Eri Yoshida Meets Tim Wakefield

Eighteen-year-old knuckleballer Eri Yoshida, the first woman drafted by a Japanese team, was in Fort Myers today to meet the man who inspired her to pitch.

Back in November 2008, Tim Wakefield said he hoped to see her pitch one day. Today, after Yoshida watched his side session, he returned the favour:

She spun a couple, but for the most part, it was very good. She was able to take the spin out of a lot of them and they had quite a lot of movement on them. ... I had seen film of her and I was pretty impressed at the film. But to see her in person and to actually see her throw, I was very impressed with how she threw and the knowledge she had on the knuckleball, because she told me she was self-taught. This is the first time she's actually ever had coaching throwing a knuckleball. I kind of know where she's at, because I was there when I first started throwing -- nobody knew what to do.

Yoshida:

I never thought I could ever feel this happy.

Yoshida spent the winter pitching for the Yuma Scorpions of the Arizona Winter League. In her second start, on February 11, she threw five shutout innings against Team Canada.

[Earlier JoS posts about Yoshida here, here and here.]