We all make mistakes
It’s now officially awards season in Japan, with Monday’s announcements of the Best Nine Awards. There are 19, of course, because the PL gets 10 via the DH. Someone on Twitter asked if I was the one who voted for Orix’s Ho Naito for first base in the PL.
If I had it was unintended, because sometimes I fail to notice inputting the wrong player’s name, and I have made mistakes in the past. I think the person meant it as a compliment but I’m not sure.
One of my Golden Glove mistake votes caused former Yokohama second baseman Yutaka Takagi to write a column about someone who should publicly tarred and feathered for such an absurd vote.
Digression aside, here are the winners with my votes (I did in fact vote as intended for the PL first base award. The MVPs and rookies of the year are announced Tuesday.
I have bolded all the players I voted for and given the vote total for each player in brackets. Every asterisk marks a player who finished within 50 votes of the leading total.
There are two of these for the PL pitcher award, where Kohei Arihara won in what Donald Trump would call a landslide, by 11 votes and 37 percent of the total cast. I have listed all the near misses and the votes they received below each league’s winners, with another note below for the three players I voted for who weren’t even near misses.
Although Yakult shortstop Hideki Nagaoka got the most votes in either league, SoftBank third baseman Ryoya Kurihara was a near unanimous decision, getting 257 of the 259 cast for PL players.
Central League
CL winners
- Pitcher: Tomoyuki Sugano, Giants (249)
- Catcher: Yudai Yamamoto, BayStars (251)
- First Base: Kazuma Okamoto, Giants (183)
- Second Base: Naoki Yoshikawa, Giants (164)*
- Third Base: Munetaka Murakami, Swallows (266)
- Shortstop: Hideki Nagoka, Swallows (274)
- Outfield: Domingo Santana, Swallows (231)
- Outfield: Seiya Hosokawa, Dragons (206)
- Outfield: Koji Chikamoto, Tigers (186)*
*-Candidates who were shy of the winning total by 50 votes or fewer:
- Second Base: Shugo Maki, BayStars (130)
- Outfield: Yoshihiro Maru, Giants (136)
My votes that didn’t nearly make it: Catcher: Shogo Sakakura, Carp (29), Outfield: Shota Morishita, Tigers (62).
Pacific League
PL winners
- Pitcher: Kohei Arihara, Hawks (96)**
- Catcher: Toshiya Sato, Marines (121)*
- First Base: Hotaka Yamakawa, Hawks (256)
- Second Base: Hiroto Kobukata, Eagles (155)
- Third Base: Ryoya Kurihara, Hawks (257)
- Shortstop: Kenta Imamiya, Hawks (173)
- Outfield: Ryosuke Tatsumi, Eagles (240)
- Outfield: Kensuke Kondo, Hawks (227)
- Outfield: Ukyo Shuto, Hawks (144)*
- Designated Hitter: Franmil Reyes, Fighters (212)
*-Near misses (by 50 votes or less):
- Pitcher: Hiromi Ito, Fighters (85)
- Pitcher: Livan Moinelo, Hawks (75)
- Catcher: Takuya Kai, Hawks (112)*
- Outfield: Chusei Mannami, Fighters (141)
My votes that didn’t nearly make it: Catcher: Tomoya Mori (10).
My MVP and rookie of the year votes:
There was definitely a mistake here. One of my rules for the MVP is that I can’t give an MVP vote to a player if he is not one of my Best Nine picks, since by my reasoning, a player cannot be the best in his league as a whole if he is not even the best at his position. I violated that rule by accident. I originally had Tatsumi as my No. 2 PL outfielder, but dropped him for reasons I explained in “My award votes 2024,” and then forgot to pull his No. 2 MVP vote.
As I said, “I have made mistakes.”
Central League MVP
- Koji Chikamoto, Tigers
- Seiya Hosokawa, Dragons
- Kazuma Okamoto (Giants)
Central League rookie of the year
Mikiya Tanaka, Dragons
Pacific League MVP
- Kensuke Kondo, Hawks
- Ryosuke Tatsumi, Eagles (He had a great season and may well be deserving here)
- Ryoya Kurihara, Hawks
Pacific League rookie of the year
Natsuki Takeuchi, Lions (I’ll be surprised if he’s not close to unanimous)
