Daisuke Yamashita to Coach in Dodgers System
Don Wakamatsu won’t be the only coach breaking new ground in 2009; the Dodgers have hired former Yokohama BayStars manager Daisuke Yamashita to coach in their minor league system. From what I gather, Yamashita will spend most of his time at the rookie ball level in Arizona. JapanBall has the English-language Kyodo write-up of the news, but but I think their translation of his quote misses the eloquence of his original comment in Japanese. So I translated it myself:
“I played US-Japan college baseball at Dodger Stadium, and 35 years later I have another bond with the Dodgers. This time, I want to be an asset to the young players aiming for an American Dream.”
The only other former Japanese player/coach that has coached in an MLB organization is Denney Tomori. Denney pitched in the Boston organization in 2005 and re-joined the team after retiring, but I saw conflicting reports on whether he was a roving minor league pitching coach or a scouting advisor. Other coaches have spent short-term “foreign study” programs with US teams as well.
Good luck to Yamashita on his new position, and kudos to the Dodgers for thining outside the box with this hire.
19/12/2008 at 2:59 am Permalink
I cannot see why the Dodgers would want to infect their organization with someone soaked in the losing stench of the Yokohama BayStars. There are plenty of other unemployed baseball coaches in Japan. Couldn’t they have found one that has at least a little experience with success.
(By the way, in case you cannot tell, I am a bitter former fan of the BayStars. I was already fed up with their hopeless ways, but the Kudo signing was the last straw. I quit them that day.)
19/12/2008 at 9:24 am Permalink
Yee-ouch. EJH, you are one bitter pro yakyu fan. 🙂