It wasn't long ago that Pittsburgh Roadrunners first baseman Toby Noguchi (cousin of former big league reliever Tetsuhiro Noguchi) was threatening the single-season home run record in the WPK, only to fall short and finish the 1983 season with 51 bombs, which is at present the second highest single season total. (Rookie Phoenix slugger Hyeong-uk Chun is sitting at 50 at the moment and will surely exceed Noguchi soon and is likely to fly past Devin Schwisow's 54 from 1977 which is the current record.)
Noguchi's best season was 1983 when he had a slash line of .265/.334/.587 and a WAR of 4.7. While he followed that up with a 31 homer season and then a 43 homer season in 1985, his career slash line is now .224/.296/.496 and he has led the league in strikeouts 3 straight seasons and likely will again this season. Prodigious power is his calling card and pretty much his only valuable skill.
Yesterday he slugged 4 homers. He can do that sort of thing on occasion. Too bad he's pretty much a one-trick pony.
Former Brewer staff ace Sadahige Kawasaki, a 2-time MGL Harris/Lee award winner, is having something of a comeback season with El Paso at age 38. While his performance is far from the dominance of his prime, he does have a respectable 12-11 record with a 4.15 ERA. The numbers were much better prior to August, as he has lost 3 of his 4 August starts and wasn't very good in the one no-decision. Still, given that he was at least a borderline Hall of Fame candidate prior to his steep decline last season, when the Brewers unceremoniously released him in early May, this season has helped to pad some of his career stats just enough to maybe push him over the edge into legit HOF candidacy.
Either way, Kawasaki has let it be known that this is his last season as a professional ballplayer so any last push to boost his credentials will have to happen in the next month and a half or so.
