Finding Jamie D’Antona
Posted by cuorange on June 29, 2009
As you may recall D’Antona was the focus of “The Last Best League” and had finally made it to the Bigs last year after batting .365 at AAA Tucson.
Apparently, the Diamondbacks released D’Antona last November so that he could sign with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of Japan, where he is batting a robust .249.
DEACON FAN said
Hey, D’Antona is doing very well in Japan. You can not look at a small part of a long season and draw conclusions. If you checked today you would see that he is #5 in HR (16) and his 52 RBI’s are 7th best in Central Division. Just half a season completed and 248 AB his BA is now 278. Give the kid a chance …… Wait for the end of the season and judge the complete body of work.
cuorange said
I hear ya. Doing an update shortly and have noted the improvement. I like the kid by the way, from what I read about him in “The Last Best League”. I’m just a little surprised that after hitting .365 in AAA, he was only hitting .249 in Japan. Do you follow Japanese baseball or just D’Antona?
Christopher Pellegrini said
Jamie D’Antona finished the first half of his inaugural season in NPB with vitals reading .286/.340/.538.
He’s leading the team in several categories including home runs, total bases, rbi’s, average with players in scoring position, and slugging.
His easy-going and level-headed personality has also endeared him to the fans here in Tokyo. He seems to be adjusting quite well and far more quickly than the majority of guys who come over here.
cuorange said
Appreciate the info. You may have missed my update on the update: http://cuorange.wordpress.com/2009/07/18/jamie-dantona-update/
I actually like the guy and didn’t mean to suggest otherwise.