SPORTS
Page 8 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
June 1, 2015
Asians in American sports w Asian Americans in world sports
Asian MLB pitchers rise and fall with injuries
By Mike Street
Special to The Asian Reporter
INJURIES & EXPECTATIONS. At the start of the 2015 Major
League Baseball season, injuries continue to tell the story of starting
pitchers imported from Asia. One pitcher, Hyun-Jin Ryu (bottom right
photo) of the Los Angeles Dodgers, underwent surgery for a torn labrum
last month, an injury that will keep him from playing for the rest of the
season. A pair of Asian relievers — Junichi Tazawa (left photo) and Koji
Uehara (top right photo) of the Boston Red Sox — however, have over-
come injuries to become a devastating 1-2 punch for Boston’s bullpen.
Iwakuma paid huge dividends on that investment,
working his way from the bullpen into the rotation in his
first season in Seattle and finishing with an overall record
of 9-5 with a 3.16 ERA and 1.28 WHIP.
Seattle signed Iwakuma to a three-year, $20-million
deal before the 2013 season, and he has only gotten better
since then. Over the past two years, his record was 29-15,
supported by a 3.6 ERA and 1.03 WHIP; he became an
all-star for the first time in 2013. After a sluggish start
this season, Iwakuma was placed on the disabled list with
a strain to a shoulder muscle. Seattle expects him to be
back this month and return to his winning ways.
If these starters need a roadmap to recovery, they can
look to a pair of Asian relievers, Koji Uehara and Junichi
Tazawa, who have overcome their injuries to become a
devastating 1-2 punch at the back end of Boston’s bullpen.
Tazawa was best known for dodging the NPB draft to
play in MLB, and he quickly rocketed through the Red Sox
minor-league system before Tommy John surgery
knocked him out for 2010 and part of 2011. In the three
seasons since, however, Tazawa has notched a 2.48 ERA
AP Photo/Lenny Ignelz
AP Photo/Ben Margot
AP Photo/Michael Dwyer
A
t the start of the 2015 Major League Baseball
(MLB) season, injuries continue to tell the story of
Asian starting pitchers imported from Nippon
Professional Baseball (NPB). Whether due to the
advanced age of the players or the difference in pitching
schedules or workout regimens, many NPB imports
succumb to arm and shoulder ailments. Two imported
relievers, however, have shown how well they have
recovered from past injuries.
Three notable Asian starting pitchers have been bitten
by the injury bug; the youngest of them will be gone until
2016. Hyun-Jin Ryu of the Los Angeles Dodgers became
the first starting pitcher to jump from the Korean
Baseball Organization (KBO) to MLB in 2013. Because of
the low regard in which many hold the KBO, little was
expected from the young lefty, despite his impressive KBO
credentials.
Ryu responded with a combined 28-15 record over the
past two seasons, with a strong 3.17 Earned Run Average
(ERA) and an excellent 1.20 Walks & Hits per Innings
Pitched (WHIP). Ryu placed fourth in Rookie of the Year
balloting in 2013 and was poised this season to build on
his strong start. But the shoulder injury that put him on
the disabled list twice in 2014 turned out to be a labrum
tear. Incredibly, he pitched through the tear for the past
two years, but last month’s shoulder surgery knocked him
off the mound until next season.
Expectations ran much higher for Masahiro Tanaka,
who pitched for seven seasons with the NPB Tohoku
Rakuten Golden Eagles. There, he amassed a combined
99-35 record, with a 2.30 ERA and 1.11 WHIP, setting an
NPB record with 26 consecutive decisions and leading his
team to a Japan Series win in 2013.
Tanaka signed a seven-year, $155-million contract with
the New York Yankees before last season, then pitched
impressively in his MLB debut. He racked up a 13-5
record with an excellent 2.77 ERA and tiny 1.06 WHIP.
But he missed two months to a partially torn elbow
ligament and faced the prospect of offseason surgery that
would have kept him out all of 2015.
He chose against surgery and managed to make four
starts this season before hitting the disabled list again.
This time, it was for a forearm strain and wrist tendinitis,
which Tanaka claims are unrelated to his elbow problems.
But it’s also easy to see how these might have happened if
he was favoring his damaged elbow. He is expected to
return to the Yankee lineup soon after this column goes to
press, but it’s hard to believe his torn elbow ligament
won’t continue to bother him.
