BREAKING NEWS: Tsuyoshi Yoda, the new manager is.

As of today, Rakuten Eagles 2-gun pitching coach, Tsuyoshi Yoda has been appointed manager of the Chunichi Dragons for next year.

Prepare or don't prepare, there is no gambaru.
New manager, Tsuyoshi Yoda to lead the Dragons in 2019.

Yoda has been repeatedly mentioned in reports in the competition for the next manager which has also seen former Seibu Lions and Chiba Lotte manager, Tsuomu Ito mentioned as a successor to Shigekzazu Mori. If you believe the papers there were only 3 options, Yoda, Ito or more Mori and it appears the ownership have decided a new face was needed.

When selecting their new man, one of the criteria put forward was someone that was a born and bred Dragon. This means, someone originally drafted by the Dragons who, I guess supposedly knows what it means to play baseball in Nagoya. Out of all the born and bred Dragons out there, Yoda probably struck no-one as an obvious choice. As a pitching coach, perhaps, but not as manager. Whatever the case, we now have Yoda (yes, just like the little green Jedi master) to lead the team on the basis he can supposedly rebuild the broken pitching ranks.

As a player, Yoda is probably best known for throwing the fastest ever pitch by a Japanese player (at the time) in 1990 as a rookie out of NTT in the industrial leagues, clocking 157 km/h on the gun which is still equal to the fastest pitch thrown by a Japanese born Chunichi player.

Born in Kyushu, Yoda captured the rookie of the year award after recording 31 saves to lead the Central League. Yoda unfortunately had his troubles with injury (as many hard throwing hurlers do) and apart from 23 saves in his 3rd year failed to register any mound appearances of note. He was released in 1997 and while he had stints at the Fighters and the Tigers, he ultimately fizzled out.

Yoda as a coach with the Eagles.

Between 2001 and 2015, Yoda appeared as a colour analyst on NHK as well as writing columns for Tokyo Chunichi Sports. He started coaching at club level with Thousand Leaves Ichihara in Chiba Prefecture and also had a stint as the pitching coach for the women's national team. He was the Samurai Japan pitching coach at the 2009 World Baseball Classic under Tatsunori Hara and contributed to Japan's 2nd consecutive victory. In 2012 he was once again brought in to the Samurai Japan fold to be pitching coach and in 2015 claimed he first NPB appointment as the 1st team pitching coach of the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles. In the 2015 off-season he was linked with the managerial job at the Eagles but ultimately lost out to Masataka Nashida (whom was removed from his position this year). In 2018, Yoda was demoted to working with the Rakuten 2-gun pitchers and in October was told by the club he was no longer needed.

As for random information about Yoda, he is apparently well known for the breadth of his shoulders and was once questioned by Yu Darvish who has 10cm on Yoda in height "what's going on with your shoulders?" Apparently his shoulder breadth stands at 60cm which is a fair bit for a man of 182cm in height. Those broad shoulders hopefully can hold a lot of the burden of expectant Chunichi fans.

He's also rather famous for inciting a brawl with former Yokohama Baystars slugger, Glen Braggs. There had been an altercation between Dragons catcher Takeshi Nakamura and Whales infielder Yoshiyuki Shimizu in a previous game where revenge was struck through a body blow pitch where Yoda showed little remorse. This boiled over in a following game where Yoda plunked Braggs, barely lowered his head and the brawl broke out. He was ejected from the game along with Braggs as a result. (It's the second brawl in the below video)

He also apparently hates the words 頑張れ (do your best) and 努力 (try hard) and prefers the word 準備 (preparation).

Yoda was managed by Senichi Hoshino and Morimichi Takagi as a player and it was under Hoshino where he shone the brightest. It was also Hoshino that brought him to the team and most likely had a big say on him joining the Eagles backroom in 2015.

Yoda has a clean slate, whether for better or for worse. I'm not sure he's the right guy, but he may well do a decent job. Apparently many of the current Dragons players have no idea who he is so I'm sure they'll be furiously googling highlights and other information tonight.

This then leads us to what happens to the rest of the backroom staff and most
importantly Mori himself. Mori has not done a poor job in his tenure. By all means, there is a lot to be applauded for what he has done for a team that is rebuilding and personally I think his removal is premature. The legacy that Mori leaves behind is actually a pretty impressive one when you break it down. The below is thanks to user @Hirata_6_bot. Under Mori's watch:

• Ryosuke Hirata and Dayan Viciedo have come alive
• Has recruited amazingly astutely with the captures of Garcia, Almonte and Rodriguez all of whom have been stars for the team.
• Has harnessed the Matsuzaka effect bringing in more spectators to the stands.
• Introduced a new batch of young pitchers in Kasahara, Fujishima, Ogasawara and Sato who have begun to find their feet at this level.
• Position players are 2nd in the league in WAR
• wRC+ is 2nd in the league
• UZR tops the league
• Least amount of errors in the NPB
• Second lowest starter ERA in the league
• Second highest QS percentage in the league

Considering all this, it's a bit...well..astounding that we are getting a new manager. The bullpen was awful this year, but had it been even a few ticks better, we would have made it to the Climax Series. Also, in addition to the above, the direction he has taken the team with his recruiting at the last two drafts has to be applauded. He took Yanagi and Kyoda with his top 2 picks in 2016, and then Suzuki and Ishikawa with his top 2 picks in 2017. There is a focus on youth and a focus on quality. There is a sense of direction. Under Ochiai as GM we went after odd picks like Ryosuke Nomura and filled up the farm with bang average mid-20 y/o talent from the industrial leagues. This is why I am very relieved to hear that Mori is heading into the scouting/recruiting department to perhaps become the next general manager. If Yoda is going to be the man on the ground I am very happy that Mori will be the man in the front office to drive the team. The team, if nothing else needs someone adept at identifying talent to drive the team forward and I think Mori has shown that he can be that man.

