Ryota Igarashi - Swallows Man?!

Now, before you all go and begin with your juvenile jokes... well, okay, I'll wait a second and let you make them.

Finished? Okay.

I first heard about Ryota Igarishi's alter-ego of Swallows Man on Monday when reading a excellent piece on him by Adam Rubin of the Daily News. If you haven't, I would recommend you click through to read it. Anyway, this is the part that really caught my attention:

During his 11-year career with the Yakult Swallows, Igarashi would wear a WWE-style mask and take on the persona of "Swallows Man." A photo of him in character is on his Japanese-language Web site (http://ryo-ta.way-nifty.com/swallowsman/).

"When it was cold, I would practice with the mask on," he says through the interpreter.

Seriously?! Where do we find these guys?! From Tsuyoshi Shinjo, underwear model, to Mr. Koo, we seem to bring Japanse players over to the states based solely on personality (not a strategy that I am against).

In any event, the website is amazing. And that's just judging from the pictures. Take a look.

Luckily, we were able to ask our resident Japanese-speaker and Fonzie contributor, Brian Jackson, to translate the most recent diary entry. Here is what he got back to us with:

The guy that writes it is Swallows Man. It's actually a farewell letter.

------------------
November 16, 2009

Yesterday, Ryota declared free agency and his intent to take on the challenge of the Major Leagues.

As Swallows Man, I love the Swallows so I am a little sad, but I cheer Ryota for following his dreams!!

And so...

I, Swallows Man, inspired by Ryota's ambition, have decided to go to the Major Leagues of Pro Wrestling: Mexico.

To everyone who has supported me to date, thank you very much.

I was so happy that, as fellow supporters of Ryota, that you supported Swallows Man as well.

With a grateful heart, I would like to make a gift to my beloved fans: the Swallows Man mask.

The webmaster will provide the details.

Even though I will be in Mexico, my support for the Swallows and Ryota will not change!!!!

Thank you very much <3

Signed,

Swallows Man, who loves the Swallows
---------------------

The rest is instructions from the webmaster on how to enter the contest to win the Swallows Man mask.

I mean, how can you not just be compeletely in love with this guy already? That is hysterical. Although he mentions in the Rubin article that he does not plan on bringing his alter ego to the states ("Igarashi then deadpans in his limited English: "New York Mets Man. New face."), it appears that, should the season take a turn for the worst, we'll at least have someone interesting to keep tabs on.

Ryota Igarashi

Bart Hubbuch of the New York Post earlier this evening retweeted a tweet from NPB Tracker, which said the following:

Despite Mets reports, Japanese media has Red Sox in the lead for Igarashi with a 2-year, $2-3m deal. http://bit.ly/5unDYw

If you clicked on that link you may notice is it not in English. In fact, it is not. Good job! It's actually in Japanese. So I emailed our resident Japanese expert, Brian Jackson. Jackson, who speaks Japanese fluently, translated for us:

the article basically says:

the Red Sox offered Igarashi a two year deal reportedly worth 2 - 3 million dollars. the Mets and Phillies have made offers too but the Red Sox are the front runners right now. He trains at the same place as Dice-K, who has described Red Sox camp to him.

The Red Sox have Papelbon, Okajima and Bard who are solid, but they are looking for someone reliable to pitch the 6th and 7th innings.

One point of appeal to Igarashi is that with Dice-K and Okajima already on the team, they would be the first American team with three Japanese pitchers.

He went with Dice-K to the Athletes Performance Institute in Phoenix today to start training to be in shape for camp.

The Mets and Phillies are still possibilities but the Red Sox appear to be in the lead. Igarashi says that American teams change their minds a lot, so you don't know what's going to happen until you sign.

Oh those bipolar American teams...

It seems like the Red Sox seem like a natural fit for Ryota Igarashi. Damn.