Starting Tuesday, batters in Nippon Professional Baseball games who lose control of their bats while swinging will be punished by warnings and automatic ejections.
Any swing in which the bat leaves both hands — including cases where it accidentally slips—will now be classified as a “dangerous swing.” If the bat strikes another person such as an umpire or player, or flies into a dugout, camera area, or the stands, the batter will be automatically ejected. In other cases, the batter will receive a warning, and a second warning in the same game will result in ejection.
The rule was agreed to by NPB’s executive committee less than a month after umpire Takuto Kawakami was seriously injured by a blow to the side of the head when on April 16, Yakult Swallows slugger Jose Osuna lost his grip on an errant swing.
Kawakami had emergency surgery and remains in a coma. Since then, NPB umpires have been wearing helmets. Ten days days after his unfortunate followthrough felled Kawakami, Osuna again made contact after a swinging third strike with the head of Chunichi Dragons catcher Yuta Ishii.
NPB will also continue discussing whether cases in which a batter releases only one hand from the bat and it hits the catcher or home plate umpire should also be subject to discipline.
Rules Committee Chairman Seiji Yamakawa explained the intent behind the change.
“Regardless of whether it is intentional or accidental, throwing a bat is extremely dangerous. More than imposing penalties, we strongly want to raise hitters’ awareness of safety,” Yamakawa told reporters.
The speed at which the rule came into being echoed a similar rule enacted during the 1994 season by the Central League when pitchers were first ejected for striking any batter near the head.
Visitors to Japan remark on its outward efficiency, but that is a product of the incredibly inefficient process. Before decisions are made organizations typically go through every last conceivable detail–no matter how time consuming and irrelevant–and make sure everyone signs off on every step so that no one can be held accountable for the group’s actions.
This process reveals many potential flaws but takes forever and wastes an incredible amount of time.
But, probably because the Giants and their most famous former player, manager Shigeo Nagashima, were involved in a May 11, 1994, dustup, things moved at lightning speed even without the help of social media.
Three batters were hit in the game, benches emptied and both teams were warned. The funniest thing about the game was when umpires informed the Jingu Stadium crowd that Swallows manager Katsuya Nomura and Giants head coach Yutaka Sudo would be ejected if the trouble did not end.
Despite the rationale of my friend Osamu Ino, one of the game’s umpires, I’m pretty sure the officials were not going to summon the wrath of Giants fans down upon their heads by handing Nagashima the first ejection of his storybook career.
If things had proceeded at normal NPB speed–just ask former MLB international boss Jim Small about the start of the WBC–the “dangerous pitch” rule might have taken years to formulate.
This one, however, touched the Giants, whose parent company has lorded over NPB since Yomiuri Shimbun owner Matsutaro Shoriki created Japan’s first league in 1936. CL owners acted with amazing speed and got things done.
It’s the exception that proves the rule.
On a side note, Osuna was deactivated for poor form for the first time since making his NPB debut in 2021. He was restored to the active roster Tuesday, against the Hanshin Tigers, and once forced Tigers catcher Torai Fushimi to duck out of the way of his followthrough.