In terms of staff turn-over it is likely that Yoda may want to bring in some of his own staff perhaps. The team already need to search for a first team batting instructor as Masahiro Doi has confirmed he will be leaving the club at the end of the year. With Araki and Iwase also seemingly joining the backroom after their retirements, there may be a bit of a shuffle to come. Asao has also been mentioned for a backroom role as well. I personally hope that Yoda looks to bring in his old battery mate, Takeshi Nakamura who is the 2-gun battery coach with the Kia Tigers in Korea. He was with the top team and helped lead the team to their first league win in quite some time, but I think he'd be the kind of guy that would help out the team in it's current state. A turn back to perhaps some of the grit and agro that Senichi Hoshino brought to the team might be right formula for the Dragons moving forward.

Yoda's first real work will be attending the draft and pulling out a ticket if the Dragons go into a competition of Akira Neo.

For the time being, I'm skeptical but will approach Yoda's appointment with optimism and an opportunity to make mountainloads of Star Wars puns and perhaps some dank memes. If we can secure Akira Neo, I can add The Matrix puns to my repertoire.

2019 Roster Construction: Where to now?

With the season looming to a close we're starting to get a better look at what faces won't be present going into 2019, so far, the following players are confirmed to be leaving the team.

選手名	退団理由	ポジション	年齢
Masahiro Araki	Retirement	Infield	41
Hitoki Iwase	Retirement	Pitcher	43
Takuya Asao	Retirement	Pitcher	33
Kei Nomoto	Retirement	Outfield	34
Shunta Wakamatsu	Released	Pitcher	23
Tetsuya Tani	Released/Retired	Infield	33
Shu Yoshida	Released	Pitcher	22
Mikihiro Nishihama	Released	Pitcher	25
Masashi Yamamoto	Released	Pitcher	23

This list only includes the latest senryokugai/release notices. There will likely be another round of culls occurring later this year. For the time being however, the team has lost 6 rostered players and 3 development players. As mentioned in my last post, the loss of Araki (not yet confirmed) and Iwase is a shame, but something that will be covered for while Asao and Nomoto's departures leave room for younger players to develop on the farm.

Senryokgai Suit Day

In regards to Wakamatsu and Tani, the other bigger departures, patience has simply run out with Wakamatsu and the team showed last year with Ryosuke Nomura that they're quite happy to cut high profile youngsters if they're not cutting it. Wakamatsu put up numbers beyond expectation when he posted 10 wins in 2015 but it's been a steadily declining slope from there. While his change-up remains a dangerous weapon, he has nothing else to pair it with. His fastball velocity is in the high 130's and none of his secondary pitches are all that inspiring. There is also some murmurs that Wakamatsu has been a disruptive influence among other players and generally not behaving in a manner expected of a Dragons player. While some fans may lament over cutting this one-trick pony, I'm glad that no further innings on the farm will be wasted trying to get him back up to speed. Wakamatsu will go to try-outs and my gut feeling is that someone will pick him up and try to work with him for a year.

Tetsuya Tani has always been on the fringes but last year saw some extra time at the plate as a pinch-hitter thanks to some solid performances on the farm. The utility man however is now seen as surplus to requirements and has been cut from the team. Tani took it fairly well and has decided to retire.

The other 3 development pitchers haven't done enough in the years they've been with the team to be given full-rostered status and as such have been cut. Yamamoto was originally a on the roster but was demoted in 2016 to a development contract. The Dragons however have seen enough and he along with Nishihama and Yoshida have been shown the door.

Overall, the first round of senryokugai notices fills me with hope regarding the direction of the team. Solid decisions have been made over players that weren't contributing. Last year, similarly level-headed moves were made to refresh the team. If anything, we're seeing a lot of the Ochiai GM class get shafted for new blood. I've been impressed with what Mori and his staff have done to shake up the club, and so far so good. I expect to see a couple more cuts in the coming months as players like Masataka Iryo, Shota Tomonaga, Taiki Mitsumata, Shun Ishikawa, Issei Endo and Ryota Ishioka might find themselves of little use depending on how FA, foreign and draft recruitment goes. All the players listed above are in their mid to late 20's with very little experience in the top team. As fillers on the farm they serve a purpose but nothing much more than that.

FA status will apply to 3 Dragons this off-season as Kazuki Yoshimi, Naomichi Donoue and Takahito Kudo are all eligible. Yoshimi has already firmed his stay in Nagoya but Donoue and Kudo could attract some offers as utility men.

FA Market

Let's now look forward at who's available on the FA market that we might be able to make use of or at least have a realistic shot at:

Team	Name	Position	Salary
Orix	Yuki Nishi	Pitcher	1.2億
Softbank	Hayato Terahara	Pitcher	4500万
Hanshin	Hiroki Uemoto	Infield	4300万
Yakult	Kyohei Muranaka	Pitcher	2800万
Lotte	Tomohisa Otani	Pitcher	8800万

Some of these guys still haven't decided if they're going to explore the market yet, but Nishi and Uemoto look like they're going to have a look.

Yuki Nishi, coming home?

