Changing the Culture

Japanese slugger Yoshitomo Tsutsugo writes and speaks out against abusive training tactics in Japanese amateur baseball:

Tsutsugo’s priorities off the field are focused on improving Japanese baseball at the grass-roots level. He’s written a book on the subject and spoke at length about it at Friday’s press conference.

Marathon pitching efforts, grueling practices and even corporal punishment are all too common in Japanese amateur baseball and Tsutsugo says it all needs to change to keep the sport growing in Japan. Baseball is still Japan’s most popular sport but recent numbers show high school participation is declining.

“I’ve seen cases where coaches scream at kids and even become violent,” Tsutsugo said. “Coaches and children need to respect each other in order for children to make progress.”

Noting there were pitch counts when he represented Japan at the World Baseball Classic, Tsutsugo said he’d like to see rules making pitch counts mandatory at all levels of Japanese baseball.

FoxSports.com

I suspect that will be a tough sell, but it is good to see a star player taking on the situation.

from baseballmusings.com http://bit.ly/2CKrByt