Hanshin Tigers

The Hanshin Tigers are western Japan’s historic counterweight to Tokyo’s Yomiuri Japan in eastern Japan, but has had little success in the Japan Series, winning once (1985) in six appearances.

The Tigers are one of three CL clubs whose parent company owns their ballpark, Hanshin Koshien Stadium, but even so, the club plays second-fiddle to Japan’s two big high school baseball tournaments. The stadium was build to house the national high school championship and is NPB’s oldest main park.

The Tigers annually hold their home opener at Kyocera Dome Osaka, because of March’s high school spring invitational and play most of their
August home games there as well due to the national championship. This extended stay away from Koshien is popularly known in Japan as “shi no rodo” or the road trip of death.

Koshien’s unusual configuration, short distances at the foul poles, but huge spacious power allies in left and right are the result of its original design as a multipurpose stadium, primarily for baseball and rugby.

Manager: Akihiro Yano
2019 Finish: 3rd. Defeated DeNA in the first stage of the CL playoffs before losing to the Giants in the final stage.

Manager’s record: Akihiro Yano

Year	Team	G	W	L	T	Pct	Finish
2019	Tigers	143	69	68	6	.503	3
Prev.3 yrs			204	216	9	.486	4,2,6

Yano, who began his career as a Chunichi Dragon, came to the Tigers in a trade after the 1997 season. With the Dragons, he was a backup catcher and reserve outfielder. He became a regular catcher at Koshien after a trade that sent his Tigers twin, catcher-outfielder Koichi Sekikawa to the Dragons.

Key players

Yusuke Oyama 3B, 1B
Koji Chikamoto CF
Kento Itohara 2B, 3B, SS
Ryutaro Umeno C
Jefry Marte 1B
Seiya Kinami SS
Yoshio Itoi RF
Kosuke Fukudome LF
Shun Takayama RF, LF

Strengths and weaknesses

Offensive rankings

Best in the League: stolen bases
Second best in the league: triples, SB pct, strikeouts, GDP
Next to worst in the league: home runs, walks
Worst in the league: runs, Slug, Iso Power

Rankings against opponents’ offense

Best in the League: doubles, home runs, SB pct, walks
Second best in the league: triples, SB pct, strikeouts, GDP
Next to worst in the league: home runs, walks

Other rankings

Best in the league: ERA (4th-straight season at No. 1 or No. 2), holds
Next to best in the league: saves
Worst in the league: errors
and… the Tigers were 3rd in sacrifices and the number of intentional walks issued

