Season 2010

» 15 February 2010 » In NPB Tracker »

So a couple of weeks ago, I asked for some feedback on the site, specifically what you all would like to see more of.

I’m going to make a couple of tweaks for 2010, and here’s what I’ve come up with:

  • focus a little more on depth, rather than breadth
  • more content about on-the-field play
  • a little more coverage of amateur baseball (I’m interested in this topic beyond Japan)
  • less regurgitation of news from the Japanese media
  • mix things up with a few more off-topic posts

So that’s what’s ahead. The reason I’m posting this is that I’m hoping that having this public in some sense will force me to hold myself to this, even though that hasn’t exactly worked with my to-do list.

As an aside, Gary Garland has included a link to NPB Tracker on his site’s homepage. Gary’s work was among my influences for starting this site, so it’s really cool to get a nod from him. Gary, if you’re reading, thanks!

Trackback URL

  1. Patrick
    bob elliott
    15/02/2010 at 12:59 am Permalink

    Could you put a link to our site please … Aaron Guiel was the only Canadian there in 2009 but over the years a number of players have been in Japan.

    We run weekly updates on the stats …

    http://canadianbaseballnetwork.com/node/2877

  2. Patrick
    Patrick
    15/02/2010 at 11:48 am Permalink

    Sure Bob, I’ve seen your site before. fyi, Guiel has a new two-year deal with Yakult and wants to retire with the team. Pete LaForest also worked out with Seibu, but left Autumn camp with an injury.

  3. Patrick
    David Pan
    15/02/2010 at 6:12 pm Permalink

    This might fall under your “off-topic posts”, but It would be cool if you could find Japanese or English articles documenting, or detailing the Japanese player’s transitions to MLB, or vice versa with former MLB players to NPB. Personally, I always wondered why former MLB players struggle to make the transition from the states to Japan; the japanese league, it seems, is entirely supportive of both their domestic and foreign players, and with complementary resources–e.g: translators, cultural guides, and, hopefully, weekly phone calls back to family, or etc–it seems like it should be an easy transition for MLB players. Unfortunately, to see former players struggle mightily, such as the recently departed Jason Botts of the Hamfighters drop their average to .250 and less than 20 HR last season, suggests something must be going behind the scene that captivated those changes. So, if you, Patrick, ever find these articles published by any media about their struggles, you should, without hesitation, post links to these articles; it might help future players–who could also be future readers of this website–to better empathize with others, to better appreciate their opportunity to play the game, and to, hopefully, better understand their transitions to a new environment.

  4. Patrick
    simon
    16/02/2010 at 7:41 am Permalink

    There have been NPB-MLB translation studies. But cultural adaptation is a much more personal process of whether that player’s personality being compatible to the culture across the Pacific. I’d reckon it’d be very difficult to find studies that generalize the results.

  5. Patrick
    Patrick
    16/02/2010 at 8:27 am Permalink

    Colby Lewis talked about that topic some the recent ESPN article about him. There’s also You Gotta Have Wa, though it’s a little dated at this point.