Chunichi Dragons

The Nagoya-based Dragons are one of the current establishment’s first teams, taking part in the 1936 tournaments. They won their first pennant and Japan Series in 1954, but wouldn’t win their second until 2007. That came under Hiromitsu Ochiai, who won four of the franchise’s nine pennants. Ochiai was ostensibly fired because he was not fan-friendly enough.

Manager: Tsuyoshi Yoda
2019 Finish: 5th, 9 games back and 5 games under .500 despite outscoring their opponents 545-544.

Manager’s record:

Year	Team	G	W	L	T	Pct	Finish
2019	Dragons	143	68	73	2	.482	5
Prev. 3 yrs		428	179	239	10	.428	6,5,5

Yoda is the second Dragons closer from the 1980s to early 1990s to manage in NPB, after Kazuhiko Ushijima, who managed the BayStars in 2005 and 2006. There doesn’t appear to be anything unusual about the way he managed the club in 2019.

The most unorthodox thing he did was hand the second base job to 29-year-old career minor leaguer Toshiki Abe, who turned into one of the team’s biggest contributors.

The Dragons have been a fast, hit-the-ball-on-the-ground and play good defense team. Under Yoda, the pitching and defense were both much better, while injury cost Zoillo Almonte, a big power and on-base guy, two-thirds of the season and could have meant the difference between finishing second and fifth.

The Dragons’ home park, is one of Japan’s toughest home run parks because of its high distant outfield walls, making the Dragons’ league-worst ERA in 2018, a singular feat.

Key players

Yohei Oshima CF
Yota Kyoda SS
Dayan Viciedo 1B
Shuhei Takahashi 3B
Toshiki Abe 2B
Ryosuke Hirata RF
Takuma Kato C
Nobumasa Fukuda LF, 3B
Naomichi Donoue 2B, 3B, SS

Strengths and weaknesses

Team Offensive rankings

Best in the league: doubles, triples, strikeouts, BABiP, Avg
Next to worst in the league: runs, SB pct, OBP, Slug, Iso Power
Worst in the league: home runs, walks

Rankings against opponents’ offense

Best in the league: runs, triples, BABiP, Avg

Other rankings

Best in the league: errors, (45 errors ties the Dragons for 4th fewest in Japanese pro baseball history. the record is 38), saves (Hiroshi Suzuki led Chunichi with 14 saves, the fewest for a team leading the league in saves since 1985)
And… the Dragons were last in the league in intentional walks issue, but it’s basically a five-team race between managers who issue 20 to 33 a year and DeNA’s

Roster

Notes: Names in all caps are imported players; names with asterisks still qualify as rookies, hyperlinks are to the player’s English language page.

