Posted by Michael Street on Wednesday, October 14, 2009 at 2:48 am

Now that the 2009 season’s done with, let’s take a look back and distribute the Pacific Perspectives All-Asian Awards.

2009 Asian Rookie of the Year

Although newbie Junichi Tazawa got most of the press, the rookie crown this year goes to Kenshin Kawakami, Atlanta’s first-year import. (And Tazawa’s measly 25.1 IP will allow him to remain a rookie for 2010).

In his 1998 debut with the Chunichi Dragons, Kawakami won the NPB Rookie of the Year award after going 14-6 with a 2.57 ERA. But Kawakami’s first year in MLB was 2009, making him officially a rookie, albeit one with more than 1600 professional innings under his belt.

In his first year with the Braves, he started out struggling, like a lot of rookies do. He went 3-6 in his first 9 starts, with a 4.73 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP before settling into the league.

In his next 16 starts, the Braves could only help Kawakami to a 4-4 record, but he dropped his ERA to a much more respectable 3.55 ERA and 1.26 WHIP. 10 of those outings were Quality Starts, showing how little Atlanta was hitting behind him.

Also like many rookies, Kawakami was shut down early, taken out of the starting rotation in September. Out of the ‘pen, KK dealt a 2.63 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP in 13.2 IP, recording his first career save in a four-inning win on Sept. 21 against the Mets.

Kawakami’s final line: 7-12, 1 Sv (1 blown), 3.86 ERA, 1.34 WHIP.  The Braves are looking for much more out of Kawakami next season, but this was a very nice debut for the 34-year-old righty.

2009 Kaneda (Asian Cy Young)

OK, it doesn’t seem right to name the top pitching prize after 511-game winner Cy Young, a gaijin, so I’m naming mine after Japan’s only 400-game winner,  Masaichi Kaneda.

For those who are wondering, the Cy Young equivalent in NPB is called the Sawamura Award, named after Japan’s first great pitcher, Eiji Sawamura, the Asian pitcher who struck out Charlie Gehringer, Foxx, Ruth and Gehrig in a row during an exhibition game.

Kawakami’s year was decent, and several Asian relievers had good years (they’ve got their own category below), but my vote for overall pitching performance, as well as sheer guts, goes to Hiroki Kuroda.

Kuroda put up another solid season in the Dodger rotation, with  a 7-9 record, with a 3.76 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, and 87 Ks against 24 BBs in 117 IP. Except for that last one, those numbers were all improvements over last year’s levels, and for a team that outpaced its division for almost the entire season.

But the reason that the IP number is down a notch goes back, in part, to August 15. On that night, the Dodgers were facing the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field, and Kuroda had dazzled the D-backs through five, surrendering just one hit, no walks, and striking out one.

Rusty Ryal stepped to the dish, pinch-hitting for Arizona starter Doug Davis to lead off the sixth, and worked the count to 2-2 after fouling off two Kuroda offerings. Kuroda threw a low outside fastball to Ryal, who ripped it right back through the middle—and right at Kuroda’s head.

Horrifyingly, the ball bounced off the side of Kuroda’s head, back to the backstop and over the low fence into the crowd behind home plate. Kuroda crumpled on the ground and rolled over with his hands over his head.

After several minutes of care by trainers, Kuroda left the field on a cart and was rushed to a hospital; it was the kind of injury where you’re not just concerned for a player’s season or his career, but for his life.

Yet Kuroda checked out clean after an MRI, and less than three weeks later, he was back on the mound pitching. And not only pitching, but pitching well. He finished the season with 5 more starts, putting up a 3-2 record, with a 2.69 ERA, 1.10 WHIP and 24 Ks against 7 BBs.

You might argue that Asian relievers might have had better numbers, but none of them had a bigger heart than Kuroda, which is why he gets my vote for the 2009 Kaneda Award.

2009 Asian Otaisan Reliever Award

So many relievers come from Japan that it only seems right to give out an award to the best Asian bullpen arm. And, like the Cy Young, it seems foolish to name it after a Western antacid, the way we do the Rolaids Relief Award (plus I ain’t gettin’ no promotional money from Rolaids!)

So I named mine after Otaisan, a Japanese stomach relief medicine, and there are several good candidates for the 2009 Otaisan.