A lesser injury felled Tanaka’s former Rakuten team-
mate, Hisashi Iwakuma of the Seattle Mariners. Seattle
signed Iwakuma to a one-year, $1.5-million contract in
2012, a year after Oakland failed to land the NPB star.
and 1.11 WHIP with 47 holds, the best measure of a relief
pitcher who isn’t a closer.
He might have pitched in the closing role if it weren’t for
Uehara, signed from the Texas Rangers before the 2013
season. Uehara initially came from NPB to the Baltimore
Orioles as a starter, but a series of hamstring injuries
pushed him to the bullpen, where he did well, but nothing
like he has in Boston.
Uehara’s first season with the Red Sox was one for the
record books, as he set the all-time MLB record for ERA
(1.09) and WHIP (0.57) for any pitcher who threw more
than 50 innings. The following season, he also posted
excellent numbers, with a 2.52 ERA and a 0.92 WHIP; he
combined for 47 saves over those two seasons, blowing just
eight saves in 55 opportunities.
If only the rest of the club could be as strong: Boston won
the World Series in Uehara’s first season, then
plummeted to last place in their division the following
season. Perhaps, like their prized relievers, Boston can
emerge from its recent challenges to excel once again.
Whether or not the Red Sox can, other injured NPB
imports can take heart from the successes of Uehara and
Tazawa and realize that there is life after injury, no
matter how severe.
Prying parents: Phone monitoring apps flourish in South Korea
Continued from page 5
each other and try to build consensus.
He is only in [the] sixth grade, but he
wants to have his privacy,” Lee said.
“I told him: ‘We are installing this and
father will know which app you use,’”
he said. “I see it as positive in helping
nurture his habit of self-control.”
Legal experts, however, say South
Korea’s telecom regulator has taken
the sweeping step of legalizing the
broad collection of personal, sensitive
data that belongs to teenagers with-
out any public consultation or consid-
eration of the possible consequences.
“South Korea underestimated the
chilling effect,” said Kang Jeong-Soo,
director at Institute for the Digital
Society.
Cybersecurity experts also warn
that the apps could be misused and
installed on phones without the
owner’s knowledge.
“It could be an official spying app,”
said Ryu Jong-myeong, CEO of
SoTIS, a cybersecurity company.
To get around the regulations,
some students say they will wait until
they turn 19 to get a new phone.
“I’d rather not buy a phone,” said
Paik Hyunsuk, 17. “It’s [a] violation
of students’ privacy and oppressing
Korea resorts too much to regulation
and makes “senseless” choices about
what content is offensive.
“A
few
officials
arbitrarily
determine which websites are
harmful and unilaterally shut them
off. They rob the rights of internet
users. It is no different from the Great
Fire Wall of China.”
Park, who gave his daughter his
second phone so she didn’t have to
release her personal information to
mobile carriers, said he feels
“uncomfortable” that his child is
growing up in a society of prying eyes.
“Children will not have an ability to
think for themselves,” he said.
freedom.”
Cho Jaehyun, a senior year high
school student, had to install a
parental control app when he was in
middle school. But he said he was
lucky that his parents agreed to
uninstall the app when he entered
high school.
“We don’t always use the
smartphone for something bad,” said
Cho, 17. “Because I could use my
phone freely without control, I got
interested in developing iPhone
games.”
Not all parents are on board, either.
Park Choel-hee, father of a
10-year-old daughter, said South
q
Mariota adapting to huddle, complex plays with Titans
By Teresa M. Walker
AP Pro Football Writer
N
ASHVILLE,
Tenn.
—
Marcus Mariota never had to
worry about huddling up to
call plays at Oregon — he and the
Ducks simply glanced to the sideline
for what to run next.
Now with the Tennessee Titans, it’s
up to Mariota to huddle up his
teammates and call a play only he has
received from the sideline. The play
can be as short as three words or as
long as 11.
So the Heisman Trophy winner
says he’s practicing those calls every
night on his own to make sure he’s
ready to rattle off whatever coach
Ken Whisenhunt wants.
Mariota showed his command of
the huddle last month as the Titans
took the field for their first organized
workout this offseason. Whisenhunt
says that hasn’t been an issue since
Mariota arrived as the No. 2 pick
overall.
To learn about relief efforts to help
victims of the earthquakes in Nepal, visit:
Medical Teams International: www.medicalteams.org
Mercy Corps: www.mercycorps.org