Pos	Name	No.	Prev years
P	Shinnosuke Ogasawara	11	4
P	Shinji Tajima	12	8
P	Yuki Hashimoto*	13	0
P	Keisuke Tanimoto	14	12
P	Katsuki Matayoshi	16	6
P	Yuya Yanagi	17	3
P	Kazuki Yoshimi	19	14
P	Toshiya Okada	21	10
P	Yudai Ono	22	9
P	Koji Fukutani	24	7
P	Yu Sato	25	4
P	Kodai Umetsu	28	1
P	Daisuke Yamai	29	18
P	Takuma Achira	30	6
P	Daisuke Sobue	33	6
P	Hiroto Fuku	34	4
P	Yuichiro Okano*	36	0
P	Takahiro Matsuba	38	8
P	Sho Ishikawa*	40	2
P	Akiyoshi Katsuno*	41	1
P	Takuya Mitsuma	43	4
P	Hiroshi Suzuki	46	2
P	Shotaro Kasahara	47	3
P	Tatsuya Shimizu	50	2
P	LUIS GONZALEZ	53	0
P	Kento Fujishima	54	3
P	Takumi Yamamoto	59	2
P	Kenshin Kakigoshi*	61	1
P	Ryushin Takeuchi*	62	0
P	Ryosuke Oguma	64	11
P	Junki Ito	65	11
P	YARIEL RODRIGUEZ	67	0	8/3 Signed from Dev roster. Rookie eligible
P	Tatsuro Hamada	69	5
P	ENNY ROMERO	70	1
P	Kento　Marc Ishida*	82	1	9/23 Signed from dev roster
P	RAIDEL MARTINEZ	97	2
P	Yusuke Kinoshita*	98	2
P	Shota Suzuki	99	6
P	SANDY BRITO	201	0
P	Tomohiro Hamada*	202	3
P	Taisuke Maruyama*	204	3
P	Akito Okura*	206	1
P	Hiroaki Matsuda*	207	0
C	Shota Ono	27	11
C	Takuya Kinoshita	35	4
C	Yuya Gunji*	44	0
C	Takuma Kato	52	5
C	ARIEL MARTINEZ	57	1	7/1 Signed from dev roster.
C	Kota Ishibashi*	58	1
C	Iori Katsura	68	6
IF	Wataru Takamatsu*	0	2
IF	Yota Kyoda	1	3
IF	Takaya Ishikawa*	2	0
IF	Shuhei Takahashi	3	8
IF	Toshiki Abe	5	4
IF	Akira Neo*	7	1
IF	Shun Ishikawa	9	5
IF	Masami Ishigaki*	32	3
IF	Taiki Mitsumata	37	10
IF	Hayato Mizowaki	48	7
IF	Nobumasa Fukuda	55	13
IF	Naomichi Donoue	63	13
IF	DAYAN VICIEDO	66	4
IF	Ryota Ishioka*	205	4
OF	Atsushi Fujii	4	14
OF	Ryosuke Hirata	6	14
OF	Yohei Oshima	8	10
OF	Issei Endo	23	5
OF	Masataka Iryo	26	5
OF	Masaru Watanabe*	31	2
OF	ZOILO ALMONTE	42	2
OF	MOISES SIERRA	45	0
OF	Kosuke Ito*	49	2
OF	Kaname Takino*	51	1
OF	Kengo Takeda	56	8
OF	Yuki Okabayashi*	60	0

