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Japan Forward
6 days ago
- Sport
- Japan Forward
BayStars' Shugo Maki Plays a Key Role for the Reigning Champs
Every championship team needs a player like Shugo Maki. The Yokohama DeNA BayStars infielder was a big contributor to his team's Japan Series triumph in 2024 and is chipping in again this year in a big way. After a bit of a slow start, the BayStars turned it up a notch in May and headed into June in second place in the Central League standings, just 2½ games behind the front-running Hanshin Tigers. (Check out the updated standings on the NPB website.) Maki has been on fire of late and as of June 2, led the league with a .305 batting average, was second in RBIs with 36 and was second in homers with 10. Shugo Maki delivers a two-run double in the fifth inning against the Tokyo Yakult Swallows on May 18 at Jingu Stadium. (KYODO) His defensive skills at second base are among the best in the league. But it's not just his stats. Maki is a pure leader and you can tell by the way he interacts with his teammates that they look up to him. "He is clearly committed to doing what is best for the team," Yokohama manager Daisuke Miura said. "He brings a sense of stability to our lineup." You can't underestimate such contributions. Shugo Maki (©SANKEI) Shugo Maki Has Impressive Credentials The 27-year-old native of Nagano Prefecture was a member of Japan's championship team at the 2023 World Baseball Classic and is almost certain to be a member in 2026 when Japan will bid for a record fourth title. A three-time NPB All-Star and two-time Best Nine Award winner, Maki was selected in the second round of Japan's 2020 professional baseball draft. The BayStars had a brief power outage at the end of May when they were shut out in three straight games from May 25-28. During this stretch they lost 3-0 to the Hiroshima Carp before back-to-back 1-0 losses to Hanshin. They finally broke out of their slump on May 29 with a 5-1 win over Hanshin, a game in which Maki hit his eighth homer of the season. On the positive side, the team got some stellar pitching during these games. Andre Jackson (©SANKEI) Trevor Bauer (©SANKEI) Anthony Kay (©SANKEI) Strong Starting Pitching for the BayStars On May 27, Trevor Bauer went eight scoreless innings while striking out 12 batters and giving up just four hits and three walks in a no-decision for the former Cy Young Award winner. The next night, Anthony Kay gave up one run on five hits while striking out five over six innings to end up as the hard-luck loser against the Tigers. This season, Kay, Bauer and Andre Jackson have been three outstanding starters for Miura. Kay is 4-2 with 44 strikeouts and a 1.15 ERA, and Jackson is 5-1 with 50 strikeouts and a 1.27 ERA. Bauer, who deserves a better record, is 3-3 with 60 strikeouts and a 3.30 ERA. Kay and Jackson are first and third, respectively, among ERA leaders in the Central League as of June 2. Luke Voit in a March 2024 file photo. (D. Benjamin Miller/CCO 1.0/via WIKIMEDIA COMMONS) Eagles Get a Boost From Voit On the eve of their interleague showdown with the BayStars, the struggling Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles acquired former New York Yankees standout Luke Voit, according to Sports Nippon. The Eagles are in fifth place in the Pacific League with a 23-26-1 record, six games back of the front-running Hokkaido Nipponham Fighters. The acquisition of Voit should give them some much-needed pop in their lineup. In the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season, Voit led the American League in home runs (22). Voit spent the 2024 season in Mexico where he hit 23 homers and had 57 RBIs for Olmecas de Tabasco. At 34, his big league career is likely over but he could be a nice fit for the Eagles as they bid to stay in contention. Hokkaido Nipponham Fighters slugger Franmil Reyes belts a walk-off home run in the ninth inning against the Chiba Lotte Marines on June 1 at Es Con Field Hokkaido. (©SANKEI) Fighters Off to a Hot Start The Hokkaido Nipponham Fighters are off to a strong start through the first two-plus months of the NPB season. Heading into June, Tsuyoshi Shinjo's team held a 2½-game lead over the Orix Buffaloes atop the Pacific League standings. Shinjo's team showed steady signs of progress last season. So it's not a total surprise that the Fighters are doing well. One of the team leaders is Dominican outfielder Franmil Reyes, who is off to a hot start. The fan favorite has a league-leading 28 RBIs and 11 homers on June 2. He is well on pace to match or surpass his 2024 totals of 25 homers and 65 RBIs. On the mound, veteran Hiromi Ito leads the way with a 6-2 record, 66 strikeouts and a 2.38 ERA. Fighters right-hander Ruei-Yang Gu Lin pitches against the visiting Hanshin Tigers on June 3. (©SANKEI) Taiwanese standout pitcher Ruei-Yang Gu Lin, who had a 31-15 record over six seasons in the CPBL, seems to have made a smooth transition to NPB. Gu Lin has two wins and one loss in four starts this season along with 31 strikeouts and a 2.93 ERA. Kimiyasu Kudo (©SANKEI) Advertisement Kudos to Kudo for Teaching Kids Former star pitcher and Japan Series-winning manager Kimiyasu Kudo is taking his baseball knowledge on the road. The standout former pro has been teaching kids in Indonesia how to play the game. Kudo recorded 224 wins as a pitcher for the Seibu Lions, Fukuoka Daiei Hawks, Yomiuri Giants and Yokohama BayStars in a stellar career that spanned almost three decades. He also managed the Hawks to five Japan Series titles between 2015 and 2020. Kudo mentored about 100 Indonesian junior high school students at a clinic in Jakarta in May. Soccer is the most popular sport in the Southeast Asian country, but Kudo is hoping baseball will catch on there. "I hope more Indonesian children play baseball," Kudo said in a recent interview with NHK. "I want people around the world to know how wonderful this sport can be." RELATED: Author: Jim Armstrong The author is a longtime journalist who has covered sports in Japan for over 25 years. You can find his articles on SportsLook.
