Kazuhito Tadano

Organization Prospect Rankings

• 
  Ranked Cleveland Guardians #12 prospect in 2004
  The first Japanese-born player signed by the Indians, Tadano's past created a stir in the midst of his professional debut last year. While at Rikkyo University in 2000, he and several of his teammates participated in a pornographic video that contained homosexual acts. Japanese teams ignored him in their 2002 draft after he was projected as an early first-round pick, and a couple of U.S. clubs interested in signing him backed off after learning of the video. The Indians excused the incident as a youthful mistake and took a chance on Tadano for the bargain price of $67,000. He certainly looks like a bargain so far. By all accounts, he fit in well with teammates at all three of his minor league stops in 2003. Tadano has numerous strengths, beginning with two plus secondary pitches, a slider and splitter. His fastball sits at 88-91 mph. He has been compared to countryman Shigetoshi Hasegawa, but with better command of his secondary pitches. Very durable, Tadano wants the ball every day and has a work ethic that's off the charts. His quick times to the plate make it difficult for baserunners to get good jumps against him, and just two tried to steal on him last summer. Tadano needs to improve his approach to lefthanders. He's also getting acclimated to the U.S. culture and spent part of the offseason in an English class in Tokyo. He'll compete for a big league bullpen job in spring training, and the Indians tried to defuse controversy about his past by making him available to the press in the offseason. The story will probably never go away, but it should become a footnote as Tadano makes a name with his ability.