Akinori

Iwamura

Iwamura is a candidate to be available through the posting system this winter. The Indians previously scouted him during the World Baseball Classic. They probably wouldn’t want him as a third baseman, as others would, but he could be capable of handling second base.

Iwamura wasn’t any good in April either, but now he’s killing the Pirates at the top of the order. If this keeps up, there will be revived talk of moving Andy LaRoche to second base. Such a move would open up the hot corner for top prospect Pedro Alvarez.

Iwamura has missed two straight games since coming down with a tight right hamstring over the weekend. There’s a chance he will return on Tuesday. If not, Delwyn Young will likely start at second base again

The injury isn’t expected to be serious enough to warrant a stint on the disabled list for Iwamura, but perhaps a few days off will do him some good. He’s hitting .159/.262/.230 since joining the Pirates this offseason.

He’s been slowed by a hamstring injury, but made a pinch-hitting appearance on Friday in which he struck out on four pitches. He may be back in the Pirates’ order Saturday.

LaRoche missed five straight games due to back stiffness. Neil Walker, who had played third base for each of the past two days, will slide over to second base while Akinori Iwamura takes a seat.

Iwamura is likely to return next week. He’s probably going to be the everyday third baseman after returning, putting Ty Wigginton into the DH spot most of the time.

Iwamura had an 11/16 K/BB ratio in 69 at-bats while hitting lowe in the order, but he’s at 41/16 in 173 at-bats as the leadoff man. While it was a worthy experiment, he seems better suited for batting sixth or seventh.

Whether the club’s top pick from 2006 breaks camp with the job or not, we’re virtually guaranteed to see him at some point in 2008. In fact, there was plenty of talk that Longoria was ready for the job this season, but the Rays opted to keep him in the minors all season. Splitting the year between Double-A and Triple-A, Longoria hit .299 with 26 homers and 95 RBI. Expect to see Longoria on plenty of pre-season ROY prediction lists. Akinori Iwamura will shift over to second base to accomodate the 21-year-old uber prospect.

He led off the game with a home run and later drove in another run with a sac fly. Iwamura, who added his sixth double, has driven in 10 runs in 34 games.