There’s a really great article in Saturday’s Dallas Morning News about our new setup guy, Akinori Otsuka by Kevin Blackstone. Kevin writes really glowingly about Aki (the Rangers players’ nickname for him). Here’s a few quotes from it..
“He asked how I was, asked how the family was doing,” pitcher Brian Shouse said with surprise of Otsuka. “And I was over there [Japan], what, eight years ago? He’s awesome.
Indeed, what so impressed so many at Rangers Camp 2006 was that Otsuka bothered to be here at all right now. His country’s team was scheduled to start gathering in Japan this weekend, so it didn’t seem to make much sense for Otsuka to come to Arizona for a couple of days. Daniels and Showalter all but expected him not to be here and were understanding of the reason. They learned a little something about him this week.
“To show respect and get along with the team,” Otsuka explained with a little help from his interpreter when asked why he came to Surprise at all. “I have to know the situation, the fundamentals.”
That’s really nice to hear, but what I didn’t realize is how popular he is in Japan. Blackstone refers to Japanese baseball players in popluarity as Ichiro, Hideki Matsui, and Otsuka. I didn’t realize was that popular, I just assumed he was “another Japanese baseball player”. Seems like a big mistake on my part.
I know everyone who reads my site probably also reads the DMN, but just in case, you should check this article out. It’s going to make you want to see this guy pitch now. It did for me. :)
Update: The Ft Worth Star Telegram also has an article about Otsuka-san online. You can read that here.