Takashi Saito had a great comeback year for Boston, with 55.2 IP, a 3-3 record, with 3 holds, 2.43 ERA, and a 1.35 WHIP. And Hong Chi Kuo is sure to win this award when he can stay healthy; this season, he threw 30 IP, racking up 14 holds and 32 Ks for a 3.00 ERA and 1.13 WHIP.

Newbie Fu-Te Ni, the Detroit Tigers’ Taiwanese lefty, shot through the minors to rack up 31 innings in relief, finishing with a 2.61 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, and 3 holds. Look for him to get even better at the back end of the Tiger ‘pen, and perhaps snag an Otaisan in the future.

But the 2009 award goes to Boston’s setup man, Hideki “Okey-Doke” Okajima. His 6-0 record came from his 3.39 ERA and 1.26 WHIP, with 53 Ks and 21 BBs in 61 IP, and his 24 holds tied him for fifth in MLB.

Interestingly, his ERA was his worst in his three-year MLB career, as were his K and HR rates. But he’s still been amazing, and is certainly deserving of the 2009 Otaisan Award for the best Asian reliever.

2009 Asian MVP

This is a tough call, as there were several worthy candidates this year.

Kosuke Fukudome had a bounceback year, with a .259/.375/.421 that held up all season long, hitting leadoff at times and scoring 79 runs and knocking in 54. He remained steady even while shifting to full-time play in the outfield; earlier in the season, he’d been platooning with Reed Johnson, and he’d played RF last season.

Shin-Soo Choo showed that 2008 wasn’t a fluke, as he hit .300/.394/.489 for the Indians in his first full season. He’s emerged as an offensive force in the middle of their lineup with 87 RBI and 86 R (and the Asian Three True Outcomes champ, with 43% of his ABs resulting in a BB, K or HR).

And Hideki Matsui rampaged through another season for the Yanks. Though he stayed at DH all year long, it enabled him to remain healthy and post a .274/.367/.509 line that featured 28 HR, 90 RBI and 62 R. That SLG line was his best since 2004, and his HR and RBI rate were the best of his career.

Ichiro Suzuki set a record with a ninth straight season of 200 hits, collected his 2000th MLB hit, and fell just short (88 runs) of a ninth straight season of 200 H and 100 R. But he still ended with a .352/.386/.465 line, that BA second only to Joe Mauer, and his 11 HR his most in four years.

I prefer, however, to look at the purist’s “Most Valuable” designation—not to the player with the best overall numbers, but the one who contributed the most to his team’s success. Each of these players did his part, but when you look at WPA (Win Probability Added), the winner is clear:

• Fukudome     1.01
• Choo             2.11
• Matsui           1.44
• Ichiro             4.33

Not only that, but when you look at their Clutch stats, it’s clear who’s best when the chips were down:

• Fudukome    -0.53
• Choo             -0.58
• Matsui            0.05
• Ichiro              1.70

Both of those marks are the best in Ichiro’s career. Measured another way, Ichiro scored only nine more runs than Fukudome and one more than Choo, yet when you look at the percentage of runs each scored, compared to their team’s total runs scored, it’s also eye-opening:

• Fudukome   11%
• Choo           11%
• Matsui          7%
• Ichiro          13.8%

In fact, Ichiro ranks among the best in baseball, and is 2nd in the AL only to Brian Roberts, who collected 14.8% of Orioles’ runs.

In the NL, where pitchers mean run scoring is more heavily concentrated in other parts of the batting order, there are still only  five players who scored a higher percentage of their teams’ runs:

• Adrian Gonzalez, San Diego 14.1%
• Ryan Braun, Milwaukee 14.3%
• Michael Bourn, Houston 15.1%
• Ryan Zimmerman, Washington 15.4%
• Albert Pujols, St. Louis 16.9%

Those players, with the possible exception of Bourn, are certainly the MVPs of their respective teams, and Ichiro’s certainly the MVP of the Mariners—and the Asian MVP of 2009.

Thanks for a great season on Pacific Perspectives, and keep reading in the offseason as I look at next year’s possible Asian imports, as well as other ways the Far East is continuing to influence the Western game of baseball.