Final countdown to 2020

The 12 teams in Japan’s two six-team leagues, the Pacific and Central, announced their 31-player active rosters for Opening Day on Thursday. All six games start at 6 pm Japan Time (5 am EDT).

My guide to Japanese pro baseball is HERE. It’s still a bit of a work in progress, but there may be something there of interest. You’ll find full rosters with links to the players’ English language NPB web pages, managers’ records, team info and more.

Friday’s Opening Day match-ups:

Seibu Lions vs Nippon Ham Fighters

-At MetLife Dome: ZACH NEAL vs Kohei Arihara

Orix Buffaloes vs Rakuten Eagles

-At Kyocera Dome: Taisuke Yamaoka vs Takahiro Norimoto

Seibu Lions vs Nippon Ham Fighters

-At PayPay Dome: Nao Higashihama vs Ayumu Ishikawa

There are a variety of routes through which one can stream Japanese games outside of the country, but Pacific League TV (pay) is the one I’m most familiar with. HERE‘s my guide to that service.

Yomiuri Giants vs Hanshin Tigers

-At Tokyo Dome: Tomoyuki Sugano vs Yuki Nishi

Yakult Swallows vs Chunichi Dragons

-At Jingu Stadium: Masanori Ishikawa vs Yudai Ono

DeNA BayStars vs Hiroshima Carp

-At Yokohama Stadium: Shota Imanaga vs Daichi Osera

Opening Day active rosters

A total of 18 first-year pros made the Opening Day rosters, a rather large figure — even for a country with only one real tier of minor leagues. Players with an asterisk are still considered rookies for 2020, while those with their names in capital letters are registered as imported players.

Pacific League

Seibu Lions

PosNo.Name
P14Tatsushi Masuda
P15Tetsu Miyagawa*
P17Wataru Matsumoto
P20Shota Hamaya*
P25Katsunori Hirai
P28Ryosuke Moriwaki
P33REED GARRETT
P40Ichiro Tamura*
P44Kaito Yoza*
P48Shota Takekuma
P54ZACH NEAL
P61Kaima Taira*
C2Masatoshi Okada
C10Tomoya Mori
C37Sena Tsuge*
IF3Hotaka Yamakawa
IF4Kakeru Yamanobe*
IF5Shuta Tonosaki
IF6Sosuke Genda
IF39Wu  Nien-ting
IF60Takeya Nakamura
OF1Takumi Kuriyama
OF7Yuji Kaneko
OF9Fumikazu Kimura
OF22CORY SPANGENBERG
OF46Shohei Suzuki*
OF58Masato Kumashiro
OF72Seiji Kawagoe*

SoftBank Hawks

PosNo.Name
P11Yuki Tsumori*
P13Akira Niho
P16Nao Higashihama
P17Sho Iwasaki
P21Tsuyoshi Wada
P28Rei Takahashi
P35LIVAN MOINELO
P38Yuito Mori
P53Keisuke Izumi*
P57Shinya Kayama
P63Hiroyuki Kawahara
P66Yuki Matsumoto
C12Hiroaki Takaya
C19Takuya Kai
C31Ryoya Kurihara
IF5Nobuhiro Matsuda
IF6Kenta Imamiya
IF8Kenji Akashi
IF22Tetsuro Nishida
IF23Ukyo Shuto
IF36Taisei Makihara
IF68Masaki Miori*
IF99Keizo Kawashima
OF4WLADIMIR BALENTIEN
OF9Yuki Yanagita
OF24Yuya Hasegawa
OF32Tatsuru Yanagimachi*
OF51Seiji Uebayashi

Rakuten Eagles

PosNo.Name
P13Kohei Morihara
P14Takahiro Norimoto
P15JON THOMAS CHARGOIS
P20Tomohiro Anraku
P22Kazuhisa Makita
P28Tomohito Sakai
P32ALAN BUSENITZ
P52Taisei Tsurusaki*
P58Wataru Karashima
C2Hikaru Ota
C29Ayatsugu Yamashita
C44Yuichi Adachi
IF0Hiroto Kobukata*
IF3Hideto Asamura
IF5Eigoro Mogi
IF6Kazuya Fujita
IF7Daichi Suzuki
IF26Naoto Watanabe
IF33Ginji Akaminai
IF34Tsuyoshi Yamasaki
IF36Yasuhito Uchida
OF8Ryosuke Tatsumi
OF9STEFEN ROMERO
OF35Hiroaki Shimauchi
OF51Yuya Ogo*
OF69JABARI BLASH

