I have heard that his communication will be an issue. It would be interesting if he comes out to the mound with an English speaking pitching coach and a spanish speaking Domican.

Also does anyone know if his skills at calling a game would translate over to the American game? Not to mention he will need to learn all of the hitters tendancies. It is a lot to ask of such a critical position

Yeah, I wonder about the communication problem, too, but it shouldn't be too hard to learn a handful of important English phrases that he would need (and for the pitchers to learn a couple Japanese words, too).

The big question is game calling differs from Japan to the US. Maybe he can go to a team where the bench calls the game through the catcher. It will definately be interesting to see see what happens.

it will be interesting, and to be honest i don't think he'll do very well (hitting, communicating, whatever). that said, i'm all for making the major leagues the best possible, so if he's better than one current MLB catcher (paul bako, ben davis, kelly stinnett......ewww) then by all means, bring him over!!

So Taguchi hit pretty much the same in the US as he did in Japan.

Initially I thought about the communication problem, but it can't be that different than Piazza handling the United Nations staff with Valdez, Park, Nomo etc. It could be a hindrance, but what do catchers really say except some boring cliches? I'm sure he can learn to say "Keep the ball down." or "Don't let this guy beat us." or maybe even: "Think classy, you'll be classy. If you win 20 in the show, you can let the fungus grow back and the press'll think you're colorful. Until you win 20 in the show, however, it means you are a slob."

Nate: Piazza was AWFUL at handling pitchers. I wouldn't want a high-priced import to be Piazza-level at calling a game and dealing with hurlers, especially if one of them happens to be Pedro.

Sorry, maybe I wasn't clear with my point. Piazza has always been terrible with pitchers regardless of the language. What I meant was that I don't see the catcher mound visits as being a huge turning point of a game. If all pitcher's spoke English I don't think the chatter at the mound would make that big of a difference. In my opinion the pre-series pitchers meeting is of more importance. As long as a pitcher and catcher understand those meetings the mound visit is just used as a tool to reiterate what was previously discussed.

Does ANYONE have the stats on % of balls or strikes thrown after a visit to the mound from either the cathher or manager...or anyone for that matter?

PLEASE email me at ALLDAYALLENK@AOL.COM if you know where to get it. Thanks a lot!