Playing in the Bigs, not always what you expect

Many baseball players dream to make it to the Major League. I bet that Hiroki Kuroda had the same dream. But his dream turned out to be an unpleasant experience.

The New York Post published an article about Hiroki Kuroda’s MLB experience.

Kuroda summarized it with one word: Tough.

“In a situation in which I didn’t understand the language and battled to make it through the season, the seven years were — including physically — tougher than they were enjoyable” , Kuroda stated.

When you take this into consideration, you can wonder why he stayed this long. Apparently the money was good enough to overcome those unpleasant years. All I can say that I tip my cap that he had the perseverance to make it through those seven years.

In those seven seasons he played four year with the Dodgers and three with the Yankees and posted a 3.45 ERA, struck out 986 batters and (unintentionally) walked 292.

Kuroda also stated: “In terms of technical aspects, I learned how to make adjustments. As far as mental aspects, I learned how to pitch in tough situations.”

When reading all this mishap, it is understandable why he rejected an offer by the Padres and returned home to join his former team the Hiroshima Toyo Carp.

Especially with the Yankees he was a work horse, an inning eater. During his three years in New York he was the most consistent starting pitcher of the Yankees. The Yankees will miss him for sure.