Lotte Marines

PosNo.Name
P12Ayumu Ishikawa
P15Manabu Mima
P16Atsuki Taneichi
P20Taiki Tojo
P30Tsuyoshi Ishizaki
P37Fumiya Ono
P42FRANK HERRMANN
P47Yasuhiro Tanaka
P48Toshiya Nakamura*
P49CHEN KUAN-YU
P52Naoya Masuda
P58JAY JACKSON
C22Tatsuhiro Tamura
C32Toshiya Sato*
C99Tomoya Kakinuma
IF0Takashi Toritani
IF4Yudai Fujioka
IF5Hisanori Yasuda*
IF8Shogo Nakamura
IF40Koki Fukuda*
IF44Seiya Inoue
IF54BRANDON LAIRD
OF0Takashi Ogino
OF1Ikuhiro Kiyota
OF3Katsuya Kakunaka
OF7Shuhei Fukuda
OF25Hiromi Oka
OF63Koshiro Wada*
OF79LEONYS MARTIN

Nippon Ham Fighters

PosNo.Name
P14Takayuki Kato
P16Kohei Arihara
P19Chihiro Kaneko
P25Naoki Miyanishi
P29Kazutomo Iguchi
P31Toru Murata
P34Mizuki Hori
P39Ryo Akiyoshi
P47Kenya Suzuki*
P49Katsuhiko Kumon
P54Taisho Tamai
P56Mitsuo Yoshikawa
C10Yushi Shimizu
C22Shinya Tsuruoka
C30Shingo Usami
IF2Kenshi Sugiya
IF6Sho Nakata
IF9Takuya Nakashima
IF21Kotaro Kiyomiya
IF23Ryo Watanabe
IF24Yuki Nomura*
IF32Ryota Yachi
IF38Kazunari Ishii
IF58Toshitake Yokoo
OF3WANG PO-JUNG
OF4Yuya Taniguchi
OF5Taishi Ota
OF7Haruki Nishikawa
OF8Kensuke Kondo

Orix Buffaloes

PosNo.Name
P14Kazumasa Yoshida
P15Yudai Aranishi
P18Yoshinobu Yamamoto
P19Taisuke Yamaoka
P29Daiki Tajima
P32BRANDON DICKSON
P35Motoki Higa
P47Tomoyuki Kaida
P49Keisuke Sawada
P57Nobuyoshi Yamada
P95Fumiya Kanbe*
C23Torai Fushimi
C33Masato Matsui
C37Kenya Wakatsuki
IF0Shoki Katsumata*
IF3Ryoichi Adachi
IF9Koji Oshiro
IF38Shohei Kojima
IF42ADERLIN RODRIGUEZ
IF64Shinya Hirosawa*
IF67Keita Nakagawa
OF8Shunta Goto
OF10ADAM JONES
OF25Ryo Nishimura
OF34Masataka Yoshida
OF41Kodai Sano
OF50Yuya Oda
OF55Takahiro Okada

Central League

Yomiuri Giants

PosNo.Name
P12RUBBY  DE LA ROSA
P15Hirokazu Sawamura
P18Tomoyuki Sugano
P20ANGEL SANCHEZ
P28Kazuto Taguchi
P30Yohei Kagiya
P40Yuri Furukawa
P41Kota Nakagawa
P47Takahiro Fujioka
P49Thyago Vieira*
P57Kyosuke Takagi
P58Ryosuke Miyaguni
C22Seiji Kobayashi
C24Takumi Oshiro
C27Ginjiro Sumitani
C69Takaya Tanaka*
IF0Daiki Masuda*
IF5Hiroyuki Nakajima
IF6Hayato Sakamoto
IF25Kazuma Okamoto
IF29Naoki Yoshikawa
IF51Shunta Tanaka
IF52Takumi Kitamura*
IF93Dai Yuasa*
OF2Yang Dai-kang
OF8Yoshihiro Maru
OF9Yoshiyuki Kamei
OF36Shingo Ishikawa
OF43Shinnosuke Shigenobu
OF88GERARDO PARRA

