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Article: Focusing in on Fukudome; Outfielder armed and dangerous, but is he real deal?
- Article from:
- Chicago Sun-Times
- Article date:
- November 18, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2007 Chicago Sun-Times. (Hide copyright information)
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There is widespread agreement that Kosuke Fukudome, a left-
handed hitting outfielder, is the best Japanese free agent on the
market. But what does that mean? Just how good is Fukudome? Could he
be the second coming of Ichiro Suzuki, as some have proclaimed?
"He's not at the superstar level like Ichiro, by any means," said
ESPN analyst Orestes Destrade. "That guy [Ichiro] is in another
world. But Fukudome will play an exceptional outfield, and he can
produce offensively at the major-league level. He also has very good
speed. He could steal 25-30 bases and be disruptive on the base
paths. And he'll score a lot of runs."
Destrade, a former major-league first baseman who also played
five ...