2019 team data

Batters

Name	Bats	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	Avg	OBP	Slug	wOBA
Yohei Oshima	L	143	623	558	89	174	23	3	3	45	30	7	50	78	.312	.376	.380	.340
DAYAN VICIEDO	R	143	594	534	56	168	43	0	18	93	2	1	41	88	.315	.374	.496	.376
Yota Kyoda	L	140	574	507	46	126	14	5	3	40	17	7	37	91	.249	.302	.314	.275
Toshiki Abe	R	129	484	447	51	130	24	3	7	59	1	0	31	82	.291	.337	.405	.326
Shuhei Takahashi	L	117	471	430	50	126	28	5	7	59	3	4	32	70	.293	.345	.430	.335
Ryosuke Hirata	R	95	407	360	52	100	21	4	8	32	3	6	38	53	.278	.350	.425	.339
Nobumasa Fukuda	R	105	352	310	55	89	18	0	18	66	0	1	32	69	.287	.358	.519	.374
Takuma Kato*	R	92	245	224	19	51	7	3	0	13	0	0	9	57	.228	.258	.286	.239
Naomichi Donoue	R	98	217	193	25	41	9	0	12	39	1	0	13	56	.212	.262	.446	.305
ZOILO ALMONTE	B	49	174	164	19	54	8	0	7	25	0	1	8	37	.329	.362	.506	.376
Atsushi Fujii	B	61	154	141	12	31	8	1	1	12	1	0	11	33	.220	.279	.312	.266
Issei Endo	L	108	120	111	22	30	4	2	2	11	4	4	5	28	.270	.314	.396	.309
Masataka Iryo	L	55	103	100	9	29	9	1	0	9	0	0	3	21	.290	.311	.400	.313
Takuya Kinoshita	R	39	98	88	5	20	6	0	2	8	0	0	5	22	.227	.289	.364	.286
Shota Ono	R	34	62	53	6	9	1	0	0	3	0	0	5	9	.170	.237	.189	.203
Yuya Yanagi	R	26	60	45	5	8	2	0	0	3	0	0	5	19	.178	.260	.222	.230
Yudai Ono	L	25	56	48	1	4	0	0	0	1	0	0	2	24	.083	.120	.083	.100
Shingo Takeyama	R	30	51	45	6	9	2	0	1	4	0	0	3	13	.200	.280	.311	.270
Kyohei Kamezawa	L	47	49	47	7	6	0	1	0	2	0	3	1	5	.128	.146	.170	.135
Masato Matsui	L	20	39	33	3	7	2	0	0	2	0	0	4	12	.212	.297	.273	.268
ENNY ROMERO	R	21	38	31	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	22	.032	.118	.032	.088
Yusuke Matsui	R	16	37	32	3	7	2	0	0	2	0	0	3	13	.219	.286	.281	.263
Kengo Takeda	R	29	36	35	2	5	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	12	.143	.143	.143	.129
Taiki Mitsumata	R	21	33	27	2	3	2	0	0	0	0	0	4	6	.111	.226	.185	.203
Kosuke Ito*	R	14	33	32	6	6	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	8	.188	.188	.219	.181
Masaru Watanabe*	L	27	29	27	3	4	2	0	0	2	1	0	1	11	.148	.172	.222	.176
STEVEN MOYA	B	7	22	22	1	5	0	0	1	3	0	0	0	7	.227	.227	.364	.255
Daisuke Yamai	R	13	18	15	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	.133	.133	.133	.120
Kota Ishibashi*	R	12	18	17	0	1	0	1	0	2	0	0	0	8	.059	.111	.176	.111
Hayato Mizowaki	L	8	16	15	3	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	2	.200	.250	.333	.238
Masami Ishigaki*	R	15	15	15	1	2	2	0	0	1	0	0	0	7	.133	.133	.267	.173
Shinnosuke Ogasawara	L	7	14	13	1	3	2	0	0	2	0	0	0	4	.231	.231	.385	.269
Takumi Yamamoto*	R	9	13	11	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	8	.091	.091	.091	.082
Shotaro Kasahara	L	8	12	12	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	.083	.083	.083	.075
Kodai Umetsu*	R	6	10	10	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	.100	.100	.100	.090
Shota Tomonaga*	L	10	10	9	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	4	.000	.100	0000	.070
Tatsuya Shimizu*	R	8	9	7	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	.286	.286	.286	.257
Iori Katsura	R	4	9	8	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.250	.250	.250	.225
Shun Ishikawa*	R	8	8	8	0	1	0	1	0	3	0	0	0	3	.125	.125	.375	.163
Kazuki Yoshimi	R	5	7	5	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.200	.200	.200	.180
Akiyoshi Katsuno*	R	3	7	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	6	.000	.143	0000	.100
Takuma Achira	R	7	6	6	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	4	.167	.167	.167	.150
Katsuki Matayoshi	R	26	4	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.500	.500	.500	.450
Daisuke Matsuzaka	R	2	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	0000	.000
Koji Fukutani	R	1	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	0000	.000
Takuya Mitsuma	R	29	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	0000	.000
Akira Neo*	L	2	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000	.000	0000	.000
Daisuke Sobue	L	44	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	0000	.000
Hiroto Fuku	L	52	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	0000	.000
Hiroshi Suzuki	R	25	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	0000	.000
Kento Fujishima	R	32	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	0000	.000
Takahiro Matsuba	L	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	0000	.000
Wataru Takamatsu*	L	2	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	0000	.000