Japan Times
26-03-2025
- Sport
- Japan Times
Big-spending Giants aim to hold off BayStars and Tigers in competitive Central League
The Yokohama BayStars won the Japan Series in 2024, but manager Daisuke Miura's team still enters 2025 with unfinished business. The BayStars want to repeat, of course, but they want to do so while also claiming the Central League pennant, a title the team has not won since 1998. The Yomiuri Giants, meanwhile, won the pennant last year, but are still seeking a first Japan Series title since 2012. Rather than stew in disappointment after losing to the BayStars in the final stage of the Climax Series, the Kyojin hit the free agent market looking to restock for another title run. As for the rest of the CL, the Hanshin Tigers and Chunichi Dragons enter the year under new management, while Tokyo Yakult Swallows star Munetaka Murakami will attempt to drag his team on one last pennant run before he heads to MLB. The Hiroshima Carp, meanwhile, will be motivated to rebound from their late-season collapse in 2024. The following is the first of a two-part NPB preview beginning with the 2025 Central League. In order of predicted finish: The Giants offense revolves around Kazuma Okamoto, one of NPB's top sluggers. | Jiji Yomiuri Giants Last season: 77-59-7 The Giants took a page from the Los Angeles Dodgers' playbook and went after the biggest free agents they could during the offseason. The Kyojin added former Dragons closer Raidel Martinez, who led the CL with 43 saves and struck out 59 over 58 innings last season. The Cuban fireballer moves into the closer's role, and with Taisei Ota bumped to the eighth inning, Giants games may be seven-inning affairs with that electric 1-2 punch in the eighth and ninth. Yomiuri also added catcher Takuya Kai and will give pitcher Masahiro Tanaka a platform to try and resurrect his career. Yomiuri has to replace 2024 league MVP Tomoyuki Sugano, who left for MLB, in a pitching rotation that was the best in the CL last season. Shosei Togo is back as the ace of a rotation that also includes Foster Griffin, Iori Yamasaki and Haruto Inoue, who is coming off a 2.76 ERA in 101 innings last season and a nice showing at the Premier12 in November. BayStars castoff Tatsuya Ishikawa will also get a chance, and if Tanaka bounces back to the form he showed in 2021 and 2022, he will add depth along with Yuji Akahoshi and 23-year-old Yuhi Nishdate. The lineup might be without veteran Yoshihiro Maru after an injury late in spring training, and manager Shinnosuke Abe will look for Louis Okoye and others to step up. The offense, though, revolves around Kazuma Okamoto, one of NPB's top sluggers, while Naoki Yoshikawa will aim for a second straight productive year. Elier Hernandez, meanwhile, is ready for a full season after batting .294 with eight homers in 56 games in 2024. The team's offseason shopping also included foreign outfielder Trey Cabbage, who hit .283 with 43 home runs and 54 stolen bases in Triple-A the past two seasons. BayStars infielder Tyler Austin hit .316 with 25 home runs last season. | JIJI Yokohama DeNA BayStars Last season: 71-69-3 Yokohama slipped into the postseason thanks to a late-season collapse by Hiroshima then stunned Hanshin, Yomiuri and the Pacific League champion Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks to win the Japan Series. The key for the BayStars to claim the regular-season pennant for the first time since 1998 — the longest drought in the CL — is to improve on the mound. Katsuki Azuma, who was very good, and Andre Jackson, who was above average and then great in the playoffs, were Yokohama's only qualified pitchers last season. Controversial former Cy Young winner Trevor Bauer is back after a year in Mexico and could provide a boost on the mound. If Anthony Kay replicates his 2024 postseason form in the regular season, and Shinichi Onuki has a good year, the BayStars have enough starting pitching to win the pennant. The bullpen is a question, though Hiromu Ise has good stuff, and closer Kohei Morihara is a great weapon to have at the end of games. Yokohama had the top offense in the league in 2024 and may be good again this year. Shugo Maki and Tyler Austin each hit over 20 homers last year — and Austin paired that with a .316 average. What Miura needs is for players like Kouki Kajiwara, Keito Mori and Yudai Yamamoto to build on their 2024 numbers. The most important thing, by far, is for everyone to stay healthy — assuming that Japan Series MVP Masayuki Kuwahara breaking his thumb on Sunday was not an ominous sign. Left fielder Keita Sano has seen his production dip since a nice run from 2021 to 2023, but former MLBer Yoshitomo Tsutsugo can provide cover and a little pop after returning in the middle of 