Nishi is by far the most interesting piece but also costs the most by a long shot.  He made his name throwing a no-hitter in 2012 in his third year of pro-ball.  He's had his ups and downs but the last two years have been solid posting 3.60 and 3.44 ERAs. Nishi, a native of Mie prefecture, is a childhood fan of the Dragons and given the ever constant need of good pitching, it would only make sense that the Dragons kick the tires on the 28 year-old.

Out of the other pitchers, Otani would be the nicest pick-up but looks unlikely to leave Chiba while Muranaka is perhaps too big a risk to look at seriously. Terahara was actually targeted by the Dragons in the 2001 draft as their #1 pick, but given his age and his current team's proximity to his hometown, a trip to Nagoya seems unlikely.

Hiroki Uemoto is an interesting one for me and one I think the Dragons should look at. While the in-house options of Shuhei and Kamezawa offer enough, having a right-hander to platoon at second and fill-in at third when necessary is useful. I don't see this being a priority at all, but if certain picks don't work out at the draft, Uemoto would be a signing. He'd be a good pick-up for just about anyone really.

2018 NPB Draft

Next, the draft. This obviously gets harder and harder the further you go down but here is a list of players that the Dragons have been linked with for their first round pick:

Team	Name	Position	Age
Osaka Toin HS	Akira Neo	Infield	18
Toyo University	Hiroshi Kaino	Pitcher	22
Toyo University	Taiga Kamichatani	Pitcher	22
Ritumeikan Uni	Ryosuke Tatsumi	Outfield	22
Hanasakitokuharu	Yuki Nomura	Outfield	18
Toyo University	Kodai Umetsu	Pitcher	22
Nihon PE Uni	Wataru Matsumoto	Pitcher	22

Is Neo, the one?

Top of the list is Summer Koshien winner Akira Neo. Neo has been billed as a possible two-way player. He tops out at 150 km/h and has very good hitting tools. He has been billed as one of the top talents at the draft this year. Short appears to be his preferred position, so should the Dragons move in for Neo, it means that there might be a future headache of where to put Shuhei and Kyoda. Why are the Dragons going after Neo and not a pitcher which seems like the most logical? Key reason, the boy is local. A native of Gifu prefecture, Neo has the ability to be one of those homegrown superstars. Competition for his signature will however be fierce and Mori will have to have the magic touch to pull out the right ticket.

Should the Dragons fail to nab Neo with their first pick, there's a number of fall-back options to be explored. Another pitcher seems to be what the Dragons would most likely to go with and fits with last year's strategy of getting Hiroshi Suzuki after failing to get Shosei Nakamura. I can see one of the above pitchers being the next the Dragons go after.

Kamichatani is a mouthful, but he
looks one of the best college arms
this year.

Taiga Kamichatani seems to be the most likely to avoid being picked outright from the start but would also give the Dragons a good option. Kamichatani clocks out at 152 km/h and has a decent arsenal of secondary pitches. He was the MVP in his senior year at Toyo University after taking 93 strikeouts in 75 innings pitched. He seems to have decent control as well. His K/9 is around 11.11 with his BB/9 close to 2.5 this year which looks pretty impressive on paper. Scout Director, Muneo Tanaka has checked on him a few times this year and thinks he's certainly worthy of a top draft pick but just about every other team is looking at him too. Former Dragon infielder and now Rakuten scout, Toru Nimura has rated Kamichatani as the most complete university pitcher available regarding now as his growth period.

While Kamichatani looks pretty good, I hold out hope that Hiroshi Kaino could be added to the team to pump more velo into our pitching stocks. Kaino tops out at 159km/h and has a bit of height on his side at 186cm tall. His fastball is said to have elite spin at 2400 rpm. Kaino represented the Japanese Collegiate National team earlier this year as their closer and showed some of that velocity hitting as high as 156 km/h. Not as much control as Kamichatani, but I would just love to see back-end bullpen trio of Joely Rodriguez, Hiroshi Suzuki and Kaitani just to see some face melting fastballs. If Koji Fukutani could sort himself out I'd be even more excited.

In the end it's a bit hard to see exactly where the Dragons will go at the draft but Ryuji Kuribayashi, another fireballer, from Meijo University in the Dragons backyard might be a possible 2nd pick. After that, I'm lost. I do think we'll see a couple more high school kids mixed with some more college talent.

O/S Talent

Viciedo is guaranteed a payday, but what lies ahead
for Moya and Almonte?

In terms of foreign talent, I think the Dragons will do what they can to keep a hold of what they have. Onelki Garcia and Dayan Viciedo have been outstanding, Almonte has made a significant impact, Joely Rodrigiuez has settled very well into his bullpen role after some early bumps and Steven Moya has been a good backup when called upon. Assuming there's enough dosh to go around, most of these guys should be retained. The will certainly is there I feel. Moya is the only one I would feel could go either way. He does seem however happy to be living in Japan and we might get another season out of him as a rotational option. Raidel Martinez is the only other foreign player, but I dare say he'll also be retained given the minimal outlay he's on. From what it appears however, much of what can be done with Garcia and Almonte will be linked to what Viciedo's demands are. The Tank has done more than enough with the bat this year to warrant an extension and given the trauma over Guerrero leaving last year, I think they'll lock him up early. Whether that will be at the cost of someone else is however to be seen.

