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Japanese born Sadao Yoshino is accustomed to travel and it’s a good thing because this young 24 year old pitcher has moved around quite a bit in his short professional career. Originally drafted by the Dallas Snappers organization in the 5th round of the 1984 first-year player draft, Yoshi, as he is called by teammates, spent a quick summer at A ball in Peoria, appearing in 7 games during his initial introduction to pro ball after the draft. He started the ’85 season at Peoria once again before learning in mid-June that he had been involved in a huge trade between the Snappers and the Windy City Playboys (Rodenas/MacOwl for Yoshi/Manolo Alveraz/1st and 3rd rd picks). Some saw him as a throw in at the time, because he was so far away from the possibility of reaching his potential.
He spent the remainder of that ’85 season at Janesville where he would start out once again in ’86. Some young pitchers take a few years to get accustomed to the grind one must go through while trying to develop not only arm strength/endurance, but an arsenal as well. He kept his head down and worked hard, knowing that a good showing early on could earn him a promotion to AA and allow him to mark off one more checkpoint in his journey to the BLB. Yoshi earned that promotion to AA midway through ’86 and finally began showing signs of breaking through as a strikeout pitcher that season, seeing his K/9 rate jump from 4.57 to 7.40 after the promotion. The jump in “stuff” got scouts attention and there was close eye on him entering the ’87 season.
He began that year at AA Janesville once again and picked right up where he left off. It became apparent that he was going to develop good enough stuff, but the question remained whether he would ever be able to control it. That season at AA he raised his K rate once again to 9.93 and lowered his BB/9 to below 2.20. That combination earned him a late-season promotion to AAA which would remain his home to begin the following season, 1988. He continued to show good progress that year against the stiffer competition found at the highest level of the minors. He again struckout 9+ per 9 and posted a walk rate of around 2.5. It was enough to earn him a September callup for his first cup of coffee.
He was all set to return to AAA for the Playboys, believing he was right on the cusp of breaking through with the organization he had been a part of for 4 years when he got the news that he was being traded to Philadelphia in an arm swap related to the Tex McLerlan Rule V draft day trade. He was a bit shaken, worried that he was going to have to prove himself all over again to an entirely new organization from coaches, scouts and all the way up to the GM. The Philly front office assured him that he was targeted for a reason and that he was at the top of their list if any BLB vacancies presented themselves during the ’89 season.
Yoshi did his part to stay at the top of the list and can now proudly call himself the 1989 Philadelphia Freedom Minor League Pitcher of the Year. That BLB opportunity didn’t present itself this year, but Yoshi was a true professional and earned himself another September callup as well as a certain invite to Spring Training next season. With a little luck he has a shot to earn a spot in the rotation entering next year.
His AAA numbers on the year:
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</style><table class="tableizer-table"><tr class="tableizer-firstrow"><th></th><th>G</th><th>GS</th><th>W</th><th>L</th><th>
IP
</th><th>HA</th><th>HR</th><th>ER</th><th>BB</th><th>K</th><th>ERA</th><th>WHIP</th><th>QS%</th><th>K/9</th><th>B/9</th><th>K/BB</th></tr> <tr><td>Yoshino</td><td>26</td><td>26</td><td>11</td><td>5</td><td>166.1</td><td>141</td><td>12</td><td>54</td><td>36</td><td>180</td><td>2.92</td><td>1.06</td><td>.577</td><td>9.74</td><td>1.95</td><td>5</td></tr></table>What's Next: Yoshi will definitely start the ’90 season on the radar for a BLB job, whether that be in the starting rotation or a prominent role in the bullpen. There’s not much else for him to prove at this point in the minors as he enters next year at the age of 25. He may very well find himself in the #5/#6 spot to help break him into BLB level baseball.
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