Tricia Takanawa, Takanawa Times

10/30/2013: Seoul, South Korea – Today, I sit down with Seoul Crushers owner Mark Kierstead for part 2 of our 3-part series of interviews.  We will look over how the young guns of the LRS, Minarai Doumei and Ruukii Kyuugi did this year.  We will discuss who is looking to be promoted and what the plans are for them.

Takanawa: It’s has been a little over two weeks since we last sat down.  The Neo-Tokyo Cup starts Saturday.  Are you eager to watch?

Kierstead: Yes, I have my box seats already and will be eager to sit and watch the series.

Takanawa: I will start with the LRS prospects.  You have two players who did very well for their rookie year.  You have a great player here in CF Raúl Gómez.

Kierstead: Gómez played way above his potential, in my humble opinion.  He went .303/.361/.448 in 124 games.  Many owners and general managers said he was just an okay player.  He needed to work harder to achieve the numbers he did.  As long as he is willing to work hard, he will have a spot on our roster.

Takanawa: Our next player is RF Kiyonori Kato, who had an amazing season.  He led the league in batting average as a rookie!  That has to be impressive.

Kierstead: Yes, he is an impressive player.  Kato’s numbers were great and he will be the anchor of the team for years to come.  With numbers like .355/.404/.495, the sky is the limit.  He works hard and knows the game very well.  Like most 21-year-olds, his leadership ability lacks but his game makes up for that.

Takanawa: That is a good start to an LRS team.  Sadly, that’s about where it ends for now.  Next, we want to look at your AAA guys.  Adam Taylor is a young gun; will he see time on your team?

Kierstead: Yes, I agree our AAA Pyongyang Black Bears could use an overhaul as of late.  Taylor is the kind of pitcher who will not see the LRS.  He went 4-7 and had a very bad 4.51 ERA.  He has four pitches that just never developed.  If we had better pitchers, he would not be on the team, to be honest.

Takanawa: It seems Pyongyang is old and does need an overhaul.  Now your Ranma Pandas were a favorite again this year, only to fall behind and lose again in the playoffs.

Kierstead: The Pandas did great this year and deserve to be commended.  They worked hard but fell short.

Takanawa: Ángelo Morales had a great season.  I bet we see him prompted to AAA?

Kierstead: Yes, he is going to be promoted to AAA this off-season.  A 9-2 record, 1.68 ERA, 143 K, 0.79 WHIP – those are huge numbers, especially when he started seven games at AAA.  He was easily the best pitcher in the Ruukii Kyuugi this year.

Takanawa: What about Tadamasa “Six Pack” Hashimoto?  He won the most games and was the only other pitcher with an ERA below 2.00.

Kierstead: Yes, Hashimoto was awesome this year.  His numbers – 11-2, 1.89 ERA, 127 K, 0.86 WHIP – are just staggering.  He also will be promoted to AAA ball this off-season.  They are my 1-2 punch.

Takanawa: It seemed to me that Jun’ichi “Hobo” Yoshino had a bad year; he kind of struggles at times.  What are your plans with him?

Kierstead: Yoshino will sit back another year, bar any new amazing scouting reports.  He, in my eyes, had a bad year.  Going 7-3 is not bad at all, though having an ERA of 3.54 is.  He had less then 90 K for the second year and a WHIP of 1.28.  Not bad stats; maybe I am a little hard on him for not performing better.

Takanawa: You got a player back from injury this year just before the A playoffs: Naizen Chikafuji.  Are you happy how he did, or should you have given him the season off?

Kierstead: I thought hard about letting him rest the whole season.  Then I figure I wanted to see how well he was.  I called over and made sure he would close or be a late innings reliever.  To my surprise, they started him his first game back.  I was not happy at all.

Takanawa: Next, we have a batter who played very well compared to last season.  C Yosuke Imai played like a new man.  What are your thoughts?

Kierstead: Imai was an under-.250 kind of player.  This year, he batted .344/.389/.493 – very impressive comeback from the previous season.  This made us choose to give him a promotion to AAA ball.  As long as he stays healthy, he has a bright future.

Takanawa: You had a speedster break a few records this year: SS Tadamichi Sato.  He destroyed his previous record for stolen bases this year.  What improvements do you see in his future?

Kierstead: Sato is a great player who I love to watch run the bases.  It’s like he has pre-planned what he will do before he hits.  That’s great that he had 72 stolen bases.  But he only batted .277/.327/.347.  If he is thinking ahead, that may be his problem.  Think about those bases when you reach them.  He is a great worker and has a knack for the game.  He will go places.

Takanawa: It seems you have in mind what you need to do to become a winner.  How is your off-season looking?  How was the business trip you had a few weeks ago?

Kierstead: Yes, I know what I need to do to start winning.  It may be a year or two before we start seeing the playoffs, but it will be soon.  My off-season is looking good.  I already have a few moves being made and one to two others that are in preliminary talks.  The meeting went well.  They have a baseball sense of mind and we will continue talks.  Thank you for your time and we will get back to you about the last part of the interview.

Takanawa: Thank you, Mr. Kierstead.  We look forward to hearing from you again.  Seoul has a pot of gold here in the types of player it is developing.  Will they let that gold rise in stock?  Let’s hope they do.  I am Tricia Takanawa and this is the Takanawa Times.