Lastly, the construction of the team may come down to how the back room shapes up in the off season. Bungo Shirai, the Chunichi chairman has given no assurances to Shigekazu Mori about managing for a third year. Reports are saying that senior management at the club has a clean slate to work from in regards to selecting a manager for next year with some mention of Mori perhaps making the move to General Manager which was vacated by Hiromitsu Ochiai in January last year. Unlike Ochiai, I think Mori would be quite a good GM. His evaluation of talent seems fairly good and he's been a big influence in two of the best drafts we've had in while in 2016 and 2017. I can't think of anyone better to drive recruitment and the shaping of the club more than Mori in the mid-term. As a manager I still like him and I'd be happy to see him come back next year, but it may be time to bring in a younger manager to grow with the team. I personally think the Dragons are at least another 2 years away from being a credible threat so maybe one more year under Mori might be the way to go. We'll see how Mr Shirai sees it.

Overall, there will be a bit of a shakeup to the squad following the draft as well most likely as poor performances in the Phoenix League may see some additional chopping.

September Update: Out of CS contention, individual honors still on the cards, quadruble-retirement

For what it's worth, my workload has died down and I can now devote some time to working on the blog. Unfortunately the busiest part of the baseball season is also the busiest part of my working season. I work with Japanese schools and my job sees me at my busiest during the Japanese summer holidays. But I digress.

From this point on, I'd like to recap the last month and a bit with some player highlights. From this point on, apart from keeping an eye on the remaining games, I will be preparing for October's draft and will hopefully have some previews for you. I also have a couple of bigger projects that I've had shelved that I can hopefully bring to you in the off-season.

First of all, to current events.

After being in CS contention until the final 9 games of the season, the Dragons essentially choked, losing 4 on the trot to fade out of a possible miracle return to playoffs baseball. While not mathematically impossible at this stage, they would require a lot of results to go their way.

I find myself reflecting on September 3rd's game against the Giants,  Daisuke Matsuzaka, who has been nothing short of surprisingly reliable this year, got a shellacking by the Giants, particularly Kazuma Okamoto. The Giants would pile up 11 unanswered runs before a Dragons late surge put them within 2 run of equalizing but it wasn't to be.

In a way, this result is almost an analogy for the season. The bats have actually been pretty good this year. With the exception of Yota Kyoda, all of the regular's are putting together above average years with Ryosuke Hirata and Dayan Viciedo showing they're absolutely on fire with .330+ averages and medium-low power numbers. The pitching side of things however has been the main theme again this year with no semblance of continuity. Matsuzaka, still being wrapped in cotton wool between starts, only throws once every 10 days or so, Ogasawara has injured himself and won't be back until next year, Yanagi has not lived up to his billing, Shota Suzuki has vanished into thin air and it really has only been Onelki Garcia and Kazuki Yoshimi who have more or less been in the rotation all season. Shotaro Kasahara has been good in spurts, 20-year old Kento Fujishima has gone from long-relief to spot-starter and looked like a fighter and Ryosuke Oguma has looked good in patches as well, particularly against the Baystars.  The team also stunningly persist with spaced out starts for Yudai Ono as well who has failed on every occasion to make something of his chances.

There's a lot of "not good enough" in the rotation and they haven't been helped by a revolving door bullpen. Daisuke Matsuzaka may have given up some runs on September 2nd, but Yusuke Kinoshita didn't do much better in relief. The only pitcher to keep a scoreless frame was Takuya Asao who has surprisingly looked okay since coming up in late August. By my count, the Dragons have use 18 different relievers this year and get this, 4 different "closers." There are currently only two relievers with a sub 3.00 ERA, Yu Sato and Joely Rodriguez. There are only 2 relievers with a sub 4.00 ERA. Something is awfully rotten in the bullpen. If you've read the interview with Mori and Kyoda in my last post you can see Mori highlighting his disdain for the relievers he has, but they weren't this bad last year and I can't see why they should be that bad this year. Mainstays like Shinji Tajima and Katsuki Matayoshi have been found out this year and have lost their effectiveness. Hiroshi Suzuki has a great start to his NPB career and even took over the closer's role from Tajima but his leash was short and he was sent down to 2-gun after a blown save and 3 ER against Yakult on August 12th. He came back up just in the last weekend only to give up another 3 runs and be sent back down immediately.

The Dragons will probably be looking for pitching at the draft again as a result of current woes but there are some other tasty carrots to look at as well, but I'll get into that in a different post. For the moment, we look bad and feel bad. Battered and bruised and aren't looking much better.

There is still however some light left in the season with Yohei Oshima having a Golden Glove year while Ryosuke Hirata and Dayan Viciedo are well in the running for the batting title this year.

Oshima hasn't excelled with the bat this year. He started the year leading-off with Kyoda and Almonte after him. In the past month however he has slipped back into the #3 slot where he spent much of the latter half of last season while Almonte has slipped down to #5 and the on-fire Hirata has been promoted to lead-off.
Oshima however has not struggled with defence. Data released by DELTAGRAPHS has Oshima on top of UZR rankings in the NPB by more than 10 points ahead of the second placed Baystars centre-fielder, Masayuki Kuwahara. I don't know how much NPB pays attention to UZR particularly with Yoshihiro Maru of the Carp doing so well in offensive categories, but I think given the dominance Oshima has in the state he is on his way to a 6th Golden Glove Award.

Dayan Viciedo has been nothing short of amazing since coming back from the US where he took a leave of absence to finalize his citizenship papers. Viciedo is currently slashing .350/.421/.561 on his way to possibly his first batting title since arriving in Japan in 2016. His power numbers are something to be desired, but Viciedo has slugged 26 homers which is 12 more than next best contributor, Zoilo Almonte. Viciedo has a remarkable average on a 0-0 count where he hits over .550, an outstanding stat by any measure.

