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Bats: Left Throws: Left
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| MAJOR LEAGUE SEASON PITCHING STATISTICS: | ||||||||||||
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YEAR |
ERA | W | L | G | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | HR | BAA |
| 2002 | 4.27 | 14 | 10 | 28 | 154 | 137 | 82 | 73 | 106 | 143 | 20 | .240 |
PROFILE: The Los Angeles Dodgers signed Kazuhisa Ishii to a four-year free agent contract with two club options for 2006 and 2007 on February 8, 2002. In 2001, Kazuhisa went 12-6 with a 3.39 ERA and 162 strikeouts in 175 innings pitched, which ranked second in the Japanese Central League. His 3.39 ERA was eighth best in the Japanese League. He helped lead the Swallows to their first Japan Series Championship in four years, by defeating the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes in the finals. In Game 1 of the Japan Series, Ishii pitched eight shutout innings, carrying a no-hitter into the seventh inning. He ended up only surrendering only one hit in the game, while striking out 12 to tie a Japan Series record. Kazuhisa’s first season in the major leagues was basically a tale of two seasons. During the first half of season, Ishii put up numbers that could have earned him the league’s Cy Young award. He was 11-5 with a 3.58 ERA. He won the first six games that he started, and 10 of his first 12. However, after the All-Star break, Ishii began to struggle with his control as he went 3-5 with a 5.57 ERA over the second half of the season, up until a frightful line drive back through the box ended his season. The line drive caused several fractures to his cranium and nasal cavity. Ishii has always had excellent stuff. He throws a good-moving fastball in the low-90s and he also has a good changeup. His best pitch, however, is probably his curveball, which he can throw at various speeds. Kazuhisa really only has two negatives: (1) His arm has been used quite heavily in he Japanese League, where managers do not tend to watch pitch counts, and (2) Despite having three quality pitches and a real knack for getting out of jams, Ishii struggles mightily with his control. Particularly, when pitching from the windup. He pitches much better out of the stretch, and sometimes would even forgo winding-up to pitch form the stretch. He has a herky-jerky delivery, which many base stealers take advantage of, and Kazuhisa needs to work on his defense, mostly because his awkward delivery doesn’t allow him to get off the mound smoothly. He is also a poor hitter who will even struggle to bunt runners over. FINAL ASSESSMENT: Kazuhisa Ishii’s comeback from the line drive that he took off his face will be one of the more noteworthy stories this coming spring. Again, he possesses outstanding stuff, but because his stuff has such good movement, he has always struggled with his control. And despite having good stuff, there has always been some question about his mental toughness, even before taking the line drive up the box. The Dodgers probably overspent in acquiring Ishii; however, if the Dodgers can get him to harness better control of his arsenal (which probably won’t be an easy task), then Ishii could indeed end up winning a Cy Young, for his stuff is that good. All one has to do is to look at how well he pitched over the first half of last season. However, we feel that just like Jason Simontacchi of the Cards, that after a time or two around the league, batters started to figure Kazuhisa out. Still, in light of this opinion, we see Ishii going in the first round of the upcoming NABL rookie draft. At best, some lucky club could be obtaining a potential 20-game-winning staff ace and Cy Young Award winner. In the very least, the club that drafts him should be obtaining a middle-of-the-rotation innings-eater for some years to come. |
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