http://0rz.tw/b34TD
Anatomy of a player: Hiroki Kuroda
by Josh Kalk
October 07, 2008
广岛王牌－黑田博树
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).
黑田博树是近年来日本选手冲击的余波荡漾。 他悄悄和道奇签下了三年35M的
合约，包含一些额外津贴：搬家费用、英语课程、还有每年八张L.A.直飞日本的头
等舱机票。(好样的，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.
黑田已经33岁了，所以此行并没有得到太多国际注目。现在，随着他上次先发
在分区系列赛痛击小熊，黑田已经成为L.A.的焦点。我们来看看黑田在他漫长的日
本职业生涯后，Stuff变的如何？
Hiroki Kuroda(MLB成绩)
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.
黑田博树，1997年第二轮被广岛鲤鱼队选上。走出前几年的困顿后，黑田在先发
轮值取得一席之地，且表现亮眼。2006年，他宰制了整个联盟。不但缴出低于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).
尽管他表现优秀，鲤鱼队在他投球的11年间未曾进过季后赛。黑田是个控球型
投手，不但保送少，且擅长把球留在场内，虽然他待的是一个盛产全垒打的球场。
2007年球季后成为自由球员，他决定去美国投球。他选择了道奇，放弃水手。
(回头看看，这真是一个天大的好决定)
转换在日本的表现
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.
黑田签约的那一刻，就出现许多他能在大联盟投多好的合理怀疑。之前从日职
转战MLB的选手，都有保送率暴增的现象。 黑田需要维持低保送，特别是他并没有
足够多的三振来弥补。他在日本的最后一年，每九局三振率(K/9)是5.9，但每九局
保送率(BB/9)仅仅只有2.0，大约固定在三比一。 如果他的保送率上升，即使三振
率维持不变，也会遇上许多麻烦。
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.
结果黑田在道奇展现了美好的一年，帐面上的数字几乎跟前一年在日本一样理
想。(5.8 K/G 2.1 BB/G) 这是他的ERA维持3.73的关键，FIP甚至是更好的3.53。
对道奇付出的价码而言，他是便宜好用的即战力。能维持固定的产出，而且能预期
他在接下来的两年也有一样好的表现。
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.
黑田的球探报告有点难找，我所找到的都聚焦在他的评价。黑田会投二缝线及
四缝线速球、指叉球、及一颗曾被误认为shuuto的滑球。先来看看他的位移图。
(译注：shuuto，喷射球。一般是指一种内窜速球。)
原图：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。这很不寻常，通常会这两个球种的投手，
会把他们的Sinker投的比四缝线速球慢。 黑田常常试着把他的速球控在本垒板外侧
，所以他的Sinker是拿来对付左打者的。 Sinker有飘离左打者的良好尾劲。四缝线
则常拿来对右打者，因为它有些微向内角的水平位移。
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.
不像其他日本进口货，黑田不常使用逆向投球。很多日本投手喜欢在该投速球
的时机投变化球，在该投变化球的时机投速球。但黑田比较偏好在第一球、及球数
落后时投出速球。他在0好1坏、0好2坏、1好2坏、1好3坏时，有70％以上是投四缝
线或Sinker。这是他对速球充满信念的证据，一个非常稳定的球路、且有不错的速
度。这种投球风格，也许是他今年保送率并未暴增的原因。如果真是如此，这可以
成为未来日本投手的成功指标。
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.
黑田最棒的变化球是他的指叉球。它的作用如同变速球，就像你想的一样，
黑田比较常拿来对付左打者。但它的投球机制跟垂直变速球相反。通常，垂直变
速球以和速球相同的旋转投出，但球速慢了10mph。 打者常会被愚弄：因为他看
到相同的旋转，以为是速球，就造成了提早挥棒。垂直变速球的“下坠”，是由
重力所造成的，而非球的旋转。因为球速比较慢，滞空时间较长，重力就有更多
机会来施展它的魔法。
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转，而非重力，来制造向下位移。黑田能投出88mph的
指叉球，滞空时间会比83mph的变速球还短。向下位移是来自旋转，你可以从和速球
的垂直位移差距比较出来。最好的对照组就是Tom Glavine的垂直变速球。现在打者
看到一颗速度符合速球的球种，但仍然因垂直位移较少而挥棒落空。 这会成为黑田
在国联冠军赛面对费城人时的决胜球种，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，是我以前曾大量讨论的球种。它比较倾向于一种高速
滑球，没有跑向右打者外侧的大量水平位移。我不是这种球的粉丝，因为滑球要成为
有效的三振球种，就必须设定在外角，然后靠位移跑出好球带，引诱右打者挥棒。但
黑田的滑球，一样有这种能力。
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.
你可以发现，它具有相当不错的水平位移以及一些垂直下坠。黑田是靠增加或
减少球的转速来完成这项功能。之前的球探报告注意到这项特质，我们可以假设他
有很好的控球力。如果黑田想用滑球抢好球数，他会减少转速，并把滑球锁定在外
角。如果他想拿滑球来当三振球种，他会增加转数，得到优良滑球的水平位移。当
黑田想保留指叉球到球数领先时才使用，他会在任何球数时投出滑球。能切换滑球
的两种使用方式：制造出局的变化球与令人惊艳的三振球种，是黑田相当有利的特
质。
结论
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.
其他投手都曾遭遇从日本到美国的困境，黑田博树却毫无接缝地适应了。他的
投球风格比多数日本投手都还要直来直往，也许是主要因素。他拥有高于平均的速
球(尤其是Sinker)与非常棒的指叉球，大多数时候都能把球留在地面。他的滑球可
以用来抢好球数，也可以拿来当三振球种。黑田对道奇的夺冠之路将非常有助益，
也是迎战费城人的关键投手。因为费城人有一票强力左打。