Baseball is a global sport. Imagine if we didn’t have the talent that came out of Latin America or Asia. The 2018 Yankees will feature starters from Cuba, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Japan, and the Netherlands, in addition to the US. We have seen star players from the Asian leagues come to the US, and while that has been going on now for decades, we increasingly see fringe MLB players choose to go to Korea and Japan and get some big paydays. I decided to take a look at some former Yankees and how they are playing in the next best leagues in the world, meaning the Nippon Baseball League (NPB) in Japan and the Korean Baseball organization (KBO). Eight former Yankee major leaguers played in those leagues in 2017.

Pitchers

Ryota Igarashi: Igarashi originally started his career in Japan and threw a grand total of 73 innings in the majors with most of those coming for the Mets but he did throw 3 innings for the Yankees in 2012 before going back to Japan. He now pitches for Softbank, setting up for former big leaguer Dennis Sarfate who won the Pacific League MVP for 2017.

Phil Coke: I believe Coke is the most recent Yankee to go to Japan, he actually pitched in the majors for the Yankees in 2016, which I had completely forgotten about. Obviously Coke was with the Bombers in 2009 when they won the World Series before being shipped off to the Tigers as part of the Curtis Granderson trade; he closed two games against the Yankees in the 2012 ALCS but overall wasn't a particularly interesting big league middle receiver. He went to Japan in 2017 and pitched 23 and two third of not great innings for the Orix Buffaloes. This one is a little bit of a cheat because the Buffaloes cut Coke earlier this month.

David Huff: Huff actually pitched 73 2/3 innings for the Yankees between 2013 and 2014 made two starts and actually pitched pretty well in relief for the team in 2014 out of the Bullpen. He pitched 39 innings of 1.85 ERA ball for the team but his 4 FIP was definite indicator that this was a fluke. But the thing I always remember best about Huff is that he was the Indians pitcher who got nailed in the head by a line drive by Alex Rodriguez in 2010 and was carried out on a stretcher; but despite how scary it was at the time he didn’t even miss a start. Huff spent 2016 and 2017 with the LG Twins of the Korean League pitching 200 innings with a 2.66 ERA in a very hitter friendly Korean League; this offseason Huff signed with the Yakult Swallows of the NPB for $1.3 million so best of luck to him.

Hector Noesi: I assume everyone remembers Hector Noesi, he was at one point a pretty big Yankees prospect and part of the Michael Pineda-Jesus Montero trade and pitched 56 innings for the Bombers in 2011. He did not do well in Seattle between 2012 and 2014, it did look like he had turned things around with the White sox in 2014 when he made 27 below average starts for the team, but he was terrible in 2015. He went to Korea in 2016 and has turned into an ace for the Kia Tigers, posting a 3.44 ERA in 408 innings between 2016 and 2017 in a very hitter friendly league. Kia won the 2017 Korean Series with Noesi starting the clinching game five for the Tigers. There is a great article about the changes Noesi has made to be successful in the KBO here.

Batters

Brandon Laird: Laird was a personal favorite prospect of mine when he was in the system and won the Eastern League MVP in 2010, I really wanted them to call him up with how bad the 2010 Yankees DH's were. But he never did anything in his time with the Yankees and was claimed off waivers by the awful 2012 Astros. He never got much playing time for the 2012 or 2013 Astros who lost a combined 218 games and if you can't crack that roster you probably aren't going to do much in the MLB. He signed a one year deal for only about $600,000 in 2015 with the Nippon Ham Fighters and played with Shohei Ohtani, they won the 2016 NPB championship and Laird was named the Nippon series MVP. He has hit 105 Home Runs in three seasons in the NPB and won a years supply of beer for hitting a Kiren Beer sign in a game back in 2016. Laird is making over $2 million a year in Japan which is certainty more than he would make in the US considering his career 69 OPS+.

Zelous Wheeler: Wheeler played 29 games for the not very good and very boring but hey Jeter retirement tour 2014 Yankees. The thing I remember the best is that he hit a home run in his MLB debut against the Twins, but he didn’t do much that year in the majors outside of that game despite my girlfriend at the time having high hopes for him. He was sold to the Rakuten Golden Eagles in the offseason, going to Masahiro Tanakas former team, and has spent the last three seasons there alternating between the hot corner and the Outfield for most of that time but playing exclusively at 3rd base in 2017. I would guess the mostly career minor leaguer is loving making a $900k in front of huge crowds in Japan, Rakuten set an attendance record for the club with 1.7 Million fans coming over the course of the year, rather than playing AAA for relative peanuts in the US.

Casey McGehee: McGehee played twenty-two games for the 2012 Yankees and was very bad, somehow getting -0.7 WAR during that time. He played 2013 with Masahiro Tanaka for the Rakuten Golden Eagles before coming back to the MLB and having a pretty good 2014 with the Marlins before having a terrible 2015 and 2016 with the Marlins, Giants and Tigers. He signed with the Tokyo Giants and played at 1st, 2nd and 3rd for the most well known of the NPB clubs and led the team in dingers.

Luis Cruz: Cruz had a very good season in 2012 with the Dodgers but promptly crashed back to earth in 2013 and spent a month with the Yankees in 2013 after he was cut by the Dodgers. He went to the NPB in 2014 playing with the Chiba Lotta Marines and fellow former Yankee Chad Huffman in 2014 and 2015. The next two years Cruz had injury issues and he only played 81 games in 2016 and 22 in 2017, he’s now said he won’t be returning to the NPB in 2018.

Obviously, the NPB and the KBO aren't the MLB. The baseball is a little different, and the strategies certainly are. Their fans like to have fun at games, while we seem to think sullen silence is the only way to enjoy baseball. But I think its great that baseball is so big there and that some of these guys who couldn't cut it in the MLB have been able to be stars oversees. All twelve Japanese clubs had better attendance in terms of average and total last year than Miami, Oakland, Tampa and the White Sox. Miami and Tampa might drop to a little over a million next year which is what the top clubs in Korea draw. The Tokyo Giants and Hanshin Tigers both had over 3 million fans, which would be in the top ten in the MLB, plus the NPB has a 143 game schedule, which is ten fewer home games than the MLB. My point is that while these leagues might not be at the level of the MLB, these guys are stars and have way more fans/interest than if they were a platoon bat in Oakland and might be making more money too. So kudos to these former Bombers.