http://0rz.tw/b34TD
Anatomy of a player: Hiroki Kuroda
by Josh Kalk
October 07, 2008
廣島王牌－黑田博樹
Hiroki Kuroda was kind of an afterthought last offseason after big splashes
and some flops by Japanese players in recent years. He quietly signed a
three-year, $35 million contract with the Dodgers with some nice perks
including a moving allowance, English lessons and eight first-class tickets
from L.A. to Japan each year (excellent work, Steve Hillard).
黑田博樹是近年來日本選手衝擊的餘波盪漾。 他悄悄和道奇簽下了三年35M的
合約，包含一些額外津貼：搬家費用、英語課程、還有每年八張L.A.直飛日本的頭
等艙機票。(好樣的，Steve Hillard)
Kuroda was already 33 years old, so this move didn't garner much national
attention. Now, with Kuroda's last start knocking off the Cubs in the NLDS,
he is a hot topic in Los Angeles. Let's look at Kuroda and how his stuff
translated from his long career in Japan.
黑田已經33歲了，所以此行並沒有得到太多國際注目。現在，隨著他上次先發
在分區系列賽痛擊小熊，黑田已經成為L.A.的焦點。我們來看看黑田在他漫長的日
本職業生涯後，Stuff變的如何？
Hiroki Kuroda(MLB成績)
Bats: R Throws: R Born: 2/10/1975
Year Team G GS ShO W L ERA S H IP Hit K BB HBP WHIP HR ER SB CS PO
2008 LAD 31 31 2 9 10 3.73 0 0 183.3 181 116 42 7 1.22 13 76 7 2 2
日本的黑田
Kuroda in Japan
Hiroki Kuroda was drafted in the second round by the Hiroshima Toyo Carp in
1997. After a slow start in his first few years, Kuroda settled into a spot
in the rotation and pitched very well. In 2006, he dominated the league,
posting an ERA under two and walking just 21 in nearly 189 innings.
黑田博樹，1997年第二輪被廣島鯉魚隊選上。走出前幾年的困頓後，黑田在先發
輪值取得一席之地，且表現亮眼。2006年，他宰制了整個聯盟。不但繳出低於2的ERA
，189局中更只投出21次保送。
Despite his best efforts, the Carp never made the postseason during the 11
years he pitched for the team. Kuroda was known as a control pitcher who
didn't walk many batters and kept the ball in the park despite pitching in a
homer-friendly park. After becoming a free agent after the 2007 season, he
decided he wanted to pitch in America and choose the Dodgers over the
Mariners (looking back, what a good choice he made).
儘管他表現優秀，鯉魚隊在他投球的11年間未曾進過季後賽。黑田是個控球型
投手，不但保送少，且擅長把球留在場內，雖然他待的是一個盛產全壘打的球場。
2007年球季後成為自由球員，他決定去美國投球。他選擇了道奇，放棄水手。
(回頭看看，這真是一個天大的好決定)
轉換在日本的表現
Translating his performance in Japan
There were legitimate concerns from the moment he signed about how well
Kuroda would pitch in the big leagues. Previous pitchers who had made the
transition from Japan to MLB had seen a large spike in their walk rates.
Kuroda needed to keep his walks down, as he wasn't striking out enough
batters to compensate. In his last year in Japan, he had a strikeout rate of
5.9 per nine innings, but a walk rate of just 2.0 per nine innings. That
produced a solid three-to-one ratio, but if his walk rate increased he could
be in some trouble even if he was able to keep his strikeout rate nearly the
same.
黑田簽約的那一刻，就出現許多他能在大聯盟投多好的合理懷疑。之前從日職
轉戰MLB的選手，都有保送率暴增的現象。 黑田需要維持低保送，特別是他並沒有
足夠多的三振來彌補。他在日本的最後一年，每九局三振率(K/9)是5.9，但每九局
保送率(BB/9)僅僅只有2.0，大約固定在三比一。 如果他的保送率上升，即使三振
率維持不變，也會遇上許多麻煩。
It turned out that Kuroda had a fine year for the Dodgers, posting rates
almost identical to his previous year in Japan (5.8 K/G and 2.1 BB/G). This
was the key to his ERA of 3.73 and an even better FIP of 3.53. That is front
line material and cheap for what the Dodgers were paying him. That is very
solid production and it appears they can look forward to good production in
the next two years as well.
Let's look at his stuff to see how Kuroda got things done.
