Skip to main content

The Chico Outlaws' Girl Pitcher Gimmick

Sprinkled with former big leaguers and career minor leaguers striving to be recognized by a Major League organization, the attention of fans and media, regarding the Golden Baseball League, seems to be focused on the league's 18-year-old female pitcher. Eri Yoshida's knuckleball got her recognized at age 16 and allowed her to become the first female drafted by a Japanese professional baseball team. Just a couple years later, Yoshida is a professional pitcher in North America.

Plenty of hype surrounded the teenager, after she pitched in 11 games last year for the Kobe Cruise 9 and later earned a victory for Yuma in the Arizona Winter League. Yoshida signed with Chico, of the Golden Baseball League, in April this year and made her debut as an Outlaw in May.

Since then, batters in the independent league have figured out Yoshida's deceptive style. In 3 outings from July 23rd-August 1st, Yoshida allowed no fewer than 6 earned runs each time out. Making her first road start for Chico, Yoshida walked 7 batters in 2 1/3 innings in a recent outing against Victoria. The appearance against Victoria, in British Columbia Canada, made Yoshida the first female to pitch professionally in 3 countries.

Despite the rough stretch this summer, Yoshida, nicknamed "The Knuckle Princess", donated the jersey she wore and the bat she used to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, to be included in a "What's Happening Now in Baseball" display. The items share a case with the cap that Washington Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg wore in his Major League debut in June.

Still looking for her first GBL victory, Yoshida, who stands 5-feet-1-inch tall, has posted a 0-3 record with a 12.68 ERA through 7 games with Chico. A starter, Yoshida has lasted 5 innings only once this season. The Outlaws' pitching staff only has 3 pitchers with ERA's over 4.37 and Yoshida's ERA is nearly 5 runs higher than her next closest teammate.

I recently spoke with manager of the Philadelphia Phillies' Single A affiliate, former Major League catcher, Mark Parent, who previously managed the Outlaws, about Chico's lady hurler. Parent wasn't very familiar with Yoshida, but is friends with current Chico manager, Garry Templeton, another former Major Leaguer, and offered up some pity for his pal. "That must be a head ache," Parent said of the circus atmosphere that goes along with having a female pitcher at the professional level.

Many would be hard pressed to not admit Yoshida's presence on the Outlaws pitching staff is not a gimmick to help draw attention to the team and increase attendance. Nettleton Stadium, the Outlaws' home park, was filled nearly to its capacity of 4,200 for Yoshida's debut, which is roughly twice the typical Chico attendance figure. The team and its league are surely receiving more attention because of Yoshida's presence than they have at any other time. No wonder the Outlaws announced 10 days in advance, on Tuesday, that Yoshida is slated to make her next start on August 20th.

Efforts to exploit a situation aside, there's surely nothing wrong with giving someone a chance. However, when a carnival act proves costly by hurting the team's chances of winning and keeps a more deserving player from receiving a chance to shine, perhaps the plug should be pulled on the princess' opportunity.

__________________________________________________

Follow PhoulBallz.com on Twitter HERE.


BallHype: hype it up!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

PhoulBallz Q&A with Mike Stutes

Mike Stutes completes "The Reading Phils Mike Tri-fecta" over three days, here on PhoulBallz.com. Stutes, a 22 year old, was an 11th round selection by the Phillies in the 2008 amateur draft. Stutes, a right handed starting pitcher, helped lead Oregon State to the College World Series championship in both 2006 and 2007. Stutes and teammate Vance Worley are the first players to begin a season at Reading the year after being drafted since Pat Burrell did it in 1999. Stutes was the Phils' minor league pitcher of the month in August '08, when he went 4-1 with a 1.72 ERA in 6 starts. Check out my Q&A with the third Mike below. Can I get you to talk about the coaching staff and how they help you deal with ups and downs? They've been real positive with me. I started out good and then I hit a rough patch. They've stuck with me through it all. I haven't heard any negative words from them. Every day they try to come out, work with me, try to get me turned around...

Jason Knapp Q&A

PhoulBallz .com was fortunate enough to meet with Phillies prospect Jason Knapp just one day after he caught the attention of the baseball world with his 7 shut out innings, 14 strike out performance against the Indians' Lake County team. - I asked Jason, the Lakewood BlueClaw , for some thoughts about his big game... I had pretty good command of three pitches (fastball, curve, change up). I was on the same page with my catcher, D'Arnaud , and I ended up, ya know, I felt pretty good. - In a great performance like that, how much credit goes to Travis D'Arnaud , the catcher? More than you might expect, definitely. I didn't shake him off once. He told me what to throw and I do what I'm told. And if it works out, a lot of the credit goes to the catcher. - Does the lack of run support (Lakewood has scored 3 total runs in his 3 starts), in your few starts, increase your stress level, or enhance your focus? No, I just try to go out and do my job every outing. Ya know, we...

Yankees Fans Misled By Pepsi Promotion

**** Today, New York Yankees fans attended a Pepsi promotion in Times Square hoping for chances to win opening day tickets to the new stadium, but the tickets, which were difficult to track down due to poor organization on Pepsi's part, were actually for a game in June. Furthermore, the 250 pairs that were promised were actually only 100 pairs. The fans, who were made to sprint through traffic over multiple city blocks when locations for the promotion changed, quickly turned against the soda brand by pooring out their beverages and chanting anti-Pepsi phrases. Yankees fans are even threatening a boycott of Pepsi. An appearance by Yankee great Goose Gossage could not even settle the angry mob, as he had to be whisked away, as a precaution, according to the Daily News . Ooo , I'd hate to see what "the worst fans in sports" (Philadelphia fans) would have done to their free Pepsi cans and beloved reliever in that situation. Because this happened in a non-Philly city, th...