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But the WBC is as good an indicator as ever. Lots of 2-tool, 3-tool types that match up on the right roster, but no interesting 4/5-tool types.
Aoki is about the best you can get, and he's a poor man's Ichiro in the Japanese NL. The biggest difference is that Aoki has a notable curve on his eye ratios, but Ichiro had his from the top. But he's having a down year.
Nishioka, along with Kawasaki & Aoki, is having a career DOWN year.
Nakajima reminds me way too much of Kaz Matsui down to the uniform color, but with LESS speed numbers and glove work. That's probably just me being pessimistic, but Nakajima I don't consider significant.
There are very few new faces on the individual stats leader boards. The board is full of old faces hitting like they always do or old faces having hitting renaissances. And no new interesting faces either, other than Yomiuri hype jobs (Sakamoto doesn't excite me). Nakata was supposed to be the biggest hitter since Godzilla, but he hasn't figured out how to use a wood bat.
But pitching just keeps coming. HALF of the teams have ERAs under 3.75! No teams are over 4.75. The highest qualified starter has a 4.28 ERA. With Waseda's Yuki Saito heading up the next class, it's looking like pitching is where it's at.
NPB Deadball Era, here we come.