結果黑田在道奇展現了美好的一年，帳面上的數字幾乎跟前一年在日本一樣理
想。(5.8 K/G 2.1 BB/G) 這是他的ERA維持3.73的關鍵，FIP甚至是更好的3.53。
對道奇付出的價碼而言，他是便宜好用的即戰力。能維持固定的產出，而且能預期
他在接下來的兩年也有一樣好的表現。
黑田的Stuff
Kuroda's stuff
Scouting reports were kind of hard to find on Kuroda but the ones I located
appear to be mostly spot-on in their assessment. Kuroda throws a two-and
four-seam fastball, a splitter and a slider that has been called a shuuto.
Here is a look at his movement chart.
黑田的球探報告有點難找，我所找到的都聚焦在他的評價。黑田會投二縫線及
四縫線速球、指叉球、及一顆曾被誤認為shuuto的滑球。先來看看他的位移圖。
(譯注：shuuto，噴射球。一般是指一種內竄速球。)
原圖：http://0rz.tw/814St
垂 20┌──────────────────────── o Fastball
直 │ x Sinker
位 15├ oo o + Slider
移 │ x o ooo oo oo * Splitter
︵ 10├ x xxoxoxxoooo oo o
英 │ x xxoxooxox o+oooo
吋 5├ x xx xo*x**o+ ++ + + │
︶ │ xx x x*x*++*+ ++ ++ + ++ + │
0├ x**x*** +**++ ++ ++ + │
│ ** **** + + + │
-5├ ** * │
│ │
-10├ │
│ │
-15├ │
│ │
-20└──┴──┴──┴──┴──┴──┴──┴──┴──┘
-15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20
水平位移（英吋）
By Josh Kalk
Kuroda throws his fastball and sinker at near 93 mph. This is a bit unusual,
because most pitchers who throw both will throw their sinker slower than
their four-seamer. Kuroda generally tries to keep his fastball on the outer
half of the plate, so he throws his sinker more to left-handed batters; it
has good movement away from them. His four-seamer goes more to right-handed
batters, since it has little horizontal movement in to them.
黑田能把速球和Sinker都投到93mph。這很不尋常，通常會這兩個球種的投手，
會把他們的Sinker投的比四縫線速球慢。 黑田常常試著把他的速球控在本壘板外側
，所以他的Sinker是拿來對付左打者的。 Sinker有飄離左打者的良好尾勁。四縫線
則常拿來對右打者，因為它有些微向內角的水平位移。
Unlike other Japanese imports, Kuroda doesn't seem to pitch backwards much.
Many pitchers from Japan like to throw off-speed pitches in fastball counts
and fastballs in off-speed counts, but Kuroda prefers his fastball on the
first pitch and when he falls behind. He throws either his four-seamer or
sinker more than 70 percent of the time 1-0, 2-0, 2-1 and 3-1. This may be a
testament to his belief in his fastball, which is a very solid pitch with
plus velocity. This conventional style of pitching may be the reason he
didn't see a spike in his walk rates this year. If so, this could be an
important indicator of future success of other Japanese pitchers.
不像其他日本進口貨，黑田不常使用逆向投球。很多日本投手喜歡在該投速球
的時機投變化球，在該投變化球的時機投速球。但黑田比較偏好在第一球、及球數
落後時投出速球。他在0好1壞、0好2壞、1好2壞、1好3壞時，有70％以上是投四縫
線或Sinker。這是他對速球充滿信念的證據，一個非常穩定的球路、且有不錯的速
度。這種投球風格，也許是他今年保送率並未暴增的原因。如果真是如此，這可以
成為未來日本投手的成功指標。
Kuroda's best off-speed pitch is his splitter. It acts like a change-up, and
Kuroda uses it more to left-handed batters, as you would expect. That said,
the pitch mechanically works the opposite of a straight change-up. Generally,
a straight change-up is thrown with the same spin as a fastball, but around
10 mph slower. The hitter is fooled because he sees the same spin, thinks
fastball, and swings way too early for a ball thrown much more slowly. The
"drop" you see from the straight change is produced by gravity, not the spin
of the ball. Because the the ball is thrown more slowly, it is in the air
long and gravity has more time to work its magic.
