Not-So-Fun Fact of the Day

by ~ January 30th, 2009 at 1:04 pm

With Jason Varitek signing with the Boston Red Sox for less than originally expected, Kenji Johjima figures to be the third highest paid catcher in all of baseball next season behind Jorge Posada and Joe Mauer.

Meanwhile, Johjima was the worst hitting catcher in all of baseball last season and calls a horrible game.

Awesome.

please opt out after 2009
please opt out after 2009
please opt out after 2009
please opt out after 2009

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  • section331

    haha!

  • Project Monkey

    I still don’t understand how he calls a horrible game. He calls games for pitchers like Washburn, Batista, and Silva. He seems to do just fine with our good pitchers. What evidence is there that it’s his horrible game calling and not the crapy pitching.

  • http://bleedingblueandteal.com Jon Shields

    Last time I pulled up the numbers the starters were issuing higher walk rates and higher ERAs with Johjima behind the plate compared to Burke, Clement and other recent M’s catchers (Torrealba and Rivera were in there I believe). The pitchers don’t like throwing to him either, especially Bedard, Washburn and Silva, so they obviously feel like he doesn’t bring the best out. Also, LL did a post fairly recently that showed that he calls a very different game than the other catchers (in terms of pitch selection), and based on the numbers it isn’t for the better.

    Even if numbers can’t prove it, his gamecalling has been in question since he first arrived, even by the mainstream media.

    Johjima can throw out runners, okay; but I would feel more comfortable with Burke, Johnson or maybe even Clement behind the plate.

  • M-ners27

    Kenji can’t hit the ball the other way, and pitchers realise that now and pitch him outside. If he can learn to go with the ball the other way then his average could jump up to the .280′s or .290′s like it was in 06 and 07(I’d be happy with .270s) thats way better than the .227 he hit in 09. With the “Horrible game calling” you could move him to DH and let Clement catch. That is if Jeff doesn’t get traded.

  • seatown27

    better yet please decide to retire and go back to japan

  • ernier

    I would never root for an M’s player to do bad, but if Joh is terrible again this year he will be booed the way Richie was last year and he’ll be benched for Clement or Johnson. If that happens I think he’ll realize he’s done in MLB and something would be worked out to let him go back to Japan in 2010.

    I didn’t realize he had such a good September last year until I read this on seattlemariners.com

    From Jim Street:
    His .333 batting average, two home runs and 13 RBIs — along with throwing out eight of the 18 runners attempting to steal against him — in September…

  • http://bleedingblueandteal.com Jon Shields

    He did come alive at the end of the year. I noticed that he wasn’t bailing out as much, and it definitely helped him.

    I believe he can be productive offensively again next season, but honestly I’d prefer it if he could just go away.

  • ernier

    Yea, I agree Jon. I’m trying to be optimistic about Joh and Silva turning it around, but I’d rather see both of them gone.

  • Luisam911

    We have too many catchers he needs to go. Its waste to have talent sitting on the bench. *cough* Johnson, Moore, Clement *cough*