"The Tank" also reset the Central League record for hits in a calendar month in August after mashing 47 hits, breaking Shuichi Murata's 2013 record of 46 but falling just one shy of equalling Ichiro Suzuki's NPB record 1998 mark.

Viciedo currently leads the league in average and hits (176) while ranking second in RBIs with 98 behind Yakult's Coco Balentien.

Viciedo is in the final year of a two-year deal but it has already been reported that the team are readying a new deal for the Cuban slugger on the back of the trauma of losing 2017 homerun champion, Alex Guerrero to the Giants this year. Deals are also being prepared for Zoilo Almonte and Onelki Garcia which will vary based on what Viciedo's demands are.

Ryosuke Hirata is the other star of the show at the moment. He started the year under a cloud where he may have had to take a year off and undertake surgery on his back, but he has been a mainstay in the lineup since opening day. Hirata spent the majority of the season batting at #5 and when Almonte had some time out of the team he was tried in the #3 slot. Given that he's been hitting everything and has some decent legs, the current management have put at lead-off which seems to be working as production keeps on happening. Like much of the team there doesn't seem to be as much power in Hirata's game as there was in the past. Once billed as a power-hitter, he seems to be favoring getting on base rather than driving in runs but that hasn't prevented a healthy .344 average with RISP.

Hirata currently slashes .329/.408/.460 and sits 3rd in the Central League batting title standings behind Hayato Sakamoto and teammate Viciedo. Hirata has cooled off a little bit in the last month or so, but he still is certainly up there to make a dash at the batting title.

Speaking of homeruns, the Dragons have the third least in NPB with only the Hanshin Tigers and the Chiba Lotte Marines having poorer records. Dragons also, despite the fast legs in the team, rank last in stolen bases but surprisingly have a better team ERA than 3 other NPB teams including the Pacific League leading Seibu Lions.

There are still some bright spots left to the season. Hitoki Iwase gets closer and closer to 1000 mound appearances, Viciedo and Hirata are racking up the hits and Oshima is making the plays in the outfield. I think we'll see a few younger faces come up from the farm in the latter parts of the season as well as some older ones to help formulate plans for the future.

In other news, the aforementioned Iwase, Takuya Asao, Masahiro Araki and Kei Nomoto will all be retiring at the end of the season. Iwase and Araki are two of the only players left from the 2007 Japan Series winning season with only Daisuke Yamai not yet bowing out. All three are expected to be retained in a coaching capacity. Araki and Iwase's career essentially have run their course after many years of dedicated service.

Iwase made a wonderful return to the first-team in 2016 after a debilitating injury, but the veteran has decided to throw in the towel. It does leave questions as to what the Dragons will do about southpaws in the bullpen, but it's probably a good time for Iwase to move on. Iwase retires the "King of Closers" after capturing several NPB records including most career mound appearances and saves. Up until last year, Iwase also held the record for most saves in a season. A legend of the game that was at his peak for a very long time with a devastating slider and a game-ending aura that helped solidify Chunichi dominance in the mid to late 2000s. Few could forget perhaps his crowning moment of throwing a scoreless frame against the Nippon Ham Fighters in 2007 to seal a combined perfect game with Daisuke Yamai and claim Chunichi's first Japan Series triumph in 53 years.


Araki got a bit of game time last year essentially platooning with Kyohei Kamezawa but Shuhei Takahashi's rise to relevance at second has seen Araki's opportunities cut to few and far between. Araki, like Iwase, was a player-coach this year and will now focus on the coaching aspects which he will hopefully do pretty well at. Araki as a player had many ups and downs, but it was with his quick legs and agility in the field that he won many fans. His pairing with Hirokazu Ibata as part of "Araiba" will be remembered by many a Chunichi fan to come as perhaps one of the most effective defensive infield duos in NPB history. Creative plays and generally good rapport, Araki and Ibata created the building blocks of a stoic, defensively elite Chunichi team.


Takuya Asao was a man burdened perhaps with too large a workload early in his career, but no one can deny his peak as an elite reliever and set-upper. Asao started off in middle-school as a catcher, but started pitching in high school as he had a strong arm. That strong arm would prove to be devastating at NPB level with a strong combination of a slider, palm ball and a fork. Asao peaked in 2011 where he became the first reliever to win the MVP award helping the Dragons to the 2011 pennant. Whenever Asao came to the mound the feeling was that he could get the team out of a jam regardless of how bad it was. A true fireman, the handsome Asao will be remembered by Chunichi fans for years to come despite his firecracker of a career. Truly a case of the light shining brightest burning twice as fast. Asao had some decent appearances in the latter half of this season, but given that the velocity on his fastball had dropped significantly, Asao himself seemed to have recognised his own failings and decided to call it a day.


Kei Nomoto's peak was being drafted 1st in the 2009 draft and helping the team to two consecutive pennants in 2010 and 2011. Nomoto has been on the precipice of being dropped from the team so it's very likely this was a measure of either retire or be retired. Nomoto never lived up to his draft pick billing and never hit about .260 in a season. The 2008 JABA Inter-City Tournament MVP has only really found time in the first team as a pinch-hitter in 2016 and last year.


