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Tazawa's amateur season ends, set to begin full-fledged talks
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OSAKA, Nov. 22 (22:01) Kyodo
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The sweepstakes for Junichi Tazawa are about to heat up among
major league clubs after the season for the highly regarded amateur
pitcher ended Saturday, when his Nippon Oil team crashed out of the
national corporate baseball championships.
Tazawa, who refused to be picked at last month's Japanese
amateur draft to pursue a major league career, made a relief
appearance and gave up a go-ahead single in the seventh inning of a
3-2 semifinal loss to Central Japan Railway.
The hard-throwing right-hander allowed three hits, struck out
one and walked none in 2-2/3 innings in what was expected to be the
final outing of his amateur career, less than 24 hours after he
pitched his second straight shutout in the tournament in front of
half a dozen major league scouts.
''It's a shame that I couldn't meet the expectations of the
manager, who sent me to the mound in a crucial situation. I needed to
throw that pitch out of the strike zone,'' Tazawa said of the 1-2
forkball that was sent to left field.
The run was unearned for Tazawa and he finished the tournament
without being charged with a run over 20-2/3 innings as he lived up
to his billing as a much-coveted prospect whose desire to make the
majors has rocked the relations between Japanese and U.S. baseball.
Nippon Oil won the intercity corporate championship in
September, led by Tazawa's strong performance, but fell short of
becoming only the second team to claim both of two major amateur
baseball titles in Japan.
''I'd like to become a pitcher whom a manager can count on,''
Tazawa said, looking ahead to full-fledged talks with major league
clubs and subsequent challenges for a major league debut.
In September, the 22-year-old Tazawa sent shock waves through
Japanese baseball when he made clear his intention to ply his trade
in the majors and asked all 12 Japanese pro clubs not to name him in
the amateur draft.
His move has prompted baseball officials to work toward changing
regulations in order to help prevent further outflows of top amateur
prospects from the country by bypassing the Japanese leagues. |
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