2024. Former Tigers closer Kyuji Fujikawa will manage the club in 2025. | Imagn Images / VIA REUTERS Hanshin Tigers Last season: 74-63-6 The biggest change for the Tigers is in the dugout, with the club going from manager Akinobu Okada, who stepped down last season, to former star closer Kyuji Fujikawa. Hanshin has a ton of potential offensively with Teruaki Sato (.268 average and .766 on-base plus slugging percentage) and Shota Morishita (.275, .804) hitting ahead of Yusuke Oyama, who had 14 homers last year and decided against leaving as a free agent. Center fielder Koji Chikamoto, meanwhile, is a consistent presence who can set the table for the big hitters and create scoring chances with his legs. It may also be a good sign to see Ukyo Maegawa hit .316 with three homers in 12 spring training games. Hanshin, as usual, has a wealth of pitching talent, from ace-level hurlers Hiroto Saiki and Shoki Murakami to solid veterans Yuki Nishi and Kotaro Otake, when healthy. Jeremy Beasley is also a quality option. That is without mentioning 20-year-old Keito Mombetsu, who tossed five perfect innings against the Chicago Cubs in an exhibition game earlier this month. The talented — but often-injured — Haruto Takahashi could also return and add more depth. The club also has a good bullpen, and the pitching will look even better if Hanshin manages to pair it with decent defense. Hiroto Takahashi will lead a Dragons rotation that will be without Shinnosuke Ogasawara, who signed a deal with the Washington Nationals in January. | Jiji Chunichi Dragons Last season: 60-75-8 Former farm team manager Kazuki Inoue is not just inheriting a team that finished in last place three years in a row but one that lost its best reliever, Raidel Martinez, to the Giants and one of its best pitchers, Shinnosuke Ogasawara, to MLB. The Dragons may need the pitching staff to keep them in games — which is nothing new. Right-hander Hiroto Takahashi is one of Japan's best and Kodai Umetsu, Yuya Yanagi and veteran Hideaki Wakui are all capable of quality innings — and playing at Nagoya Dome, a pitcher's park, doesn't hurt either. Yudai Ono is plotting a comeback, and Chunichi hit the jackpot in the draft by winning the four-team lottery for college pitcher Yumeto Kanemaru. Outfielder Seiya Hosokawa might be the lone bright spot for an offense that was slightly improved but still one of the worst in NPB last year. Hosokawa put up a .292/.368/.478 line with 23 homers and is the club's top offensive player. Jason Vosler, who spent time with the Seattle Mariners last season, was added in the offseason, and Kenta Bright is still waiting for an opportunity to get meaningful at-bats to further his development. Munetaka Murakami will be looking to go out with a bang in 2025 in what is likely his last NPB season before making the move to MLB. | Jiji Tokyo Yakult Swallows Last season: 62-77-4 If the Swallows are going to claw their way back into the top half of the league, then Shingo Takatsu's team will need to pitch better. Yasunobu Okugawa was on the way to becoming a star when injuries derailed him. The 23-year-old is back now, which is good news for Yakult. Kojiro Yoshimura had the best numbers in 2024, going 9-8 with a 3.19 ERA. He needs to have a solid year, while Keiji Takahashi needs to bounce back to the form he showed in 2021 and 2022, when he helped Yakult win back-to-back pennants. Yasuhiro Ogawa, meanwhile, needs to have a rebound season. Slugger Munetaka Murakami is expected to leave for MLB in the offseason and wants to go out with a bang, but is dealing with an upper-body injury to start the season. New infielder Eigoro Mogi, previously with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, can cover for him at third base but not at the plate. That will largely fall to Jose Osuna, Domingo Santana, and Tetsuto Yamada if he is healthy. Those three and Murakami will be a formidable quartet when in the lineup together. Masato Morishita will be among the leaders of what should be a strong Carp pitching staff. | Jiji Hiroshima Toyo Carp Last season: 68-70-5 The Carp squandered a chance to win the pennant by going 7-22 after the calendar flipped to September, falling from first place at the start of the month to fourth place and out of the playoffs in the final standings. Hiroshima was not a good offensive team in 2024 and is looking for a boost from first-year foreign players Sandro Fabian and Elehuris Montero. Fabian hit 17 homers in Triple-A last season and Montero had 16 at the same level. A big first year from one of them would be a good first step for the Carp. Shogo Sakakura is the only returning player who reached double digits in home runs last season, batting .279 with 12 homers and a team-leading .740 on-base plus