All these retirements don't have a significant impact to the team however they do open up roster spots for younger players to come in. Once we go through the senryokugai notices we may have even more holes we'll need to plug going forward. This will hopefully allow for a fresh wave of players to come in and do what they need to do. No Asao, Nomoto, Iwase and Araki means hopefully more time on the farm for younger players that need the match practice. It also means more money on the payroll to play with as none of these players were being paid particularly in peanuts. Will these three leaving have an impact on draft targets? Perhaps, it's hard to see just yet, but we might see another dip into the college/high-school group of players to refresh the team.

Special Feature: Getting to know your Dragons - A chat with Yota Kyoda & Shigekazu Mori

Thanks to the very helpful folks at Japan Baseball Weekly podcast, I am privy to bring you, without overselling it, an exclusive interview with 2017 Central League rookie of the year, Yota Kyoda and Chunichi's third-year manager, Shigekazu Mori.

There are some interesting insights here particularly about how Kyoda views his second year in pro ball and perhaps especially about Mori's faith in his bullpen. I am really excited to be able to present an otherwise inaccessible area for this blog. These interviews took place before the 7-2 defeat to the Swallows on the 27th of June.

Interview with Yota Kyoda

(Noise of bat on ball present throughout entire interview)

JBW: Last year was your rookie year. After playing so much baseball did you start to feel fatigued?

YK: Yeah, there was a bit of fatigue. During the summer as it gets hot your body gets heavier and I wasn't able to play the way I wanted to. I'm starting now to get amply prepared for the summer.

JBW: You're going to experience that same wall (with the fatigue), how are you dealing with it?

YK: Yeah, opponents have done their research on me;I hit leadoff last year, but hitting second this year, I've had a lot more things to worry about, and that has been a challenge. But hitting leadoff, I can just go out and swing freely. I think it's the easier spot to hit in. But I'll probably hit in the two hole in future, so it's valuable experience for me.

JBW: For example, batting at second you have Almonte behind you, is there really that much more to think about?

YK: Well....(Almonte's) in good form and with runners on...and while I am thinking about his ability with runners in scoring position the opposing pitchers come at me in tight areas and it's not quite going as I'd like. (I'm) working on a strategy

JBW: In regards to the team's form, I don' think it's wrong to say you're conceding runs, runs scored 4th in the league; so how do you think the team can go about addressing this?

YK: Yeah. The pitching and hitting don't often work out on the same night. When the pitcher is having a bad day the bats have to rise and when the pitcher is doing well the order has to do well to cover for him.

JBW: How would you rate your defense? You seem to have gotten better since last year. What do you think has changed?

YK: The first thing for me is positioning. Last year there were a lot of batters that I hadn't seen and I went in not really knowing what to expect, but through the year I got a good feeling for the batter's habits and characteristics.

JBW: But, but, but there's data for that isn't there?

YK: Of course there's the data, but there's nothing like experiencing it for yourself.

Dragon Soul's Analysis:
 Kyoda seems understandably frustrated with his current struggles. One revealing part of course is he feels he need to think a lot more batting behind Oshima at the top of the order. Perhaps it that overthinking that has caused him to lose a bit of form on last year. It is also good to see that he's moving forward with preparation for summer but that's going to be the least of his worries with his current woes.

Interesting the claims regarding Kyoda's improving defense. While I'd say his blunders haven't been as pronounced, he still ranks 8th in the NPB in UZR for qualified short-stops at -1.4. He was at the top of the list with Seibu Lions' Sosuke Genda in the first half last year. Whilst UZR isn't the best way to analyse fielders at points during the season, it is a slightly worrying indication that he is performing below the NPB average for a short-stop at this stage of the year.

This interview however didn't age too well as Kyoda was demoted to 7th in the order on the 28th. It isn't looking good for him at the moment but there aren't too many other options available and you kind have to keep the faith. Let's take some solace though in the fact that Mr Dragons the third, Kazuyoshi Tatsunami, hit .235 the year after his rookie season and look what happened to him.

Interview with Shigekazu Mori

(Crack of ball on bat still present. Atmosphere is very jovial and friendly)

JBW: You've used a lot of starting pitchers this season, haven't you?

SM: Yeah, the starters and all the relievers, our team balance is off at the moment. If we give up three runs, we can win by scoring four. When it's a one- or two-run game, we can't score a run. Conversely, when the pitchers give up a lot of runs, if we could score a bunch we'd be okay. Any team could put a winning streak together right now if there's that kind of balance.

JBW: So what about Chunichi? How do you guys do it?

SM: When we try to score a run, we can't do it. And that's the problem. When we pitch well, we don't get any runs. And when one pitcher gets hit hard, all the pitchers get knocked around, and even if we hit, we come up a run short. We need to turn that around. What can you do to help me out?

JBW: I can only watch on TV and cheer.

SM: When the starters do their best to get through 6 or 7 innings keeping things to 1 or two runs....

JBW: Wait a sec, you say 6th and 7th inning, but you have pitchers out there in the 8th and 9th who are getting hit and losing games.

SM: Well, the relievers are mucking it up. We put together some good games, but the set-up guys or closers blow it. The starters work hard to keep us in the game, but we have a lot of older pitchers. If they could just hold them to one run in their one inning of work, it'd be OK. But it ends up being three, four runs or more, and that means there's nothing the batters can do. We have to put a stop to that kind of thing. If they only allow one run in an inning, we can put up with that. We blow way too many chances to come back in games, and, you know, that's what a bad team does. So go out and try to find me some pitchers who can do that!

JBW: On my way.

