why don't asians dominate MLB?

[haplesshobo]

Does anybody have a explanation for that. Almost every year, its an Asian little league team that represents the world when they play america's best little league team. So, that means we were able to beat the latin american kids to get to the world series. And, the asians would utterly destroy the americans, 22-1.

Yet, you don't see that same dominance on the professional level when everybody grows up. yes, there's ichiro but and matsui, but those are the best of the best japanese players. after those players, there's a signifigant drop off in talent.

I can only think of several reasons

1) asians mature earlier than americans, and you see that difference in little league. if one nations' kids hit puberty earlier, they're going to be stronger and faster than the other nation's. but, i don't really think that's true.

2) american and latin american atheletes are stronger and bigger than asian athletes. i would think that might be a factor in other sports, where athletisim is the most important factor for success.

but, my image of baseball players are that they're less athletic and muscular than other professional athletes. it would seem its more important to be skillful than athletic. look at tony gwynn and david wells as examples of this.

[BeTheReds]

Does anybody have a explanation for that. Almost every year, its an Asian little league team that represents the world when they play america's best little league team. So, that means we were able to beat the latin american kids to get to the world series. And, the asians would utterly destroy the americans, 22-1.

Yet, you don't see that same dominance on the professional level when everybody grows up. yes, there's ichiro but and matsui, but those are the best of the best japanese players. after those players, there's a signifigant drop off in talent.

I can only think of several reasons




American Little League teams all feature kids from the same town, where it usually isn't necessary to try out for the local little league team. Even if you suck, you get to play. In cities that need more than one team to accomodate the kids, they usually have a training camp where they can gauge all the kids skills and try to make the teams as equal as possible. Either that or they divide alphabetically, but either way, all of the kids on any given little league team live within the same geographical area and are built with the league competition in mind, not with the international competition in mind. For this reason, usually its teams from really small towns representing the US. They have only enough resources to field one team, so they have a tryout and take the best of the small towns' kids.

In Japan, it's set up different. The international team is almost always from a large city (like Tokyo or Yokohama or for example). This is because they have city wide tryouts and divide the kids by talent. There's a top teir league of a few teams that take the best talent. If the kids don't make top teir league they can play for a second tier team, and if not the second tier, the third.


The International team from Japan usually has the very best of a very large city whereas the American teams usually have the very best from a small town. This population difference accounts for the success of Asian teams.

If America would restructure the little leages so that there is an elite league in each city for the best talent, and then scrub leagues so everyone else can get a chance to play, almost always, the team representing the US will be from a large city. It would probably contend very well with the large city based Asian teams.

1) asians mature earlier than americans, and you see that difference in little league. if one nations' kids hit puberty earlier, they're going to be stronger and faster than the other nation's. but, i don't really think that's true.


I'm glad you don't think this is true. The explanation for it is above.


2) american and latin american atheletes are stronger and bigger than asian athletes. i would think that might be a factor in other sports, where athletisim is the most important factor for success.


MLB teams take the best available talent possible from all over the world. The Japanese leagues take the best possible talent in Japan, have rules set up so that it is nearly impossible to play in the US (where the best competition is)until first completing 10 years with the Japanese team that drafted you (for some people, their whole career) and all teams restrict the number of foreigners who can play for them, meaning the talent level is restricted to basically the best in Japan, and a few of the best of the rest of the world who are not playing in MLB. Thus the Japanese league's competition isn't as good. If Japanese players were not controlled by the teams they were drafted to for 10 years, we would see a lot more of their elite in America, dominating MLB, especially the pitchers. Korean and Taiwanese teams have similar restrictions in place, and that's why they suck in respective order, because of population size.