Old Time Family Baseball

• 28th December 2011
• 7 Notes

Okajima To The Yankees

(Photo by Keith Allison)

The Yankees signed left-handed reliver Hideki Okajima to a minor league deal. Okajima heads to New York as my favorite reliever of all time not named Rich Garces. ”Okajima in the eigth, Papelbon in the ninth” and all that jazz. It’s an interesting and potentially valuable singing for the Yankees. Lefties like Okajima almost always fit that bill, and left-handed batters have hit just .216 against him. That being said, the number comes in at .281 in 2010 and .364 in a much smaller 2011 sample size. As a Sox fan, I’m sad to see the Hideki In Boston Era come to an end.

 

I’m not surprised that a team picked up Okajima. He’s shown that he can be effective pitching in a tough league and quietly trots out to do his job (though isn’t always great with the media). I AM surprised that New York was the team to sign him. Much of Okajima’s early success came from his deceptive and violent delivery and the ability to hit exact spots with an 87 - 88 MPH fast ball. As hitters caught on, he was less successful. I just figured that he would end up somewhere in the National League and facing guys who might not have been as familiar with him.

1. whattheducks9 liked this
2. adaydreamonahill reblogged this from oldtimefamilybaseball and added:

   Thank fuck. See how they

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