Kei Igawa

  

Who is Kei Igawa and why did the New York Yankees bid $25 million for the rights to talk to him?

 

 
Igawa is seen by many to be a lower cost/lower reward version of Daisuke Matsuzaka. He throws a fastball in the low to mid 90’s and has been a high strikeout pitcher throughout his career in Japan. Here’s a selection of Kei Igawa stats;
 

 

 

Igawa (27 years old) has had a high K ratio, although I am concerned with his high H9, especially in the Japanese Central league. What Igawa will produce in the majors is unknown, but I would suspect that the part of the Yankees decision to make this deal was to let the Japanese know that they, along with the Red Sox, are committed to making inroads to Japan in future years. This would give the Yankees the following projected starting rotation;

Chien-Mang Wang
Mike Mussina
Randy Johnson
Kei Igawa