INTERNATIONAL: An updated look at players from East Asia

Starting in 2008, the Baseball Forecaster has included an article on Japanese players, which eventually expanded into coverage of Korea and other areas of East Asia. (This year’s article is on page 230.) The main purpose is to help guide those in keeper/dynasty leagues in getting a jump on international players, who can be more advanced than younger rookies. 

Of course, the system makes it difficult to predict possible jumps from East Asia to the majors. Not only are we trying to evaluate talent, but we have to deal with a posting system which highly restricts a player's free agency. It's not helpful to discuss the best player in Japan if there is little chance he will be coming to the majors. Nor is it helpful to accurately predict the...

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