While the season still isn't over yet, Seiya Hosokowa has already broken into a group of auspicious Dragons hitters with his power hitting prowess.
Since arriving in Nagoya from Yokohama through the active player draft, Hosokawa has been a revelation in the heart of the Dragons line-up. For all the ills of the team, Hosokawa along with Yuki Okabayashi and Takaya Ishikawa have been lights through a very dark season. Hosokawa in particular has blossomed with the Dragons from someone who forever had potential with the Baystars, to someone who has the ability to be one of the Central League's premier hitters.
I won't go into a lot of detail in this post, but I did want to bring attention to a few records that Hosokawa has achieved. I contextualise this with the caveat that these are all major achievements for a Dragons hitter in the uniform ball era that started in 2012. This, perhaps serendipitously, is the start of the period of power-hitting ills for the Dragons.
1. Hosokawa is the first Dragon to hit 20+ homeruns in a season since Dayan Viciedo in 2018.
Yes, it has been 5 years since we last saw a Dragons hitter pop more than 20 homers. It's a little sad when you think about it. Even our iconic first baseman has had trouble hitting more than 15 homers a year but has achieved the 20 homer mark in 2 of his 7 seasons. This year has been pretty bad by Viciedo's standards, and Hosokawa has truly taken over the mantle. The only other hitters to reach the mark in the last 10 years have been Alex Guerrero (35HR, 2017) and Matt Clark (25HR, 2013).
2. Hosokawa is the first Japanese Dragons' slugger to hit 20+ homers since 2010.
This is perhaps the biggest issue the Dragons have had in the past 13 years. There has been no Japanese hitter that has shown elite power. Shuhei Takahashi was supposedly meant to be and Ryosuke Hirata similarly seemed to have the potential, but neither of them reached these heights with the former in particular perhaps never really having that level of power to draw on. Nobumasa Fukuda was the closest in recent memory as he had a glorious run down the stretch in 2018 and ended the season with 18 homers. Hosokawa has however become the first Japanese Dragon since current batting coaches, Kazuhiro Wada (37HR, 2010) and Masahiko Morino (21HR, 2010) to send 20 balls over the fence.
3. Hosokawa is only the 4th Dragons hitter in the uniform ball period to log 20+ homers
Right? In 2012 the uniform ball was introduced. Before then, each team supplied their own ball for home games. This seems to have had a disastrous impact on the Dragons. However Hosokawa has stemmed the tide of this trend. As mentioned previously, only Dayan Viciedo, Alex Guerrero and Matt Clark have popped 20 homers in a Dragons shirt in the uniform ball era. Hosokawa becomes the first Japanese-born player to do so. Hopefully more can follow in his footsteps.
4. Hosokawa is only the second Dragons hitter in the uniform ball era to hit 10+ homers at Vantelin dome
Here's where it really gets crazy. Vantelin Dome (formerly Nagoya Dome) has been one of the most pitcher friendly parks in NPB history. But, for a while, this didn't seem to stop hitters like Tyrone Woods, Kosuke Fukudome or Kazuhiro Wada from going ham on the ball. The uniform ball era seems to have heavily affected homerun numbers in the dome, but somehow Hosokawa has managed to hit 11 homers (so far!) in the cavernous home ground of the Dragons. This puts him second on the list since 2012. The first? You guessed it, Da...Alex Guerrero. Yep. Mr "El Solo Jonrón" whacked 17 of his 35 homers in Nagoya. That actually puts him equal third on the all-time list for single-season homers at the dome. Hosokawa, is safely number two on this list since 2012. Where does he however figure on the all-time list? Let's have a quick look:
| Rank | Player | Homeruns | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tyrone Woods | 21 | 2006 |
| 2 | Kosuke Fukudome | 18 | 2003 |
| 3 | Tyrone Woods | 17 | 2005 |
| - | Alex Guerrero | 17 | 2017 |
| 4 | Tyrone Woods | 16 | 2008 |
| - | Tony Blanco | 16 | 2009 |
| 5 | Kazuhiro Wada | 14 | 2010 |
| - | Tony Blanco | 14 | 2010 |
| 6 | Tyrone Woods | 13 | 2007 |
| - | Leo Gomez | 13 | 1999 |
| 7 | Takeshi Yamasaki | 12 | 1998 |
| 8 | Kazuhiro Wada | 11 | 2009 |
| - | Kosuke Fukudome | 11 | 2004 |
| - | Seiya Hosokawa | 11 | 2023 |
| 9 | Leo Gomez | 10 | 1998 |
| - | Motonobu Tanishige | 10 | 2002 |
| - | Kosuke Fukudome | 10 | 2002 |
If the season finished today, Hosokawa would be equal 8th in single-season homeruns at the Vantelin Dome. Quite an achievement for someone who is essentially a rookie. Feel free to have a look over this list, but it's Fukudome and Woods' power that I am in awe of when I look at this. The most random of names to appears here is probably Tanishige, who had a couple of good years offensively but was by no means ever considered a power hitter.
