I think one of the more interesting foreign signings by a Japanese team was that of Travis Hughes, a giant power relief pitcher from the Boston Red Sox. I contacted Dave of Sox on Deck, the writer of the Lin Che-hsusan post I linked to yesterday, and asked if he could share any thoughts on Hughes for NPB fans. He did, and here’s an excerpt:

Hughes is your typical power righty. He stands 6′5″ and can touch 95 MPH in the gun. For his secondary pitches, he throws a change-up and slider. Do not expect to see much of either pitch since he predominately throws the fastball. He has decent strikeout numbers, having a K rate of around 25%. Not a heavy groundball pitcher (about 45%) but since he does not walk many batter (10%) and does a good job of keeping the ball in the park (Hr/Air of about 3%).

In other news related to both the Red Sox and Japan, Boston signed Dan Miceli to a minor league deal. Miceli is one of the most reviled foreigners to ever play in NPB. People will be happy to know Miceli collected $850,000 on the back half of the guaranteed two-year deal he signed with Tampa Bay in 2006, but sat out the entire 2007 season.