Now that we are getting closer to the start of exhibition games in Japan I thought it would be a good time to educate everyone with some Japanese Baseball Terminology.

Let me start by saying that in Japan you will hear the term Pro-Yakyuu a lot. This is short for Professional Yakyuu with Yakyuu meaning baseball.

One of the first things that confused me when watching a baseball game in Japan was the ball-strike count. For example when you watch MLB baseball and you hear or see a count as 3-1 you know it is 3 balls and 1 strike. In Japan no such count exists! A count of 3-1 in Japan would actually be a strike out or sanshin. So when you hear or see a count in Japan keep in mind that strikes are always the fist number.

Here are a few more:

Your favorite players uniform number would be his sebango or “back number”.

A rookine is know as a shinjin or “new man”.

A double play is getto-tsuu or “get two”

Great Pitch: zekkohkyuu

Here is a link to some more Japanese Baseball Terminology if you want to expand your vocabulary further.

The countdown continues…2 days until the first baseball game of 2008!