C.J. Nitkowski pitched for several major league teams from 1995-05. He's playing in Japan this year for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks and will file periodic updates for The Associated Press on his experience. His stories will be archived on his Web site, www.cjbaseball.com
By C.J. NITKOWSKI
For The Associated Press
FUKUOKA, Japan (AP) -To enjoy Japan, come with an open attitude, ready to experience everything. One experience I was hoping to avoid this season was a trip to the minor leagues - unfortunately, it was not to be.
As an American ballplayer, I had always heard how awful the minor leagues were in Japan. I was pleasantly surprised with my experience with our farm team, or ni-gun (second team), as it is sometimes referred.
I won't give you my sob story, but will tell you I was caught a little off-guard when me and my 1.46 ERA got the news of the demotion. I spent three weeks in the minors and although things were a little different, they weren't nearly as terrible as I had heard.
One of the first and, quite honestly, most critical parts of the minor leagues in Japan has to do with salary. Minor league salaries in the States are atrocious, especially for players making their way up the system for the first time.
In Japan there are essentially no split contracts - your salary is your salary regardless of what roster you are on. There are very few exceptions of players making below the major league minimum of 15 million yen (about $120,000). So not taking a pay cut was an essential part of making this a little more tolerable.
Another nice aspect of the Japanese minor leagues, at least with the Hawks, was that I didn't have to move. Our minor league team is located in Fukuoka, just 20 minutes from the major league stadium. That means I did not have to uproot my family as I have done so many times in my career with all the demotions, promotions, trades and free agency. That made them happy, which in the end makes me happy.
Getting used to the minor league schedule in Japan takes some time. The season lasts as long as the major league season, six months, but there are only 88 games, as compared to the 144 the big league team plays.
In the States, we play 144 games in the minors over five months; the majors play 162 games in six months.
No matter how you shape it, 88 games is not very many.
All the games are day games, too. After playing predominantly night games with the major league team, that can also be an adjustment.