DeNA BayStars

PosNo.Name
P13Hiromu Ise*
P14Kenta Ishida
P17Kazuki Mishima
P19Yasuaki Yamasaki
P21Shota Imanaga
P34Shingo Hirata
P45Michael Peoples*
P53SPENCER PATTON
P58Yuta Muto
P92Yuki Kuniyoshi
C10Yasutaka Tobashira
C29Hikaru Ito
C32Kyosuke Mashiko*
IF0Daisuke Nakai
IF2JOSE LOPEZ
IF5Toshihiko Kuramoto
IF9Yamato Maeda
IF23TYLER AUSTIN
IF31Tatsuhiro Shibata
IF44Keita Sano
IF51Toshiro Miyazaki
IF99NEFTALI SOTO
OF1Masayuki Kuwahara
OF3Takayuki Kajitani
OF33Tomo Otosaka
OF37Taishi Kusumoto
OF61Tatsuo Ebina*

Hanshin Tigers

PosNo.Name
P14Atsushi Nomi
P16Yuki Nishi
P17Yuta Iwasada
P22Kyuji Fujikawa
P34Masaki Tanigawa*
P42JON EDWARDS
P43Koki Moriya
P50Koyo Aoyagi
P66Ippei Ogawa*
P67Suguru Iwazaki
P75ROBERT SUAREZ
P77ONELKI GARCIA
C12Seishiro Sakamoto
C44Ryutaro Umeno
C94Fumihito Haraguchi
IF0Hiroki Uemoto
IF0Seiya Kinami
IF2Fumiya Hojo
IF3Yusuke Oyama
IF31JEFRY MARTE
IF33Kento Itohara
IF41JUSTIN BOUR
IF55Naomasa Yokawa
IF58Fumiya Araki
IF62Kai Ueda
OF5Koji Chikamoto
OF7Yoshio Itoi
OF8Kosuke Fukudome
OF9Shun Takayama
OF25Taiga Egoshi

Hiroshima Carp

No.Name
P14Daichi Osera
P16Takeru Imamura
P18Masato Morishita*
P21Shota Nakazaki
P23Kazuki Yabuta
P28Hiroki Tokoda
P36Atsuya Horie
P39Yasunori Kikuchi
P46Mikiya Takahashi
P70TAYLER SCOTT
P97GERONIMO FRANZUA
C27Tsubasa Aizawa
C31Yoshiyuki Ishihara
C61Shogo Sakakura
IF0Takashi Uemoto
IF2Kosuke Tanaka
IF4Tetsuya Kokubo
IF6Tomohiro Abe
IF7Shota Dobayashi
IF33Ryosuke Kikuchi
IF35Takumi Miyoshi
IF63Ryoma Nishikawa
IF96ALEJANDRO MEJIA
OF1Seiya Suzuki
OF5Hisayoshi Chono
OF10JOSE PIRELA
OF37Takayoshi Noma
OF50Hiroki Takahashi

Chunichi Dragons

PosNo.Name
P13Yuki Hashimoto*
P16Katsuki Matayoshi
P17Yuya Yanagi
P19Kazuki Yoshimi
P21Toshiya Okada
P22Yudai Ono
P28Kodai Umetsu
P33Daisuke Sobue
P34Hiroto Fuku
P46Hiroshi Suzuki
P53LUIS GONZALEZ
P97RAIDEL MARTINEZ
C35Takuya Kinoshita
C44Yuya Gunji*
C52Takuma Kato
IF1Yota Kyoda
IF3Shuhei Takahashi
IF5Toshiki Abe
IF9Shun Ishikawa
IF55Nobumasa Fukuda
IF63Naomichi Donoue
IF66DAYAN VICIEDO
OF6Ryosuke Hirata
OF8Yohei Oshima
OF23Issei Endo
OF26Masataka Iryo
OF31Masaru Watanabe*
OF42ZOILO ALMONTE
OF56Kengo Takeda

Yakult Swallows

PosNo.Name
P12Taichi Ishiyama
P17Noboru Shimizu*
P18Naruki Terashima*
P19Masanori Ishikawa
P20Kazuki Kondo
P37SCOTT MCGOUGH
P38Yugo Umeno
P44Hiroki Onishi*
P69Ryuta Konno
P90Hiroki Hasegawa*
C45Motohiro Shima
C52Yuhei Nakamura
C57Yudai Koga*
IF1Tetsuto Yamada
IF2ALCIDES ESCOBAR
IF10Takahiro Araki
IF36Taishi Hirooka
IF39Takeshi Miyamoto
IF55Munetaka Murakami
IF66Taisei Yoshida*
OF9Yasutaka Shiomi
OF23Norichika Aoki
OF31Kotaro Yamasaki
OF41Yuhei Takai
OF42Tomotaka Sakaguchi
OF49Daiki Watanabe*
OF50Tsuyoshi Ueda

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