With another month in the books, it is time to check-in on Japanese free agent-to-be Kosuke Fukudome. He looks to have settled in the 900+ OPS range with a strong OBP. His strikeouts seem high and that would concern me in the translation to the majors.
However, that is not a concern for others. Nate Silver of Baseball Prospectus answers a query in his last chat:
Nate Silver: I don't have the numbers in front of me, but IIRC, Fukudome had one of the highest EqAs in professional baseball last year -- any league, any country. His raw numbers were .351/.438/.653. Worst case, he's the next Hideki Matsui.
With the success of Akinori Iwamure in Tampa Bay and that of Silver's comp, Hideki Matsui, Fukudome is going to get a lot of positive hype. There has been nothing to dissuade me of that postion since I first started tracking him on Fake Teams in mid/late-March. If anything, the momentum is growing as more and more baseball fanatics become interested. Note this blurb in ESPN writer Jerry Crasnick's latest The Starting 9:
| Season As OF | BA | RISP | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | SF | BB | HBP | K | E | OBP | Slug |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7/4/2007 | 0.292 | 0.305 | 71 | 243 | 57 | 71 | 19 | 0 | 13 | 45 | 5 | 4 | 58 | 6 | 61 | 3 | 0.434 | 0.531 |
| 5/29/2007 | 0.285 | 0.304 | 51 | 172 | 42 | 49 | 14 | 0 | 9 | 35 | 1 | 3 | 46 | 5 | 47 | 2 | 0.442 | 0.523 |
| 4/26/2007 | 0.358 | 0.438 | 23 | 81 | 20 | 29 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 20 | 1 | 2 | 17 | 2 | 18 | 1 | 0.471 | 0.691 |
| 4/16/2007 | 0.326 | 0.500 | 14 | 46 | 10 | 15 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 2 | 10 | 0 | 0.441 | 0.543 |
| Perf Since Last Update | BA | RISP | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | SF | BB | HBP | K | E | OBP | Slug |
| Diff | 0.310 | n/a | 20 | 71 | 15 | 22 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 12 | 1 | 14 | 1 | 0.412 | 0.549 |