NPB Tracker

Let’s take a look at the hardest and softest throwers in NPB over the last season.

+------------+-----------+------------+-----------+----------+
| l_name_en  | f_name_en | pitcher_id | velo_kmph | velo_mph |
+------------+-----------+------------+-----------+----------+
| Mickolio   | Kam       |        634 |    149.47 |    93.42 |
| Kawahara   | Hiroyuki  |        662 |    149.36 |    93.35 |
| Mathieson  | Scott     |        652 |    148.96 |    93.10 |
| Figaro     | Alfredo   |        567 |    148.60 |    92.87 |
| Masui      | Hirotoshi |        487 |    148.59 |    92.87 |
| Castro     | Angel     |        665 |    148.54 |    92.83 |
| Yamaguchi  | Shun      |        206 |    148.17 |    92.61 |
| Zarate     | Robert    |        680 |    148.06 |    92.54 |
| Falkenborg | Brian     |        195 |    147.70 |    92.31 |
| Molleken   | Dustin    |        678 |    147.51 |    92.20 |
+------------+-----------+------------+-----------+----------+

Somewhat surprisingly, Mathieson isn’t the first name on the list. He got off to a slow start and missed time with an injury, but threw all 10 of the 10 hardest fastballs this year. Of the top 50 fastest pitches this year, Mathieson and Mickolio threw 49, with Yamaguchi sneaking on to the list at 50.

Kawahara, Castro and Zarate all threw fewer than 50 total pitches at the ichi-gun level in 2012, but I left them on because I think the numbers shown here are reasonably reflective of their abilities.

Now, on to the slowest velocities of 2012.

+-------------+-----------+------------+-----------+----------+
| l_name_en   | f_name_en | pitcher_id | velo_kmph | velo_mph |
+-------------+-----------+------------+-----------+----------+
| Watanabe    | Shunsuke  |        288 |    117.94 |    73.71 |
| Kobayashi   | Masa      |        635 |    126.93 |    79.33 |
| Makita      | Kazuhisa  |        571 |    128.20 |    80.13 |
| Takeda      | Masaru    |        235 |    128.50 |    80.31 |
| Shimoyanagi | Tsuyoshi  |        261 |    128.74 |    80.46 |
| Hoashi      | Kazuyuki  |        168 |    130.15 |    81.35 |
| Kawauchi    | Takaya    |        664 |    131.16 |    81.97 |
| Koishi      | Hirotaka  |        655 |    131.59 |    82.24 |
| Ohshima     | Takayuki  |        273 |    131.67 |    82.29 |
| Matsunaga   | Hironori  |        313 |    132.45 |    82.78 |
+-------------+-----------+------------+-----------+----------+

It’s no surprise to see submariner Watanabe leading this list by a wide margin. Sidearming lefty specialist Kobayashi beat out submariner Makita for the second spot, so the unorthodox arm angle demographic is well-represented here. Every other pitcher on this list is left-handed.

So, baseball in 2012 has come to an end (aside from the winter leagues and whatever daigaku yakyu remains this autumn). Both MLB’s and NPB’s Giants came out on top, with Yomiuri’s Kyojin-gun closing out the Nippon Series against the Nippon Ham Fighters on the 3rd. The San Francisco Giants swept the Detroit Tigers last week.

Normally I would write something about the Nippon Series around this time of year. I watched it this year but was too frequently disrupted to generate any decent level of insight into the series. So, I point you to the very capable Jason Coskrey and his article on how the series wrapped up.

In lieu of deep analysis, today I turn to trivia. This year was the first time that the Giants on both sides of the Pacific won their league championships, but it’s not the first time they’ve played for titles in the same season. Of course, Yomiuri is in the Nippon Series often enough that that’s not much of a coincidence. And here they are:

• 2002: San Francisco lost 4-3 to Anaheim; Yomiuri swept Seibu. San Francisco’s Tsuyoshi Shinjo became the first Japanese player to appear in a World Series, while Yomiuri’s winner featured future MLBers Hideki Matsui, Koji Uehara and Hisanori Takahashi.
• 1989: In a World Series remembered mainly for being disrupted by the devastating Loma Prieta earthquake, San Francisco was swept by their Bay Area rival Oakland A’s. On the other side of the Pacific, Kintetsu took Yomiuri to seven games, but the Giants ultimately prevailed. Incidentally, former Pittsburgh Pirate Masumi Kuwata was in the prime of his career with Yomiuri at this point.
• 1951: The New York Giants’ 1951 are probably best remembered for Bobby Thomson’s Shot Heard ‘Round the World which got them in to the World Series, where they lost to the Yankees 4-2 in Joe Dimaggio’s final Series appearance. Meanwhile in Japan, Yomiuri played the old Nankai Hawks in the second Nippon Series ever stage. Yomiuri won in five games, their first of 22 Nippon Series wins.