Okay, the last poll was stupid. (Ichiro, duh!) But per rpriske's suggestion, let's try this: MLB's best Japan-born pitcher?
| Shigetoshi Hasegawa |  4 (3.01%) |
| Kazuhisa Ishii | 1 (0.75%) |
| Daisuke Matsuzaka | 37 (27.82%) |
| Hideo Nomo | 61 (45.86%) |
| Tomokazu Ohka | 3 (2.26%) |
| Hideki Okajima | 3 (2.26%) |
| Akinori Otsuka | 0 (0.00%) |
| Takashi Saito | 14 (10.53%) |
| Kazuhiro Sasaki | 10 (7.52%) |
| Shingo Takatsu | 0 (0.00%) |
133 votes | 4 featured comments
Final cuts from the list of 10 candidates as shown: Hideki Irabu (who, again, never really had a chance), Kei Igawa and Masato Yoshii. Apologies to Masanori Murakami, too, but the question is "best," not "most important"!
One obviously has to like Matsuzaka's prospects of eventually being the best guy here. But Hideo Nomo had three seasons in which he pitched more innings with a better ERA+ than Dice-K did in his one MLB season. And that doesn't even include Nomo's rookie season, which was the best season any Japanese starter has had.
Best reliever is a tossup between Hasegawa and Kaz Sasaki (mis-spelled in the poll there!). Hasegawa had more good seasons than any Japanese reliever; there've been a few guys who were lights out for one or two years.
Best reliever is a tossup between Hasegawa and Kaz Sasaki (mis-spelled in the poll there!). Hasegawa had more good seasons than any Japanese reliever; there've been a few guys who were lights out for one or two years.
Kaz Sasaki (mis-spelled in the poll there!)
Fixed it. Good eye, Mags.