The Best Nine Award winners were announced Tuesday, so I’d better make some note about them lest people think I’m still on vacation.
Central League
| Pos | Player | Team | Share | Count |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pitcher | Yuya Yanagi | D | 0.428 | 1st |
| Catcher | Yuhei Nakamura | S | 0.869 | 2nd |
| First | Jefry Marte | T | 0.343 | 1st |
| Second | Tetsuto Yamada | S | 0.735 | 6th |
| Third | Munetaka Murakami | S | 0.803 | 2nd (1 at 1B) |
| Short | Hayato Sakamoto | G | 0.513 | 7th |
| Outfield | Seiya Suzuki | C | 0.967 | 6th |
| Outfield | Koji Chikamoto | T | 0.901 | 1st |
| Outfield | Yasutaka Shiomi | S | 0.346 | 1st |
Jefry Marte‘s Best Nine with less than 35 percent of the vote was not a record, but was the third lowest score by a position player, after outfielder Yoshitomo Tani’s 31.9 percent on the 2004 PL ballot, and Hiroki Kokubo’s 34.2 percent share in 2011.
Pacific League
| Pitcher | Yoshinobu Yamamoto | B | 0.989 | 1st |
| Catcher | Tomoya Mori | L | 0.585 | 3rd |
| First | Brandon Laird | M | 0.663 | 2nd (1 at 3B) |
| Second | Shogo Nakamura | M | 0.801 | 1st |
| Third | Yuma Mune | B | 0.858 | 1st |
| Short | Sosuke Genda | L | 0.776 | 4th |
| Outfield | Yutaro Sugimoto | B | 0.911 | 1st |
| Outfield | Masataka Yoshida | B | 0.769 | 4th |
| Outfield | Yuki Yanagita | H | 0.570 | 6th |
| DH | Kensuke Kondo | F | 0.510 | 3rd (1 at OF) |
It’s not that unusual for a player to record a near-unanimous vote in the Best Nine, the way Yamamoto did. Since 2002, 35 players have been named on more than 98.5 percent of their league’s ballots, with eight unanimous selections, all but one in the PL. Since 2002, the CL’s only unanimous choice was outfielder Hideki Matsui of the Yomiuri Giants.
Like I did with the golden glove votes posted on NPB’s website, I scraped the best nine voting records, since 2002, and with Tuesday’s results will give you the top ten in Best Nine Award shares.
The Best nines since 2002
| Name | Best Nines | |
|---|---|---|
| Shinnosuke Abe | 9 | 7.704 |
| Hayato Sakamoto | 7 | 7.243 |
| Hideto Asamura | 6 | 6.110 |
| Norichika Aoki | 7 | 5.887 |
| Yuki Yanagita | 6 | 5.708 |
| Michihiro Ogasawara | 5 | 5.512 |
| Kazuhiro Wada | 6 | 5.413 |
| Yoshihiro Maru | 6 | 5.282 |
| Yoshio Itoi | 5 | 4.986 |
| Seiya Suzuki | 6 | 4.903 |
The top pitcher on the list, Tomoyuki Sugano, with four Best Nines, has a career Best Nine award share of 3.203, ranking him 33rd.
