Koji's first bullpen session
Japanese pitcher Koji Uehara had quite an audience for his first bullpen session of the spring. There were about 30 media members in attendance, as well as almost the entire Orioles front office staff, as he threw about 50 pitches to catcher Gregg Zaun.
It was probably the most-watched bullpen session in Orioles history, but there is at least one I can remember that was probably as intriguing. That, of course, was when Jim Palmer attempted a comeback in the spring of 1991, but I'm pretty sure there weren't two dozen Japanese reporters and cameramen there for that one.
Uehara displayed good velocity and great command of his fastball. He threw his first 35 pitches next to Hayden Penn and non-roster pitcher Ross Wolf on the practice mounds, then asked to work a little longer on his breaking pitches. As he has said several times already, he's used to much longer workouts because players work from morning to night during training camp in Japan.
The session ended with a slight bump. Uehara walked down off the mound and tossed the ball to Zaun, but Zaun wasn't paying attention and it hit him on the shoulder and seemed to glance off his face. He was fine and still gave Koji a high five to wrap up the session.
> 
Comments
Pete,
How did Penn look?
...............................................................................................
Pete's reply: He looked like he was throwing free and easy, but I wasn't in a position to judge exactly how well he threw. He hit the glove.
Posted by: napbow | February 16, 2009 11:36 AM
Pete; If you have the opportunity, can you find out what pitches this guy throws, velocity etc.
..............................................................................................
Pete's reply: He throws a medium fastball (83-88), curveball, forkball and cut fastball. He's a finesse and command guy, not a velocity guy.
Posted by: bob c | February 16, 2009 11:51 AM
Good thing he didn't toss it Penn's way. Would have probably given him a skull fracture.
Posted by: JohnBoy | February 16, 2009 12:02 PM
"gaved"?
.............................................................................................
Pete's reply: Yes, a regrettable typo, and probably not the last.
Posted by: SEth | February 16, 2009 4:25 PM
lmao @ JohnBoy!
Posted by: Kevin, Iraq | February 16, 2009 5:00 PM
Pete,is gaved a Japanese derivative of gave?lol
Posted by: Burt from Essex | February 16, 2009 8:56 PM
Burt from Essex: "Pete,is gaved a Japanese derivative of gave?"
Pete, remember that you'll have to pronounce it as "gah-vehd" since Japanese vowels have only one sound.
Have you picked up on any Japanese words yet? "Kuso" (damn, the s-word) is something you'll probably hear a lot (especially since even kid shows use the word a lot on Japanese TV), though Kranitz will probably be using "sugoi" (awesome, excellent) a lot if this keeps up.
Also, you don't happen to know if he's ever pitched at Koshien, do you?
Posted by: Matthew | February 17, 2009 12:04 AM