The Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters have re-signed right-hander Drew VerHagen to a new contract, the team announced earlier this week. The 30-year-old will return to Japan for a second season after a successful 2020 campaign.
A veteran of six MLB seasons, VerHagen posted a 5.11 ERA, 2.08 K/BB rate, 53.9% grounder rate, and 7.1 K/9 over 199 innings with the Tigers from 2014-19. As you might expect for a groundball specialist, VerHagen’s performance tended to ebb and flow based on his BABIP, with his three highest single-season ERAs (in 2016, 2017, and 2019) coinciding with his three largest BABIP totals.
With his Major League career not making much progress, VerHagen signed with the Fighters last winter, saying that he was “excited” by the chance to work as a starting pitcher. (He started only eight of his 127 games with Detroit.) VerHagen took advantage of his new opportunity in 2020, posting a 3.22 ERA, 3.97 K/BB rate, and 9.3 K/9 over 111 2/3 innings for the Fighters.
So do they fight with ham or against ham?
I get it. I’d much rather experience an incredible culture and make solid money than tool in the minors hoping for another shot.
They fight as ham.
They only fight Nippon-Ham.
Everybody was Ham Foo Fighting
Has Nippon-Ham always been hyphenated? It makes it much easier that way to see that they’re the Fighters from Nippon-Ham instead of thinking they’re the Ham Fighters from Nippon, although the latter would probably be a cooler nickname.
It’s even better, they don’t really use geographic names… They’re sponsored by a ham packing company. So they are fighting on behalf of Nippon Ham.
Could be a nice signing if and when he decides to come back to the U.S.
Nope.
Nippon is japan i believe. Nippon professional basball
Should be able to build off this season with another strong season in 2021 and generate some MLB interest