Reflecting on his first year in Japan in an interview with a local newspaper
Outfielder Adam Walker, who hit 23 home runs as a new helper for the Giants this season and participated in the All-Star Game, looked back on his year in a foreign country. In an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the local newspaper of the American independent league Milwaukee Milkmen, where he played until last year, he talked about the differences between Japanese and American baseball and the characteristics of Japanese players.
Walker made his first appearance as a pinch hitter for Yoshikawa in the 8th inning in the second round of the opening against Chunichi on March 26 (Tokyo Dome). He made his big debut with a timely double that suddenly hit the left field fence. “It felt good. However, in the process up until that point, he had also experienced a certain amount of culture shock.
The first thing I noticed after arriving in Japan was the amount of practice. “[On the ground]there’s always someone working on something. It’s like working on every aspect of the game, down to the smallest details,” she marvels. Walker left the Major Leagues after playing in the 2A for the Nationals in 2018, and has focused on independent leagues. He said he had never been worried about whether he would be able to enter the opening roster, but he said that the enthusiasm of Japanese players made him feel impatience for the “opening first army.”
As for the style of play, I was surprised by the number of types of pitches pitched by pitchers, in addition to the frequent use of bunts and hit-and-runs. “I saw a pitcher scouting report in Japan and it felt like everyone was throwing five (different) pitches,” he recalls.
This season, while struggling with outfield defense, he gradually improved. 271 batting average, 23 homers, and 52 RBIs in 124 batting games. Expectations are high for next season to see if they can do better than this season.
(Full-Count editorial department)
