Sharps not sure about Dice-K

[Raji]

Wed, Apr 4, 2007By Jeff Mason

Even if this is the 576th story on Daisuke Matsuzaka over the last month, hopefully it is at least the most profitable.

The 26 year-old right-hander is the talk of the early baseball season, superseding popular yearly topics such as steroids, Barry Bonds and the New York Yankees.

The reason is the massive $103 million price tag the Boston Red Sox laid out for Matszuzaka and the hype surrounding his play. His performances in his home country of Japan are the stuff of legends – and his mysterious gyroball (does it exist?) only furthers his bewildering reputation.

Matsuzaka will make this major league debut on the road on Thursday afternoon when the Red Sox take on the Kansas City Royals, where Zach Grienke will start for Kansas City.

“He'll definitely be overvalued to a certain extent,” says Sean Murphy of The Miller Group. “It's probably best to take a wait-and-see approach. It's not as if he was totally dominant in spring training.”

Matsuzaka is rumored to have as many as eight pitches – a four-seam fastball, a two-seam fastball, a cut fastball, a curveball, a slider, a splitter, a shuuto (reverse slider) and the gyroball. During spring training, batters repeatedly reported they didn' t know which pitches they saw when facing Matsuzaka.

“If he has eight different pitches like they say he has, it's going to take more than one meeting for a hitter to get a handle on him,” says Sean Murphy of The Miller Group.

Dice-K pitched eight seasons for the Sebu Lions in Japan before moving to America. He went 108-60 in 204 starts with a 2.95 ERA and 1,355 strikeouts in 1,402.2 innings. He also threw 72 complete games. His best season with the Lions was last year, when he went 17-5 with a 2.13 ERA and a 0.92 WHIP while striking out 200 batters in just 186.1 innings.

This will be his first time facing major league players in MLB games. His only other experience with big league batters came in the 2006 World Baseball Classic, in which he went 3-0 and was named tournament MVP.

“We really can’t know what to expect in his this first start,” says Covers Expert David Malinsky. “The uncertianties can go as far as umpiring in these situations. Umpires generally have an inconsistent strike zone early in the season as it is, and with a brand new pitcher – especially one that could have as many as eight pitches – that could be a real problem.”

Matsuzaka isn’t the first Japanese pitcher to take major league baseball by storm. Hideo Nomo became the first Japanese major leaguer in 30 years when he took the mound for the Los Angeles Dodgers on May 2, 1995. Nomo went on to lead the league in strikeouts, finish second with a 2.54 ERA, start the All-Star game and win the National League Rookie of the Year award.


Raji