_*_*_ THE DANCE CARD _*_*_
A Blog of the Toyama Wind Dancers
Hirano Named Minor League Pitcher of the Year
Hotly Contested Award Makes For Tough Vote
November 11, 2022
In the past, the (then) Lupin Cliff Hanger decisions around naming a Minor League Player of the Year have been relatively simple. What a difference a season can make, however. 2022 saw the club spend considerable time and money bolstering their minor league system (some estimate that total expenditures on the draft, scouting, player development, and signing of Free Agents to have been upward of $60M, though we’re not sure how much faith to put into that figure). Whatever the finally financial tally, the result is clearly a much more robust organization.
Three of the team’s four minor league level made it to the post season, and the fourth had a fine enough year but ran into an elderly buzz saw that deprived them of their own just desserts (Not that we’re bothered by that in the teeniest bit. No. Not us.).
Today the club announced that AA hurler
Sotatsu Hirano had been named the Wind Dancers Minor League Pitcher of the Year. The 6-foot right-handed hurler carries a 97 mile-an-hour fastball to the hill, which he augments with a forkball and a change of speed. He was the club’s 5th round draft pick in 2020—their first season at the PEBA table. He led the Ranma organization, posting a 14-7 record to go with his 2.86 ERA.
“This is a true honor,” Hirano, who turned 24 this past August, said. “I look forward to pitching in front of the fans at Toyama soon.”
That opportunity may come earlier than some would have expected. Toyama struggled to find a 5th starter this past season (and a 4th starter after Nishiyama went down). Hirano has exceeded expectations at every level (3.90 ERA at SSA, 2.12 ERA at A). Don’t be surprised to see Hirano given every opportunity to win the slot next spring.
Despite Hirano’s high level of performance, rumors say that the decision was not unanimous. A scan of the organization would suggest this is likely true. To give Toyama fans a flavor of this, let’s take a spin through the rest of the organization.
Short Season A: Osakasayam Swamp Dragons
New manager Glen Wallace was under tight rein to keep his starters at 90 pitches or fewer all season—and the team went to a 6-man rotation. This means that the rotation’s W/L records may not have been as blazing as they could have been, but they were all pretty much healthy throughout the year, with only Orlando Ramirez losing a couple starts to a strained biceps. It also meant the bullpen got plenty of work.
As usual, however, several of the players at this level were not qualified to be awarded a POY honor (*)
* - Eligibility requires the player be part of the organization prior to the beginning of the major league season. This is a silly rule, of course, as it means no current-season draft pick can be considered, even if they play the exact same season as every other player on the team. We, however, don’t make the rules … we just pick on them.
This means guys like Tsuginori Yamamoto and his 4-1 record and 24 saves (to go with a 1.27 ERA) cannot be considered. Nor can young hoss Riley Bozarth and his 97-MPH fastball. Bozarth, who came to the club out of a Roseville, California high school, struggled at times, but was also blazingly brilliant at others. His numbers say he couldn’t win (4-5, 4.50), but he’s an interesting guy, why shouldn’t he be eligible? 2022 draftee Felipe Morán (5-2, 2.67) can’t win. Kanzaburro Murayama (6-4, 3.46, 10 K/9) is not eligible either, but he was signed as a minor league free agent (after Niihama-shi picked him in the 8th round, then released him)—so his 15 starts don't qualify him. He was there from the first wee of the season, though, so how is he any different than …
A lot of the guys who
are eligible, however, had a pretty solid seasons.
Guys like 20-year-old, hard-throwing
Orlando Ramírez (6-4, 2.38). Ramirez has come up through the club’s international system, and impressed each step of the way. The staff says his breaking stuff is a s good as he needs, so if he can manage to keep his 96 mile-an-hour heater over the plate, we could see him in Toyama sometime soon.
Tashiaki Kamimura (a 5th round pick in 2020) stood up this year, posting a 4-6 record, but turned in his third-straight solid ERA (3.39, 2.90, 3.43). He’s been a nearly 2-WAR pitcher each of the last two seasons. And let's not discount
Pablo Jiménez (5-5, 3.29)
In the bullpen we saw 20-year-old
Pat Cluff (1.87 ERA in 68 innings), and the enigmatic 18-year-old youngster
Yoo-ngan Situ. Situ threw an eye-popping 1.88 ERA in 29 innings the season prior (2021, and at 17 years old), so the team wanted to expand his opportunity this year. Imagine the chortles of glee as Situ and his 95-MPH fastball turned in a 1.29 ERA in 42 innings this year.
Ron Thompson, a 21-year-old signed after Kentucky released him, posted a 2.23 ERA in 43 innings (beating a rapidly dying horse ... Thompson, who is in his third professional season, was, of course, ineligible for the POY since he was signed in May--prior to the SSA season, but after the beginning of the PEBA year).
None of these guys are the Toyama minor league pitcher of the year, however … which may say something about the organization.
A-Ball: Cagliostro Thieves
Thieves fans were the lucky recipients of one of the more interesting rotations in the organization, and perhaps in the BCL. There was no pre-warnings of this, and in fact, the early news looked bleak when 22-year-old
Sotaro “Kip” Kimura ruptured a tendon in his finger at the end of spring training and was lost for three months. Kimura would eventually return to post a 3-1 record and a 3.03 ERA in 18 games—but only 4 of them starts.
