Mainichi Daily News
Feb 14, 2008
FORT MYERS, Florida (AP) -- Hideki Okajima smiled, raised one finger to his lips and said "secret" when asked about his new pitch.
A secret himself a year ago after 12 seasons in Japan, the Boston Red Sox discovered what they had as their championship season rolled along -- one of the best setup men in Major League Baseball.
"I don't think we expected the level of performance that he provided," Boston pitching coach John Farrell said on Wednesday. "He was in an elite group of relievers in the American League."
Even the pitch he's developing to go with his devastating split-finger fastball is no longer a secret. It's a two-seam fastball, Farrell revealed, but it's effectiveness remains a mystery "until he gets in games and he's able to throw that against hitters."
The left-hander with the quirky motion that leaves him looking at the ground when he delivers a pitch had to adjust to plenty of changes when he joined the Red Sox before last season -- food, language, new hitters and a longer season.
Yet his "stoic" demeanor and maturity allowed him to deal with all that, Farrell said.
This year there will be more adjustments after one of the heaviest workloads of his 13 pro seasons left him worn out by September. He plans to throw fewer pitches between appearances so he can "peak at the end of the season," Okajima said on Wednesday through a translator.
In his first 57 appearances last year, he allowed just eight earned runs and had a 1.17 ERA. In his other nine outings, he gave up nine earned runs. He was given extra rest in September for his tired arm and finished with a 2.22 ERA and 3-2 record.
Okajima was much fresher in the playoffs, pitching 7 1-3 shutout innings in his first five appearances. Then he struggled with three earned runs in 3 2-3 innings of the World Series, a four-game sweep over the Colorado Rockies.
The previous season, he won another title as the Nippon Ham Fighters took the Japan Series.
Then he came to the United States, overshadowed by the hype of Boston spending $103 million to sign another Japanese pitcher, Daisuke Matsuzaka. Okajima signed a two-year, $2.5 million deal.
In the majors, the playoffs are "very, very long," he said after throwing indoors when thunderstorms hit the Red Sox complex the day before the official reporting date for pitchers and catchers. "It's nothing comparable to (the) Japanese championship league."
Okajima also had to adjust to more power-packed lineups.
"I became tough mentally because I experienced a lot of strong sluggers in (the) major leagues," he said. "It's totally different from (the) Japanese league, and also the number of games is different -- 162 games, that's a lot of games."
The first home-run hitter he encountered was Kansas City catcher John Buck, who sent Okajima's first pitch in the majors over the fence in the Royals' 7-1 win on April 2.
"It was shortly after that that he did come up with a true strikeout pitch and that is really what allowed his role to emerge," Farrell said.
Okajima's season turned around during a bullpen session on a day when the Red Sox were rained out.
He and Farrell worked together and made a slight change in the grip on his changeup.
"He just split his fingers a little bit more and threw more of a true split-finger or forkball," Farrell said, "and that's the pitch that really emerged to be his strikeout pitch."
Okajima followed the homer to Buck with 19 consecutive scoreless outings. He even retired Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez to record his first major league save on April 20, closing because Jonathan Papelbon had pitched in the two previous games. On April 21, Okajima retired two batters without allowing a run.
That was a very good sign, but just how good he could be remained a secret.
"We haven't seen him enough to know how he'll take this and run with it," manager Terry Francona said after those games. "We're really hoping he gets more confident."
He ran with it all the way to an All-Star game spot and a World Series championship.
Now the Red Sox know what they have and have no plans to move Okajima from his setup role for Papelbon.
And it's no secret to Okajima what to expect after a season of adjustments: He knows he can be a very good pitcher in a league with some of the best hitters in the world.
"Obviously, it is different from last year," he said, "and I feel fresh."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment