Meet the Sox

Tadahito Iguchi

The Sox’s second baseman (who I dubbed “The Emperor”) held his own as a rookie last season, and even at 32, there’s plenty of room to improve.

Overview:  Kenny Williams didn’t exactly luck into Iguchi, but he definitely got his way.  Williams was intrigued by the Japanese second baseman, who put up excellent power numbers in the Japanese major leagues, but his agent was asking for too high a price – a similar contract to three-year, $20.1 million deal Kaz Matsui signed with the New York Mets two years before.

After the Red Sox and Mariners declined to pursue Iguchi’s services, he resorted to a starting job with the Chicago White Sox for a two-year, $4.5 million contract.  Williams had nothing more to go on except his stats and some video footage.

If only video personals worked out so well.  Iguchi spent most of the year hitting second, and he handled that role admirably.  It wasn’t an easy job – Iguchi had to give up a lot of at-bats with sacrifice bunts, and had to take a lot of pitches as well.  His presence helped to stabilize the top of the order and helped ensure that the Sox would score just enough runs to win some ballgames.

Hitting:  Iguchi didn’t prefer to hit in the No. 2 hole – as an RBI and power guy in Japan, he liked to swing the bat.  But Ozzie Guillen had no choice but to bat him there, and he got the job done.  He often had to take pitches in order for Scott Podsednik to run, and spent a lot of at bats behind in the count before getting the chance to take the bat off his shoulder.

He flew out of the gates, batting .302 through the first two months of the season before cooling down in June.  From that point, he sustained an average between .270 and .285 almost the entire rest of the year.

Despite using an approach that was out of his comfort level, Iguchi managed to post decent power numbers – 25 doubles, six triples and 15 homers for a .438 slugging percentage.  While he only hit half as many homers as would be expected in Japan, he hit them at great times.  To name a few:

Aug. 4 – Eighth inning, solo shot gives Sox 5-4 lead.
Aug. 26 – 13th inning, two-run shot gives Sox 5-3 lead.
Oct. 1 – Seventh inning, three-run shot gives Sox 4-3 lead

And while he struggled during postseason play, he came up with one of the biggest hits of the year that also symbolized the kind of good fortune that blessed Soxtober.  After one-time White Sox Tony Graffanino let a sure double-play ball roll between his legs in the ALDS Game 2 against Boston, Iguchi capitalized with a three-run homer off one-time White Sox and perpetual fatty David Wells.  It gave the Sox a lead they wouldn’t relinquish, and helped to keep the Red Sox from ever gaining momentum.

Baserunning:  Iguchi was a smart, solid baserunner, stealing 15 bases and only getting thrown out five times.  I remember him getting picked off once, but I can’t recall any time he made a judgment error trying to take an extra base or getting caught between bags.

Defense:  Iguchi committed 14 errors at second base in his first big-league season, neither a great nor terrible number in and of itself.  Factored in with his limited range (his range factor and zone rating were among the lowest in the league), however, Iguchi was slightly below-average with the glove.  He excelled at turning double-plays, however, and the Sox finished with 166 twin killings, tied for third in the American League.  

It must be said that three of those errors came in an Aug. 29 game against Texas, so overall it's not like he comes anywhere close to hurting the team by playing a defensive position.

2006 Outlook:  Ozzie Guillen called Iguchi his MVP many times over the course of the season because his second baseman did what Guillen asked of him – he took pitches, bunted, and hit to the right side to move runners over.

It’s expected that Guillen will grant Iguchi his wish to hit lower in the order, and he’ll be swinging the bat more.  With the addition of Jim Thome, it is likely Iguchi won’t hit any higher than sixth.  That could be problematic, because even with average to above-average runners in front of him, he still hit into 16 double plays last year.  If Thome or Konerko are on base in front of him, that number could double.

Then again, he’ll probably be more of a flyball hitter in 2006.  He grounder-to-fly ratio was 1.46 in 2005, but with the pressure to hit to the right not an issue, he’ll probably hit more line drives and flies to left and center.  Should he hit lower, he should strike out less as well.  Cutting down on those 115 strikeouts should help Iguchi maintain his batting average while adding around 10 homers to his stat line.

Ultimately, I’d like to see Iguchi return to the No. 2 spot, but I’d still let him swing the bat.  Podsednik was caught stealing 23 times, often nullifying whatever Iguchi was trying to do with that at-bat to begin with.  If Pods swings like he did in October, he’ll have more extra-base hits and he won’t have to steal as often, and that’ll let Iguchi do whatever he can with the bat.  And as he showed throughout the season, there’s a lot he can do.