Pitchers

Name	Thr	G	CG	SO	W	L	S	H	W Pct	IP	H	HR	BB	K	R	ER	ERA
Yudai Ono	L	25	2	2	9	8	0	0	.529	177 2/3	132	18	43	156	52	51	2.58
Yuya Yanagi	R	26	1	0	11	7	0	0	.611	170 2/3	165	21	38	146	69	67	3.53
ENNY ROMERO	L	21	0	0	8	10	0	0	.444	116 1/3	106	19	55	105	57	55	4.26
Daisuke Yamai	R	13	0	0	3	5	0	0	.375	65	66	13	24	37	35	35	4.85
JOELY RODRIGUEZ	L	64	0	0	3	4	1	41	.429	60 1/3	42	3	14	77	13	11	1.64
Hiroto Fuku	L	52	0	0	2	0	0	18	1.000.000	52 2/3	39	3	16	53	13	12	2.05
Toshiya Okada	L	53	0	0	3	2	13	7	.600	50 1/3	44	8	14	53	20	20	3.58
Daisuke Sobue	R	44	0	0	3	4	1	3	.429	46 1/3	42	3	14	27	16	16	3.11
Takumi Yamamoto*	R	9	0	0	3	3	0	0	.500	45 1/3	39	4	24	27	15	15	2.98
Katsuki Matayoshi	R	26	0	0	3	3	0	3	.500	44 1/3	35	5	19	37	21	20	4.06
Shinnosuke Ogasawara	L	7	0	0	3	1	0	0	.750	38 2/3	34	5	7	32	12	11	2.56
Tatsuya Shimizu*	R	8	0	0	2	2	0	0	.500	35 1/3	40	5	24	24	22	17	4.33
Kodai Umetsu*	R	6	0	0	4	1	0	0	.800	34 2/3	28	3	11	34	9	9	2.34
Takuya Mitsuma	R	29	0	0	2	2	0	4	.500	34 2/3	30	6	13	31	13	13	3.38
Shotaro Kasahara	L	8	0	0	3	2	0	0	.600	34 2/3	39	4	17	22	23	22	5.71
Takuma Achira	R	7	0	0	1	3	0	0	.250	34	37	11	13	21	22	22	5.82
Keisuke Tanimoto	R	38	0	0	0	1	0	13	.000	29 1/3	31	2	21	24	17	17	5.22
Kento Fujishima	R	32	0	0	0	2	0	14	.000	29	19	1	7	35	8	8	2.48
Hiroshi Suzuki	R	25	0	0	0	2	14	1	.000	25	29	1	15	16	12	12	4.32
Shinji Tajima	R	21	0	0	0	1	0	5	.000	21	18	5	8	22	16	16	6.86
Kazuki Yoshimi	R	5	0	0	1	1	0	0	.500	19 2/3	30	0	4	17	14	14	6.41
Akiyoshi Katsuno*	R	3	0	0	1	2	0	0	.333	16 1/3	16	2	9	9	11	11	6.06
Ryosuke Oguma	R	14	0	0	1	2	0	0	.333	15 2/3	13	1	9	14	8	6	3.45
Yu Sato	R	7	0	0	1	0	0	0	1.000.000	9 2/3	9	0	7	6	7	7	6.52
Yusuke Kinoshita*	R	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	6 1/3	8	0	3	6	4	4	5.68
Koji Fukutani	R	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	6	6	1	2	6	1	1	1.50
Daisuke Matsuzaka	R	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	.000	5 1/3	12	0	2	2	10	10	16.88
Takahiro Matsuba	L	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	2 2/3	5	0	3	0	3	3	10.13
Junki Ito	R	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	1 1/3	7	0	2	1	8	8	54.00

What’s up with intentional walks?

And they definitely are up, especially in respect to a 30-year trend.

Sometimes you stumble across interesting stuff without having any idea what it means. In the BayStars managing comments, I mentioned that Alex Ramirez sacrifices less than any other manager in his league while issuing more intentional walks than anyone in Japan.

But it’s not like he was doing it a lot since 2016. There has been a huge surge since 2015-2017 in NPB intentional walks. Or rather, the three seasons from 2014 to 2017 represent a historic low for the tactic of gifting an opponent base runners. Intentional walks peaked in the CL in 1981, and have been in slow, steady decline since, making one wonder why the past two years have seen levels more like those from 1990 to 2000.

Anyone have any suggestions?

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