SEATTLE – When Ted Heid picked up Kenji Johjima at Sea-Tac Airport last weekend, he learned immediately that the Seattle Mariners’ new catcher is prepared for the challenge.
They spoke in Japanese on the drive from the airport and Heid, the Mariners’ director of Pacific Rim operations, offered a suggestion.
“I told him, ‘If you want to hit a home run with the Seattle media, you should speak in English at your press conference,” Heid said.
Johjima looked at Heid and replied, “What do you think of this?”
He spoke a few sentences of broken but easily understandable English.
“I asked him, ‘How long have you been working on this?’ ” Heid said. “He said he’d done it on the flight over here. I mean, he just rattled it off.”
Tuesday at Safeco Field, where Johjima met the Seattle-area media for the first time, he rattled off an opening statement in English, flashing a confident and magnetic smile much of the time.
“How is everybody? How are you doing? Thank you for coming today,” he began. “My name is Kenji Johjima, from Sasebo, Japan. I am very happy to sign with Mariners. I like Seattle city and Safeco Field. I love baseball. I want to succeed in the big leagues. Thank-you.
“Do you have questions? In Japanese?”
In the back of the room, the man who scouted Johjima extensively in Japan smiled.
“It just tells you how much he’s thinking ahead about this,” Heid said.
“This” is a challenge that goes beyond saying a few hello-how-are-yous in English or being the new catcher in town.
Johjima, who turns 30 on June 8, will become the first Japanese catcher to play in the major leagues, and expectations are high. The Mariners are paying him $16.5 million over the next three years, figuring he will bring a quality bat to the offense and a veteran’s presence in steering the pitching staff. He was a career .299 hitter in 11 seasons and won seven Gold Gloves with the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks.
His transition to the major leagues has included a crash course in English since he signed in November and an intense study of the Mariners’ pitching staff and American League hitters.
“If didn’t think I could do it, I wouldn’t be here,” Johjima said. “I will try hard to learn English, but there are other ways to communicate besides the language. I will get to know all the pitchers. The job of catching is the same, whether in Japan or the United States. It starts with your relationship with pitchers.”
Johjima plans to meet soon with retired catcher Dan Wilson to learn the pitching staff. He also has a well-thought-out plan to make himself ready for the season.
“He and I have had quite a few discussions the past couple of days,” Heid said, “and the thing I’m most impressed with is that when he told me his plan of attack, he nailed it right on.”
Foremost, Johjima told Heid, “I’m here for the Mariner pitchers. I’m going to do whatever it takes to learn the pitchers so they can be the best they can possibly be on the mound. After that, I’m going to concern myself with the opposing hitters, specifically the American League West. If we don’t beat the American League West, it doesn’t matter. Then, if there’s time after that, I’ll worry about my hitting.”
Heid smiled again.
“That’s a pretty good plan of attack and it’s very impressive to hear,” he said.
Johjima also arrives with some concern over his health. He suffered a broken left leg on Sept. 22 and, earlier in the season, missed two weeks because of a sore shoulder.
Mariners trainer Rick Griffin said both the leg and shoulder are fine and that Johjima will participate in full workouts when spring training begins next month.
Until then, Johjima will devote much of his time learning the language, the division, the league and, most important, the Mariners’ pitching staff.
“Baseball is a game played with your eyes, and he’s not a rookie with his eyes,” Heid said. “The thing that I wrote highest in my reports on him is that the pitching staff of the Softbank Hawks was his staff, it wasn’t the pitching coach’s staff. He took a lot of pride in them, like it was his stable of ponies. He was tough on them, and in return they gave him everything.
“We haven’t had that for a long time because Dan Wilson hasn’t been healthy. But when Dan was going strong, that’s what we’re getting here.”
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