黑田最棒的變化球是他的指叉球。它的作用如同變速球，就像你想的一樣，
黑田比較常拿來對付左打者。但它的投球機制跟垂直變速球相反。通常，垂直變
速球以和速球相同的旋轉投出，但球速慢了10mph。 打者常會被愚弄：因為他看
到相同的旋轉，以為是速球，就造成了提早揮棒。垂直變速球的「下墜」，是由
重力所造成的，而非球的旋轉。因為球速比較慢，滯空時間較長，重力就有更多
機會來施展它的魔法。
Kuroda's splitter produces the downward movement with spin and not gravity.
Kuroda throws his splitter at about 88 mph, so it is in the air for a shorter
time than an 83 mph change-up would be. The downward movement comes from the
spin and you can see the difference in vertical movement compared to his
fastball. For comparison look at Tom Glavine's straight change. So here the
batter sees a velocity that matches up with a fastball velocity but still
swings over the pitch because of the lesser vertical movement. This will be
an important pitch for Kuroda going against the Phillies in the NLCS, so keep
an eye out for it.
黑田的指叉球主要是以旋轉，而非重力，來製造向下位移。黑田能投出88mph的
指叉球，滯空時間會比83mph的變速球還短。向下位移是來自旋轉，你可以從和速球
的垂直位移差距比較出來。最好的對照組就是Tom Glavine的垂直變速球。現在打者
看到一顆速度符合速球的球種，但仍然因垂直位移較少而揮棒落空。 這會成為黑田
在國聯冠軍賽面對費城人時的決勝球種，值得去注意。
The slider, or shuuto, Kuroda throws is a type of pitch I have talked about a
lot before. It tends to be a harder slider without much horizontal movement
away from right-handed batters. I am generally not a fan of a pitch like this
because for a slider to be a truly effective strikeout pitch it needs to
start on the outside corner and then move out of the zone, fooling the
right-handed batter into swinging. Kuroda, however, has that ability in his
slider.
黑田的Slider，或Shuuto，是我以前曾大量討論的球種。它比較傾向於一種高速
滑球，沒有跑向右打者外側的大量水平位移。我不是這種球的粉絲，因為滑球要成為
有效的三振球種，就必須設定在外角，然後靠位移跑出好球帶，引誘右打者揮棒。但
黑田的滑球，一樣有這種能力。
You can see that it can be thrown with quite good horizontal move and even
some vertical drop. Kuroda accomplishes this by adding or subtracting spin
from the ball and previous scouting reports note this ability, so we can
assume he has good control over this. If Kuroda wants to throw the slider for
a strike, he can reduce the spin and keep the slider on the outside corner.
If he wants to use it as a strikeout pitch, he can add spin and get the
horizontal movement you see in good sliders. While Kuroda tends to hold back
on the splitter until he is ahead in the count, he will throw his slider in
any count. The ability to use this pitch as a get-me-over breaking ball and
as a wicked strikeout pitch is a huge advantage for him.
你可以發現，它具有相當不錯的水平位移以及一些垂直下墜。黑田是靠增加或
減少球的轉速來完成這項功能。之前的球探報告注意到這項特質，我們可以假設他
有很好的控球力。如果黑田想用滑球搶好球數，他會減少轉速，並把滑球鎖定在外
角。如果他想拿滑球來當三振球種，他會增加轉數，得到優良滑球的水平位移。當
黑田想保留指叉球到球數領先時才使用，他會在任何球數時投出滑球。能切換滑球
的兩種使用方式：製造出局的變化球與令人驚艷的三振球種，是黑田相當有利的特
質。
結論
Conclusions
While some other pitchers have struggled moving from Japan to America, Hiroki
Kuroda has made a seamless transition. The fact that he throws more
straightforwardly than most Japanese pitchers is likely a good reason why.
With an above- average fastball (especially his sinker) and a very good
splitter, he can keep the ball on the ground for the most part. While his
slider can be thrown for strikes, he also can use it as a strikeout pitch.
Kuroda should be effective going forward for the Dodgers and could be a key
pitcher against the Phillies because of all their strong left-handed bats.
其他投手都曾遭遇從日本到美國的困境，黑田博樹卻毫無接縫地適應了。他的
投球風格比多數日本投手都還要直來直往，也許是主要因素。他擁有高於平均的速
球(尤其是Sinker)與非常棒的指叉球，大多數時候都能把球留在地面。他的滑球可
以用來搶好球數，也可以拿來當三振球種。黑田對道奇的奪冠之路將非常有助益，
也是迎戰費城人的關鍵投手。因為費城人有一票強力左打。