Igawa's ERC

Well, got the Home Run data for Igawa for 2006. He gave up 17 long balls, a rate of 1 every 12.3 innings. Not bad. Anyway, this lets us use some of his peripherals to roughly calculate his ERC.

	IP	Hits	BB	HR	K	HBP	ERC	ERA
Japan	209	180	55	17	194	6	2.69	2.97
MLB	209	194	59	21	171	6	3.19

Just to compare, his expected ERC of 3.19 in the Majors would have ranked 8th in the league, ahead of such pitchers such as Roy Oswalt (3.22), John Smoltz (3.34), and Carlos Zambrano (3.37). As you might have guessed, Johan Santana led the league last year with an ERC of 2.36.

Now, this isn't to say that Igawa would be the 8th best pitcher in the league. That would be a highly unrealistic expectation. This is just one measure of a pitcher's ability, and I would imagine there are plenty of other factors that would go into making the transition from THE NPB to the MLB.

Braves to bid on Japanese Pitcher?

No, no...it's not what you're thinking. The Braves definitely do not seem to be in the running for Daisuke Matsuzaka. However, according to Mr. Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, the Braves seem to be interested in southpaw Kei Igawa, of the Hanshin Tigers. Even though he is rumored to be heading for the West Coast, Igawa, or "Iron Nerves", as he is known in Japan, could be a very interesting proposition for Atlanta.

Igawa went 14-9 with a 2.97 ERA and 1.12 WHIP in the Central League this past season. He also struck out 194 in 209 innings pitched. Using Jim Albright's Method for translating Japanese Stats to the Majors, these are roughly equivalent to 172 Strikeouts, 59 Walks, and 194 Hits. This puts his adjusted WHIP at 1.21. He also threw an average of 115 pitches a start.

As soon as I can locate some Home Run Data for Igawa, we can do some ERC calculations to further look at his possible effects overseas.

Now, as is obvious to any Braves fan, the team has an abundance of starters.

1. Smoltz
2. Hudson
3. Hampton
4. James
5. Ramirez/Davies

There is already a logjam at the back end of rotation. Hudson and Hampton are virtually immovable because of their large contracts, and James was too impressive in his stint last year (11-4, 91 Ks, 116 ERA+) to consider trading. Davies was abysmal last year, but he is still young and has at times showed great promise. This leaves Ramirez as the most likely trade candidate, although when healthy (a rare occurrence in recent years) he too has been decent. An acquisition of Igawa would necessitate that Atlanta displace two starters from the rotation, a feat easier said than done at the present time. More to come soon...