So the organization went about trying to cobble a rotation together.
They sent last season’s #1 pick, LHSP
Ken Thompson (9-6, 3.00 ERA) up from their SSA team even though he had stunk up the place in his debut season. He was, however, brilliant at times in 2022, and appeared to recover from that rugged first season. They assigned 19-year-old RHSP
John Gillard to A-Ball despite thinking he might better be served to throw another season at the SSAS level, but Gillard (8-6, 3.90) came out of the blocks nearly unhittable (though he faded at the end of the season, which makes one worry a little about his fitness—Gillard did K 10 hitters a game, though, which racks up a bunch of pitches). Unsung prospect, 22-year-old
Armando Navarro pitched himself into a competitive rotation 9-5, 3.48 performance that has scouts buzzing and using that ever-tantalizing term ‘sleeper.’ The 6’4” New Yorker struck out 10.2 hitters a game while walking only 2.6. He had pitched well in SSA last season, but hadn’t been considered as anything beyond a filler until the mid-point of this season. Then came the draft and the acquisition of both RHSP
Roberto García (2nd round pick, 6-5, 4.27) and RHSP
Mike Miller, a 7th round selection who went 13-1 and posted a 2.41 ERA in his 101 innings. Miller struck out 9.1 hitters per 9 innings, walked only 1.7, and gave up about a homer every two and a half games. Will Miller pan out? He's a pitcher, and he's a kid. Who knows? But for one summer, every time the kid picked up a baseball, the hairs on your arms would stand up.
In a just world, Miller would probably be the club’s Pitcher of the Year. But (you got it) he’s not eligible.
Bottom line, every guy in this rotation was a contender for the award. But none of them received it.
Nor did Cagliostro bullpen ace
Alexander Cooke with his 1.26 ERA, his 10.0 K/9 rate and his 26 saves. Or
Toro Rin, a 22-year-old who threw 67.2 innings of 2.53 ERA ball, striking out 10.9/9 and walking only 1.7.
AA-Ball: Ranma Pandas
Let’s face it, the Ranma club wasn’t the highlight of the year. It was merely adequate, which is saying a lot for the organization. The Pandas finished above .500 (71-69), and had a few stellar moments.
Five pitchers stood out, including journeyman lefty
Hoshi Suzuki, who’s 9-0 record and 1.27 ERA in Ranma was a startling turn-around from his past. The 26-year-old struggled to a 6.70 ERA in 18 AAA starts, however, suggesting the possibility that his value to Ranma was more tied to his age than his stuff. 25-year-old
“Seeker” Okazaki however, posted a 2-0 record at Ranma before jumping to AAA and dropping a 7-3, 1.78 ERA there—which was good enough that some in the organization were lobbying for him to receive the final award.
In addition, Ranma received Mexican League free agents RHSP
Carlos Gómez (2-4, 3.46) and RHRP
Éric Huot (2-3, 2.12) at mid-season and saw them post effective numbers.
Closer
Shihei Matsubara (4.63, 31 saves) continued to be enigmatic. The good news is that he still hits 99 on the gun, and dropped his walk rate in tantalizing fashion this season (2.3/9). But pundits point to the 13 gopher balls he threw in his 68 innings this year (compared to only 1 in 63 innings last season), and they wonder what’s going on.
Which brings us to…
AAA-Ball: Yamauchi Plumbers
Despite serving as the triage center for the big-league club’s bloodiest season, and despite posting a tepid 69-71 record, the Plumbers managed to capture their third-straight division title. They did it with smoke and mirrors and a patchwork staff that posted one of the better K/BB ratios in the league.
The aforementioned Yoshimichi Okazaki was nearly untouchable, and both
Burt Johnson (4-2, 3.70) and LHSP
Bill Courtney (4-2, 3.19) provided extensive service to the big league club. Courtney hurt himself in the last game of the season, but performed well with Lupin, and will certainly be given an opportunity to win a slot in the rotation next season. 26 year-old
Chad Miller threw his 101 MPH fastball past AAA hitters for 9 saves before moving on to register 30 more before Lupin’s fans, and is now receiving some support as the SL's Rookie of the Year. This season saw both
Toyokazu Goto (6-2, 2.68) and
Motoki Ando (8-7, 5.09, 12 saves) move to the bullpen, which may have saved their careers. Ando in particular was no the verge of being released at age 26, but was massively more effective when put on the hill in the 9th inning.
26-year-old
Yorikane Nagai turned in one of the more intriguing performances, posting a 7-0 record to go with his 3.17 ERA at Yamauchi. Nagai has flown completely under the radar everywhere he’s pitched, but his last three seasons have provided a 2.72 ERA at A-Ball (112 IP), 2.08 at AA (30.1 IP), and now that 3.17 in 48 IP. Given that he throws from the left side of the plate, one has to think the club would be happy to see him perform well enough in the spring to take him to Toyama.
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So that’s the deal on the hill in the Toyama minor league system. Let’s all crown Sotatsu Hirano, who is a deserving recipient of the award. But there are pats on the back enough to go around, and the future, while not perhaps as predictable as one would like, certainly appears to have its bright corners.