slugging percentage. Sakakura, however, will miss the start of the season with an injury. The Carp brought up the rear in home runs overall and will need players like Kaito Kozono to help drive in runs in other ways. Pitching is less of an issue, with Masato Morishita, Hiroki Tokoda and Daichi Osera in the fold. However, the team has to replace Aren Kuri, who signed with the Orix Buffaloes as a free agent. Lefty Shohei Mori is in line for a bigger role and allowed just two runs in 18 innings during the spring, while Shogo Tamamura had some impressive innings last year. The club also added former Chicago White Sox farmhand Johan Dominguez, and Mokoto Aduwa is back after 106⅓ innings with a 3.13 ERA last season.
Japan Times
17-03-2025
- Business
- Japan Times
'Moneyball' disciples aim to upend Japanese baseball for second year
The former bankers who used statistical analysis of undervalued players to lead the Yokohama DeNA BayStars to a stunning upset in last year's Japanese baseball championship aim to show that it wasn't a fluke. As fans whet their appetite with this week's games between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs in Tokyo, Yokohama is honing its indicators that predict how well a pitcher will perform at any given moment. The team pairs that data from its analytics team with the advice of its scouts to use underrated players at the right moment. That combination led to the decision to have Hayato Horioka pitch against the powerful Yomiuri Giants last fall. Horioka, who was cut by the Giants in the 2023 offseason before he came to play on the BayStars' developmental squad, had thrown a mere six innings during the regular season. The bet paid off, with Horioka helping to seal the game and Yokohama advancing to the championship. The BayStars have made similar bets with other players who were previously cut elsewhere. "We believe these players have a lot more to give,' said the team's director of strategy Kenichi Yoshikawa, who used to work in the financial industry. Thanks to advances in camera technology and biometric monitors, players and coaches are now bombarded with data — from the rotational speed of a ball to the precise angle of an elbow or knee to the variability of an athlete's heart rate. From basketball to professional cycling, sports teams around the globe now comb all that information to eke every percentage point's worth of an advantage. The BayStars credits their Series win to how they selected and applied that data, helping them overcome rivals with bigger payrolls and caches of data. The team beat the odds by tapping the real-life experiences of coaches, scouts and trainers and their intuition — given short shrift in Michael Lewis' "Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game" and the movie it inspired — to select which data to focus on, according to Yoshikawa and scouting director Tatsuya Hasegawa, another former banker who used to be involved in mergers and acquisitions. Statistics provide valuable insights, but people are not merely a collection of data points, Hasegawa said. "It's important to think ultra-logically and rationally, but that alone sets you up for failure,' he said. "The players are human, with human emotions. No matter what the stock price should be in theory, or what a company should be, that's not going to move people and may be wrong in the end.' "It's the people on the field who most understand where we fall short,' he said. "I listened to them, because they have the full picture on what's most important.' An overhaul of the Japanese professional baseball organizations in 2004 brought in new entrants such as data-loving SoftBank and Rakuten, followed by mobile games provider DeNA's purchase of the BayStars in 2011. That and a global embrace of statistical analysis helped inspire a wave of bankers, marketers, consultants and programmers to seek careers in sports, more than doubling the number of professionals registered at sports recruiting agency Pacific League Marketing in 2023, compared with 2021, according to Akiko Mori, director of public relations. Overall compensation in Japanese sports remains low relative to the U.S., but the influx of workers from other industries may help close the gap, said Mitsuru Tanaka, an associate professor of sports management at Shobi University. "As skilled workers play a bigger role in sports, that in turn expands the market, creating the start of a virtuous cycle,' he said. For now, the BayStars are tapping managers' communications and risk analysis skills honed in the world of finance to guide its approach to data analysis. "How do you find a good answer that combines the quantitative and the qualitative?' Hasegawa said. The team's strength lies in its ability to do so, he said.
