Bobby Valentine says Japanese pitchers seek out full counts

Can the full-count walk be considered a softer, less messy form of baseball Seppuku? Wait, we're going somewhere with this ...

Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine, who spent multiple seasons managing the Chiba Lotte Marines of Japan's Pacific League, has an informed idea as to why Japanese pitchers like Daisuke Matsuzaka and Yu Darvish seem to struggle with their control in the U.S. major leagues. We'lll let him explain it to you ...

So the 3-2 pitch is "the pitch of reckoning?" I guess that makes sense, although I wonder whether the superior batting eyes and pitch-recognitions kills of stateside hitters have more to do with the elevated walk rates of Japanese hitters.

With that said, Valentine certainly has a deep familiarity with Japanese baseball culture, so maybe there's something to his theory. But with that said, Valentine is also one to speak breezily about nothing in particular, so it's possible he's doing that, too.

(HT: Hardball Talk)

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