Of the Japanese players in the majors today, could any be more underrated than Kenji Johjima? Matsuzaka and his money in his Sox, Okajima and his rally around the flag all-star selection, Ichiro’s hit parade just a few lockers down; Johijima is clearly out of the limelight.
Thing is, he’s one of the best fielders of any position in the game today. In 115 games he’s made a total of two errors, and has a .997 fielding percentage behind the plate. He’s 3rd in runners thrown out, which is a little misleading because the leader in that category, Russell Martin, has thrown out 37 runners, but also allowed 75 steals. Kenji by contrast has allowed just 41.
This translates to a 8.0 fielding win share. That leads the major league, folks, making Johjima arguably (or not arguably if you follow win shares) the most valuable fielder in the major leagues.
Here is an excellent article on a special ritual kept by Kenji to honor a former deceased teammate.
2 responses so far ↓
1 SR POPS // Sep 8, 2007 at 6:14 am
Why didn’t I pick up that guy in fantasy baseball
2 Newley Purnell » Blog Archive » New Blog on Baseball and Asian Culture // Sep 13, 2007 at 12:03 am
[...] Jackson, writing from South Korea and Taiwan, respectively, have been ruminating on issues such as Japan’s most underrated MLB player; Kim Ng, who may become the first female GM in baseball history; and a game-fixing scandal in the [...]
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