While some talent evaluators aren’t high on Kei Igawa, Trey Hillman is.

Hillman, who managed the Nippon Ham Fighters to the Japanese title this season and is a former Yankee minor league manager, is impressed with the lefthander.

“I like him,” Hillman said from his Texas home last night. “He is a No. 3 or 4 for me. He has a strong lower half. We got to him when we faced him, but he didn’t get a few borderline calls, and that got to him. But not in a bad way. He has some fire in him and that’s good. He wants the ball and doesn’t want the ball taken away from him.” Asked for a scouting report on Igawa, Hillman said, “He has a high three-quarter arm action that allows him to sweep his breaking ball against lefties. He can get a little extra on the fastball even though he is at about 88 to 90 mph. I have seen him hit 91 to 92.”