LMB: Masaru Nakamura es el Pitcher del Año 2021
Ciudad de México (www.lmb.com.mx) 12 de noviembre de 2021.- Masaru Nakamura (Kasukabe, Japón, 1991) recorrió el mundo para conquistar México. Desde Asia, con una escala en Oceanía, el serpentinero derecho de 29 años llegó para encabezar la rotación de abridores de los debutantes Mariachis de Guadalajara. Ganó ocho de sus
Ciudad de México (www.lmb.com.mx) 12 de noviembre de 2021.- Masaru Nakamura (Kasukabe, Japón, 1991) recorrió el mundo para conquistar México.
Desde Asia, con una escala en Oceanía, el serpentinero derecho de 29 años llegó para encabezar la rotación de abridores de los debutantes Mariachis de Guadalajara. Ganó ocho de sus nueve aperturas: actuación magistral que le valió para ser nombrado el Pitcher del Año 2021 de la Liga Mexicana de Beisbol.
“Sabiendo que el de Guadalajara era un equipo de expansión —comenta Tadeo Varela, analista y estadista de Mariachis—, y con la premura de encontrar jugadores, se realizó un trabajo fuerte de scouteo en muchas ligas del planeta. Uno de esos circuitos fue la Liga Australiana en la edición invernal de 2020. Se estuvo pendiente de esa liga, de la cual se terminaron trayendo a dos lanzadores: Todd Van Steensel y Masaru Nakamura”.
Nakamura jugó con los Brisbane Bandits en la temporada 2020-21 de la Liga Australiana, con quienes tuvo marca de 1-3 y efectividad de 5.66 en seis apariciones.
Luis Alonso Mendoza, gerente deportivo de los Mariachis de Guadalajara, y Masaru Nakamura fueron compañeros de equipo durante cuatro temporadas, entre 2014 y 2017, con los Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters de la Liga Japonesa.
“Ellos dos ya se conocían —relata Tadeo Varela— y cuando Luis Alonso Mendoza vio que Nakamura estaba jugando en Australia se pudo establecer el contacto y posteriormente traerlo al equipo”.
Masaru Nakamura finalizó su campaña de debut en la LMB con récord de 8-0, efectividad de 3.25, otorgó 18 bases por bolas y ponchó a 46 bateadores en 52.2 entradas de labor.
“Nakamura tiene uno de los repertorios más amplios en la Liga Mexicana de Beisbol —asegura Tadeo Varela—, cuenta con recta, curva, slider, cambio de velocidad y varios tipos de rectas rompientes. Además, y el que yo creo es su mejor lanzamiento, es la recta de dedos separados o split-finger”.
El split-finger, una recta que cae abruptamente al llegar al plato y que parece una curva pero más rápida, es un lanzamiento común en las ligas asiáticas, clave en el repertorio de estrellas niponas que han brillado en las Grandes Ligas como Hideo Nomo, Yu Darvish, Masahiro Tanaka, Koji Uehara, Hiroki Kuroda y Shohei Ohtani.
Nakamura cuenta con nueve temporadas de experiencia en la Nippon Professional Baseball, siempre con Hokkaido, con quienes tuvo marca de 15-17 en ganados y perdidos, un porcentaje de carreras limpias admitidas de 4.07 en 60 apariciones, 51 de ellas como abridor y 289.1 entradas de labor.
Masaru Nakamura ya no es un pitcher de gran velocidad, por lo que su éxito en la Liga Mexicana de Beisbol se sustentó en su gran repertorio y en su amplia experiencia en ligas competitivas de tres continentes distintos.
“Los bateadores —comenta Tadeo Varela—, cuando enfrentaban a Nakamura no tenían ni idea de cuál sería el siguiente lanzamiento. Usa cualquier pitcheo en cualquier circunstancia. Sus lanzamientos tienen mucho movimiento, el cual conseguía incluso en los parques que favorecen al bateo”.
Además de encabezar la Liga Mexicana de Beisbol en triunfos con ocho, el nipón de los Mariachis de Guadalajara fue líder en porcentaje de ganados y perdidos con 1.000, luego de terminar con marca de 8-0; fue segundo en WHIP con 1.10, sólo detrás de Jake Thompson (1.07); segundo en porcentaje de bateo más bajo de la oposición con .212, detrás de Luis Escobar (.204); y cuarto en efectividad con 3.25, detrás de Luis Escobar (2.54), Jake Thompson (3.02) y Rafael Pineda (3.16).
De esta manera, Masaru Nakamura hereda el nombramiento de Pitcher del Año que en 2019 le perteneció al dominicano César Valdez y tenemos, por segunda campaña consecutiva, a un lanzador proveniente de Japón que brilla en nuestros diamantes, luego de que Yasutomo Kubo liderara el circuito en ponches con 154 jugando con los Bravos de León en 2019.
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