find him sitting along the 3rd base line drinking Guinness wearing a #46 Teppei jersey, next to a Japanese girl in a #5 Seguignol jersey.          You can follow him on Twitter if that makes you happy.