Tanaka Shines in MLB Debut

 Masahiro Tanaka’s first SFF in big league: a hanging splitter to Melky Cabrera

Scouting Myth

As a passionate amateur baseball blogger, I love to go over scouting reports of top ranked prospects with a fine tooth comb. Many scouts often claim that they have an intuitive ability to identify unpolished talents. The draft provides teams with a cost effective resource to build a successful franchise. The next question is, in an unpredictable and baffling world of projecting young baseball talents, do scouts demonstrate a strong track record on gauging future major league performance of young players?

Tanaka Not Your Ordinary Import

Masahiro Tanaka, who went 24-0 with a 1.27 ERA, 2.26 FIP, 7.8 K/9, 1.36 BB/9 and 0.25 HR/9 with Rakuten Golden Eagles in 2013, is indisputably the biggest pitcher in Japan since Daisuke Matsuzaka and Yu Darvish. Over seven seasons in NPB, Tanaka compiled a 99-35 record and a 2.30 ERA with 8.5 strikeouts per nine innings. According to David Golebiewski of Baseball Analytics, Tanaka has managed to post a 236 ERA+ in previous three seasons. Below is a comparison of Tanaka and other NPB pitchers: