First Look at Igawa

The Yankees' latest Japanese import, Kei Igawa, who is currently slated to be the Bombers' fourth or fifth starter, took the mound in his first spring training start today and had an interesting outing. The left-hander gave up two runs in one-plus innings and struggled in a long first inning. He threw 38 pitches in the first inning and faced the first eight batters, walking three of them. But he also struck out three, accounting for all of his outs. He allowed only one hit, a leadoff single to left by Pudge Rodriguez, in the first, and was pulled after Sean Casey lined a single to start the second.

While he did walk three, Igawa was not as wild as his line may indicate. When he missed, he frequently missed by very little, and usually just on the inside. In fact, he threw most of his fastballs on the inside corner and missed by only a hair, including ball four to Ryan Raburn which drove in a run but looked like a pretty good pitch.

Most notably, Igawa debuted his impressive changeup, which seemed to confuse the right-handed hitters. Instead of dipping to the left, as changeups tend to do, Igawa's has late action dipping to the right, towards the toes of right handed hitters. The action almost looks like a curveball. His fastball was average, just hitting 90 on the radar.

• In his much anticipated reunion with the Yankees, Gary Sheffield made a very loud noise in his first at-bat, drilling an inside pitch from Igawa deep over the left field fence. The ball was well foul, and he ended up walking, but the contact was quintessential Sheffield. He did it again in the fourth, sending a laser out of the stadium with a sound most hitters just don't make when they connect.

• I tell you who looks good this spring is Hideki Matsui, the Yankees left-fielder. He looks somewhat more chisled and focused as he looks to rebound from last year's injury-shortened season. In the second inning, he roped a Justin Verlander fastball over the right field fence for a two-run homer, a screamer that just cleared the wall on a line.

• The Tigers' sent out pitching prospect Andrew Miller in tbe fourth and he pitched well in two innings. He is a tall drink of water at 6' 6'' and has an easy motion. He seems poised to join Verlander and Jeremy Bonderman in what could be the next Big Three in the American League.