Yesterday, Tsuyoshi Nishioka had a really rough day. 0/5 at the plate 2 errors in the field, one of them on the first grounder he saw back in the big leagues.Mostly, I just feel bad for him at this point. I don’t think he is dealing with a lack of talent, because he was steadily improving in Rochester, but some serious anxiety issues away from his native Japan.
Anyways, check out this statline: .234 average, .269 OBP, 15 errors in only 79 games. Now check out these stats: .226 average, .278 OBP, 12 errors in 68 games. If you didn’t know, the two statlines are the current season of Brian Dozier and last season from Nishioka. Interesting, yes? Also, a little horrifying?
Now, Dozier is younger, and has also hit 5 home runs this year, but the fact that he can’t get on base, and has fielded almost as poorly as Nishioka did without the added “first year in America, going through a divorce” excuse is troubling, isn’t it? Also troubling that people are so down on Nishioka, but willing to say Dozier is the hope for the future. They are roughly the same player at this point. If we are going to get the same production out of the two players, the Twins may as well stash Dozier in Rochester and get their money’s worth out of Nishioka.
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