2012 Season – Recap of Asians in MLB

Che-Hsuan Lin (Taiwanese) – Boston RedSox – Centerfielder – had 12 at-bats on various call-ups during the season and hit .250.

 Shin-Soo Choo (Korean) – Cleveland Indians – Rightfielder – the best korean player bounced back from a poor 2011 season and had his typical .300, 20HRs season.  Batting leadoff for most of the year, Choo hit .283 and 16 Hrs in 598 ABs and added 43 Doubles, 21 steals.  Had the best slugging percentage among all asians at .441.

Kosuke Fukudome (Japanese) – Chicago Whitesox – Rightfielder – was waived during the season and returned back to Japan.  Did appear in 41 ABs and hit .171.

Hank Choi Conger (Korean) – Los Angeles Angels – Catcher – had 18 ABs during the season and hit .167

Travis Ishikawa (Japanese/white) – Milwaukee Brewers – Firstbase – after spending the entire 2011 in the minor leagues, return to MLB and had spot duty throughout the season and pinch hit opportunities.  in 152 ABs, hit 4 Hrs with a .257 average.

Norichika Aoki (Japanese) – Milwaukee Brewers – Leftfielder – surprised alot of people with an excellent season.  began the season as a utility player. was best player on the team in August. 520ABs,  hit 10 Hrs with a .288 average hit leadoff with .355 OBP.  added 37 Doubles and 30 steals.

Kurt Suzuki (Japanese) – Oakland A’s – Catcher – was traded in mid-season to the Washington Nationals where he had a solid campaign.  in Oakland was batting .218 and only 1 Hrs in 262 ABs.  turn it up to .267 and 5 Hrs in Washington with 146 ABs.

Tsuyoshi Nishioka (Japanese) – Minnesota Twins – Secondbase – has been a disappointment for the Twins after bidding for him last year in the posting process.  had 12 ABs with no hits.  was released.

Ichiro Suzuki (Japanese) – Seattle Mariners – Rightfielder – was thought to have been his last year in the majors after begining the season on a definitely decline.  was hitting .261 in Seattle.  but then went on a tear when traded to the New York Yankees.  hit .322 with slugging at .454.  ended the season with 29 SBs, 9 HRs and 178 Hits on 629 ABs  played in first postseason in 10 years and played extremely well, hitting .353 with a HR in series against Detroit Tigers.

Munenori Kawasaki (Japanese) – Seatlle Mariners – Shortstop – was an club-house favorite utility player.  after having the best hitting average in training camp, only had a .192 AVG on 104 ABs.  did not hit for any power.  had 1 Double.

Erik Komatsu (Japanese/white) – St.Louis Cardinals – Secondbase – was traded in mid-season to Minnesota.  hit .216 in 51 ABs.

Hideki Matsui (Japanese) – Tampa Bay Rays – Outfielder – gave one last go-around in Tampa Bay where he had 95 ABs, 2 HRs and a .147 average.  was release in mid-season.  will probably retire as japan’s premiere power hitter.

Takashi Saito (Japanese) – Arizona Diamondbacks – Pitcher – still pitching at age 42.  pitched in 12 INNs with a 6.75 ERA.  11 strikeouts in those 12 innings but gave up 4 HRs.

Tsuyoshi Wada (Japanese) – Baltimore Orioles – Pitcher – was supposed to be a starting pitcher but was injured the entire season

Wei-Yin Chen (Taiwanese) – Baltimore Orioles – Pitcher – perhaps runner-up to rookie-of-the-year award.  won the most games for an Orioles pitcher in a decade.  had an ERA of sub 2.00 for more of the season.  started to slump near the end of the year.  ended up with a 4.02 ERA, 12-11 record on 192.2 INNs with 154 Strikeouts.  won his debut postseason game allowing just 1ER against the Yankees.

Junichi Tazawa (Japanese) – Boston RedSox – Pitcher – pitched in 44 INNs and had 45 SOs.  1-1 record in relief work. 1.43 ERA.

Daisuke Matsuzaka (Japanese) – Boston RedSox – Pitcher – came back from Tommy John surgery and started 11 games with 45.2 INNs.  had 8.28 ERA, 41 SOs and 1-7 record.  contract will not be extended.

Bruce Chen (Chinese) – Kansas City Royals – Pitcher – was the ace pitcher for the Royals.  5.07 ERA, 191.2 INNs, 11-14 record, 140 Strikeouts.   endured some racist gestures from teammates with the slanted eye mockery.

Hisanori Takahashi (Japanese) – Los Angeles Angels – Pitcher – traded to Pittsburgh in mid-season.  0-3 record as  a relief pitcher.  5.54 ERA.  52 SOs in 50.1 INNs

Hiroki Kuroda (Japanese) – New York Yankees – Pitcher – even at age 37, became the ACE pitcher for the Yankees.  had a 16-11 record with 3.32 ERA.  219.2 INNs and 167 SOs.  justified his $10 million contract.

Tim Lincecum (white/Filipino) – San Francisco Giants – Pitcher – struggled this season.   ERA 5.18, 10-15 record, 190 SOs, but lead the league in ERs allowed at 107.  is not starting in the World Series for the Giants but is back to being a dominant pitcher in relief.

Hisashi Iwakuma (Japanese) – Seattle Mariners – Pitcher – started the season in the doghouse as a relief pitcher.  then become one of Mariners best pitchers down the stretch.  record of 9-5 for a last-place team with ERA 3.16, 125.1 INNs, 101 SOs.

Yu Darvish (Japanese/Iranian) – Texas Rangers – Pitcher- the newest player with the most attention.  began the season with ERA in the 2.00s.  struggled a bit in the middle of the season, but then picked it up again down the stretch with sub-2.00 ERAs.  One of the league leagers in strikeouts with 221 SOs.  record 16-11 with 3.90 ERA.  pitched well in the Rangers’ one-game postseason elimination game.

Yoshinori Tateyama (Japanese) – Texas Rangers – Pitcher – the other japanese pitcher on the Rangers.  pitched 17 INNs with 9.00 ERA

Koji Uehara (Japanese) – Texas Rangers – Pitcher – the 3rd japanese pitcher on the Rangers. former starter now pitching in relief.  had ERA 1.75 with 43 SOs in 36 INNs.  impressed in postseason with 3 SOs in one inning.

Chien Ming Wang (Taiwanese) – Washington Nationals – Pitcher – several injuries have limited his appearances.  pitched 32.1 INNs for 15 SOs and a 6.68 ERA.

Jeremy Guthrie (White/Japanese) – Colorado Rockies – Pitcher – 8-12 record, 4.76 ERA.

Vance Worley (White/Chinese) – Philadelphia Phillies – Pitcher – 6-9 record, 4.20 ERA.