Dragon Soul's Analysis: 

Apart from the general jovialness of Mori in this interview, it is interesting at least to hear his opinion regarding the bullpen. He doesn't seem to have much confidence in his late inning guys and with good cause. The Dragons have one of the worst bullpen ERAs in the Central League. Hiroshi Suzuki, who started off so well now has an ERA closer to a back of the rotations starter than a set-upper. Shinji Tajima, our premier closer sits at 6.12 and the god of death himself, Hitoki Iwase has ballooned to a massive 5.71. The relievers just can't keep the runs down. Daisuke Sobue is the only reliever with a sub 3.00 ERA. It's actually 1.21 after 29.2 innings. 

While Sobue is off having a career year, the rest of the bullpen is in pieces as Mori laments the lack of a good bullpen to call on and a reliable starting rotation. 

The balance of bats not putting in runs when they're needed to is not exactly a new phenomena. Part of it is the rotation not being settled and the match-ups for starters not being well thought out while the line-up is for some reason unbalanced. Individually the Dragons line-up doesn't look that bad (if you ignore Kyoda) so it's a bit of a bad luck in some ways that the team haven't piled on more runs.

Mori's interview in particular paints a pretty sad picture but also gives us a bit of insight in to how powerless he's feeling at the moment to improve this team. It seems to be that there just aren't enough decent pieces out there to put together a half decent team.

Hopefully as the season progresses a few farm hands will find their feet in the first team and take some of the heat off the bullpen. There are certainly some boys doing well so I do hope to see some fresh faces eventually. Seeing Tatsuya Shimizu come up on the 28th was a wonderful surprise and a good move forward while the continued use of Kento Fujishima in long-relief and also recently in a starters role means that the management are very willing to give the youngsters a shot if they're good enough. Needless to say, it looks like it's going to be another long year.

A big thank you to the Japan Baseball Weekly podcast for putting this opportunity together. Please ensure you give a listen to the podcast next week as Steven Moya will be present for the weekly interview. The JBW podcasts are a great way to keep up with the NPB action and the banter and interplay between the hosts is always makes it a good listen. Their podcasts are listed here.

May 2nd: Dragons vs Swallows - A day in the life

For those not aware, I went back to Japan for a bit over 3 weeks for a holiday with my family. While I didn't get a whole lot of baseball watching done I thought I'd give you a run down of my baseball day. This will be a bit of a journal entry about Japan as well as about the game itself. I hope you enjoy it.

Picking up my new license

The day started off a little bit differently as I went to get my Japanese driver's license renewed. I had been away when it expired, but I was able to renew in the end. Given how often I travel to Japan and how much an international driver's permit costs per year, I thought I'd go down this route. I trotted of the Kaihin Makuhari station to transfer to get over the Licensing Centre where after about 2 hours of waiting in line to get the write stamps and paperwork and have an eye test, I had to sit through a 2 hour lecture on road rules and road safety. Why you ask? I actually took my license in Japan and had only held my full license for 2 years. I needed to take a refresher to then extend my license for a further 3 years. Most renewals are for 5 years. It was about 12:30 by the time that had finished and I hopped on the train to go to Chiba as I wanted some new glasses.

New Glasses at Zoff Chiba

This is a silly thing, but I really like the frames at Zoff. Zoff are a chain store vendor of glasses. They can test your eyesight onsite and the frames are very reasonable. I'm quite fond of a malleable plastic frame that's marketed as a sporting glasses frame as my daughter likes to try and grab them off my face from time to time.
I wandered in and had a refresher eye test, my prescription hadn't changed and they were able to file up some lenses to fit the frames in about an hour. I paid ￥9,800 for my frames and lenses which is quite a bit cheaper than it is usually in Australia. Hence my fondness.

While waiting for my glasses to be readied, I wandered over to Matsuya, a gyudon restaurant and had a grated white radish version with ponzu sauce to tide me over. After retrieving my lenses I set out to Shinjuku to pick up a new shirt. I had planned to make a stop-over in Suidobashi to visit the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame but I ran out of time unfortunately.

Before getting on the train in Chiba, I went looking for something to read at the station book store and eventually found an NPB guide book to flick through. It cost me about ￥250. Produced by Chunichi Sports there's a fair lean toward the Dragons, but the information is still there for all the other teams. I managed to waste a good hour looking over just Central League players.

Travelling off to Shinjuku

I'm not a huge fan of Shinjuku station as I've gotten lost and frustrated there more times than I can count. I've given up a few times too. It's busy. I'm not great with crowds like that, and it's big. I did however find my way to my destination at Selection-J, a largely American sporting good store. They keep a fair share of NPB gear in their baseball shop along with a lot of MLB gear. They also sell a lot of NBA and NFL merchandise.

I had a bit of trouble finding a top that I was happy with, but I settled on an Oshima home jersey even though I was more keen on a Shuhei or Ogasawara visitor jersey but I'm still happy with my choice. It was a replica jersey, so it only set me back ￥5,000. If you want the more authentic look, they're about ￥7,500.
The cashier was a mighty jolly fellow who was quite happy to have a chat with me in Japanese quizzing where I was from. He even snapped a photo of me which went up on the website.

