Gary Trundleburry, Shin Seiki Post

9/15/2019: Nagoya, Japan – Well looks who’s back!

The Shin Seiki Evas elicited a few raised raised eyebrows this morning (but to be fair… mostly shrugs) by announcing former long time starting pitcher Gonçalo ‘Streamline’ Doroteia will be returning to their LRS roster. Previously, “Streamline” had spent 7+ years on the Evas’ roster, rising very high up the SS all time leader boards. A few highlights:

• 1st in Walks Per 9 IP – 1.11
• 2nd in K to Walk Ratio – 5.40
• 3rd in Wins – 85
• 3rd in Games Started – 191
• 3rd in Innings Pitched – 1229.7
• 3rd in Quality Starts – 116
• 4th in VORP – 222.4

Many of those stats can be attributed to his sheer longevity, which considering rate at which the SS roster tends to turn over, is impressive in and of itself. Beyond that, the thing that stands out the most about his record was his astounding control. His career mark of 1.14 BB/9IP places him #1 all time amongst LRS pitchers with at least 400 IP; better than LRS legends like Jesús Luna and Domingo Hernández. Don’t act like you’re not impressed.

Doroteia parted ways with the Evas following a 2018 season in which he allowed 30 HR in only 153.7 IP. He had lost a little something and Genesis Field is completely unforgiving to righties who throw straight. Still, because of his long tenure and all that he had done for the organization, an effort was made to resign him, albeit at a much lower rate. Doro was determined to test the market though, and who can blame him? He made good money in 2018 at $5,000,000, but prior to that he pulled in less than $340,000 over previous 6 seasons.

Luckily for him, he found a taker in the Hyakujuu Shinkansen who inked him to a 2 year $8,750,000 deal hoping that he could provide some much needed stability. He did not. I am not going to bum you out and go over the stats, if you are the type of person who slows down to look at car crashes you can look them up yourself. Suffice it to say, it went poorly. HYA released him outright on August 19th, deciding it was better to pay him to not pitch for then. A pro’s pro, Doro didn’t take it personally and spoke highly of the young talent in the organization. I am sure his newly fattened bank account was happy to commiserate with him about any gripes he was too polite to mention in public.

That brings us back to the Evas. GM Kevin Vail isn’t generally known for his soft heart and undying loyalty to aging players. So why bring Doro back? Said Vail:

“We don’t normally do this, but Gonçalo has given so much to this organization that we couldn’t pass the opportunity up to bring him back for the stretch run. With the negotiations pending last time, we never got the opportunity to honor him the way we wanted. We now have that opportunity and are going to seize it.”

That opportunity will yield “Streamline Night at Genesis Field” on Saturday October 5th, 2019. There will be fireworks, a tribute video and System of a Down will be there to play his intro music (they start the song at the 2:19 mark when he runs out of the bullpen) live. Plus there will be a give away that is pretty solid, if I do say so myself:

“We want to make sure Doro will be remembered for years and that we will see people out and about Nagoya sporting the colors. So to that end, the first 30,000 fans to arrive at “Streamline Night at Genesis Field” will receive a free Gonçalo ‘Streamline’ Doroteia hooded sweat shirt, in proper Eva colors.”

That beats a T-Shirt or cap any day of the week in my book. Rumor has it that the organization is spending about $400,000 out of pocket to make this night happen, so it probably deserves a free plug. Check out the pictures below and let them know what you think: @ShinSeikiEvas on the Twitter.