Ryohei Tanaka, pitcher

Who is he?

A Japanese-born pitcher who joined the Orioles organization in 2009. Like most Japanese-born pitchers who aren’t the subject of a highly-publicized bidding war, Tanaka doesn’t have much of a fastball, but has command of adequate breaking stuff. His 29th birthday is in November of 2011.

Tanaka’s first American assignment was at AA Bowie, where he was okay; he returned to Bowie for the 2010 season and was terrible. He was demoted to High-A Frederick in 2011, and pitched fairly well (although, in all honesty, not as well as a 28-year-old should have pitched in High-A). He was promoted to make 6 relief appearances with Bowie and then to make two end-of-year starts at Norfolk. He gives up too many hits to have a decent shot at a major-league career.