オーストラリアからお越しいただきました！めちゃくちゃ日本語お上手でたくさんお話できてよかったです！また遊びに来てください！See you again！【Ohshima】

If you really want Dragons merchandise this isn't the best place to go. The selection was modest for the Dragons while teams like the Tigers and Giants had a lot more stuff. As I mention below, the visiting store that was set up at Jingu had quite a bit more in terms of variety. Still, if you're in Tokyo or Osaka and are looking for gear Selection-J is still a good place to have a look at. They have all the NewEra Chunichi caps that are available, which is unfortunately all of two. There's the Ochiai era blue cap which is similar to the current version only with a white button on top or the early 90's, Imanaka "D" which is similar to the Dodgers current spring training cap. 

Off to the game

Rain had started to fall by the time I had exited the shop, so I headed back to Shinjuku station to get back to Shinanomachi to walk over to Meiji Jingu Stadium. I stopped over at a local convenience store first to pick up some snacks including a pack of dried squid, some wakame seaweed and a 500ml can of beer. At Jingu you can pour out your beer into a cup and bring it into the stadium. It's a good way to enjoy your first and maybe second beers. 

I had bought tickets via the Lawson Loppi machines for a general admission ticket in the visitors stand and I took a seat near the left-field boundary pole. Most of seats were taken up by groups of fans about 20 minutes before the ceremonial first pitch so if you want good seats you might need to go in a bit earlier. Either that or sit in the reserved section.
 The beer disappeared fairly quickly and I was already hailing the beer backpack laden lasses by the end of the first inning not showing any favouritism but for my favourite beer on show that night, Yebisu. At ￥750 they're a bit heavy on the wallet, but I didn't really care by the 3rd one....

The game started off with a guest appearance from the Philly Phanatic whom I don't have any specific love for. But between him, Doara and Tsubakuro there were plenty of mascot hijinks. 

In with the fans I had failed to memorise any of the chants but tried my best to at least connect properly with "kattobasse (player name)". By my third beer I had really gotten into the chance themes and while kind of singing half the lyrics, made up my own. " Enemy no toshu wo muite, omae ga utanakya,dare ga utsu la la la la la la la, go, go (player name)". Needless to say I was a bit off after looking back at the proper lyrics which are "Minagiru toushi wo furutate, omae ga utanakya dare ga utsu, ima shouri wo tsukame, oi oi, (player name)." Quite simply, I got about half of it right...nevermind. 

The game started with Tetsuto Yamada launching a homer into the visitor stands in a magnificent arc off Shotaro Kasahara's first pitch. The Dragons pulled 2 runs out of the bag through Almonte giving them the lead but Sakaguchi and Hirooka took the lead for the Swallows again. 

During one of the scoring moments, a group in front of my was dealing out high fives like no one's business until they turned around, saw me, and then decided better of the idea. I don't blame them. I came by myself and I hadn't had a shave in a week and a haircut in about 4 months. Gaijin is one thing, scraggly, 6'4" gaijin is another. 

By this time my stomach was rumbling and I head down to the galley for some grub. I found a vendor that was selling chicken nanban, essentially fried chicken with tartare sauce on it which is what was meant to Nori Aoki's selection. It was served in a number 23 golden helmet with some wedges. It was quite enjoyable though I can't recall the price. I later went in and got myself some more wedges at around the 7th inning but they went cold while I was cheering. 

The Dragons would overcome the Swallows in the 7th as a diving slide from Kyoda followed up by hits from Fukuda and the pinch-hitting Fujii set-up a 3-6 win on a damp night. 

Perhaps one of the big events of fan service on the night was the ascension of Hitoki Iwase to the mound in a saving position in the 9th. The couple in front of me appeared to be big fans of the record breaking closer as they brought along an Iwase sign made from felt. It was here there was a slightly heart warming moment as when the decision was made to bring Iwase into the game a young primary school aged boy was standing near where we were sitting. One of the fans in front of me said 「絶対勝つぞ」(We're definitely going to win) to which the young boy replied 「だって、岩瀬だもん。」(Of course, it's Iwase!). I don't know why that made me feel so warm and fuzzy, but the fact that one player can bring joy to someone so young just made me feel pretty good.

On exiting the stadium I later realised that around Jingu there were visiting team stores where I could have bought a shirt...or some other...stuff. I was also thanked by two jolly Chunichi supporters on my way out which was nice. They both gave me a handshake for whatever reason. 

I wandered back to Shinanomachi station for the long trip back into deepest, darkest Chiba. I picked up a 500ml Strong Zero for the walk home in the rain. Unfortunately it wasn't all that nice when it was lukewarm so the last quarter of it ended up unfinished. 

Overall it was a great day out. I did also hum and hah about making a trip out to Tokyo Dome the following week, but I decided to spend that time with my family instead. There'll be another time. When my daughter's a bit older I plan to take her to a game with me.

A few bits and pieces

I was able to get a bit of swag while I was in Japan mostly care of a delayed Christmas present from my sister-in-law. A book that I had eyed off called ドラゴンズあるある which is a book that was published in 2012 about the things that most Dragons fans experience. There are a few that ring true with me so far such as "Even though the Dragons won, they appear as the opponent on recap shows" and "You love (Shinji) Imanaka even now." There are a few others and is a little bit dated given it was published 6 years ago, but it's a bit of a laugh. I also received a box of どあらの恋人 (Doala's lover; a play on 白い恋人 shiroi koibito, white lover, which is a famous confectionery company in Hokkaido) white chocolate biscuity things

I unfortunately had to leave behind my 80 Years Anniversary Book and my terracotta Dragons beer mug again as we ended up with a lot more luggage than expected, but them's the breaks. 

I hope you enjoyed my little day journal. I had a lot of fun writing it.