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	Atsushi Nomi	14	15
P	Junya Nishi*	15	0
P	Yuki Nishi	16	11
P	Yuta Iwasada	17	6
P	Kosuke Baba*	18	2
P	Shintaro Fujinami	19	7
P	Kenichi Nakata	20	15
P	Minoru Iwata	21	14
P	Kyuji Fujikawa	22	18
P	Lu Yen-Ching*	26	2
P	Yuya Onaka	27	3
P	Taiki Ono	28	3
P	Haruto Takahashi	29	2
P	Keisuke Takano	30	5
P	Masaki Tanigawa*	34	2
P	Hiroto Saiki	35	3
P	Masumi Hamachi*	36	3
P	Masaki Oyokawa*	37	0
P	Shungo Fukunaga*	40	3
P	JON EDWARDS	42	0
P	Koki Moriya	43	5
P	Takumi Akiyama	46	10
P	Riku Kawahara*	47	1
P	Yukiya Saito*	48	1
P	JOE GUNKEL	49	0
P	Koyo Aoyagi	50	4
P	Yuya Iida	56	6	>> Traded to Orix Aug. 28
P	Keisuke Kobayashi	56	3	<< Traded from Orix Aug. 28
P	Atsushi Mochizuki	61	4
P	Kentaro Kuwahara	64	12
P	Atsuki Yuasa*	65	1
P	Ippei Ogawa*	66	0
P	Suguru Iwazaki	67	6
P	Hiroya Shimamoto	69	5
P	ROBERT SUAREZ	75	4
P	ONELKI GARCIA	77	2
P	Kazuo Ito	92	7
P	Yuya Yokoyama	115	4
P	Masaki Ishii*	121	0
P	Joichiro Maki*	126	2
C	Seishiro Sakamoto	12	4
C	Kenya Nagasaka*	39	3
C	Ryutaro Umeno	44	6
C	Taichi Okazaki	57	15
C	Kento Fujita*	59	0
C	Fumihito Haraguchi	94	7
C	Yuya Katayama*	95	0
IF	Hiroki Uemoto	00	11
IF	Fumiya Hojo	2	7
IF	Yusuke Oyama	3	3
IF	Takahiro Kumagai*	4	2
IF	JEFRY MARTE	31	1
IF	Kento Itohara	33	3
IF	Ryuhei Obata*	38	1
IF	JUSTIN BOUR	41	0
IF	Jo Endo*	45	0
IF	Naomasa Yokawa	55	6
IF	Fumiya Araki	58	9
IF	Kai Ueda	62	5
IF	Kosuke Fujitani*	125	2
OF	Koji Chikamoto	5	1
OF	Yoshio Itoi	7	16
OF	Kosuke Fukudome	8	16
OF	Shun Takayama	9	4
OF	Taiga Egoshi	25	5
OF	Kota Inoue*	32	0
OF	Hayata Ito	51	8
OF	JERRY SANDS	52	0
OF	Kairi Shimada*	53	2
OF	Masahiro Nakatani	60	9
OF	Yutaro Itayama	63	4
OF	Shunsuke Fujikawa	68	10
OF	Dan Onodera*	127	0
OF	Kota Okuyama*	128	0

2019 team data

Batters

Name	Bats	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	Avg	OBP	Slug	wOBA
Koji Chikamoto*	L	142	640	586	81	159	20	7	9	42	36	15	31	110	.271	.313	.375	.302
Yusuke Oyama	R	143	587	538	52	139	33	1	14	76	3	0	39	98	.258	.312	.401	.314
Kento Itohara	L	143	572	491	66	131	20	4	2	45	6	5	60	70	.267	.353	.336	.313
Ryutaro Umeno	R	129	492	433	49	115	22	3	9	59	14	3	34	83	.266	.326	.393	.315
Yoshio Itoi	L	103	444	382	45	120	22	1	5	42	9	5	52	63	.314	.403	.416	.364
JEFRY MARTE	R	105	412	349	36	99	20	0	12	49	0	2	51	73	.284	.381	.444	.365
Kosuke Fukudome	L	104	403	348	39	89	16	1	10	47	0	0	49	85	.256	.347	.394	.331
Seiya Kinami*	L	113	390	363	32	95	18	2	4	32	2	0	18	77	.262	.302	.355	.288
Shun Takayama	L	105	300	271	25	73	12	0	5	29	9	3	24	56	.269	.336	.369	.313
Fumiya Hojo	R	82	211	174	18	43	7	0	5	20	2	0	23	40	.247	.338	.374	.322
Masahiro Nakatani	R	62	131	116	14	21	5	0	6	19	0	0	12	37	.181	.264	.379	.284
Hiroki Uemoto	R	62	119	104	10	20	4	0	1	6	5	0	11	37	.192	.267	.260	.245
Takashi Toritani	L	74	105	92	9	19	3	1	0	4	1	0	12	16	.207	.298	.261	.261
Fumihito Haraguchi	R	43	94	87	8	24	4	0	1	11	0	0	4	23	.276	.309	.356	.296
Yangervis Solarte	B	20	80	69	6	13	3	0	4	9	0	0	9	13	.188	.275	.406	.295
Yuki Nishi	R	26	60	44	2	9	2	0	0	4	0	0	3	18	.205	.255	.250	.234
Naomasa Yokawa	R	28	60	55	3	6	1	0	3	4	0	0	4	19	.109	.169	.291	.193
EFREN NAVARRO	L	15	45	43	1	9	2	0	0	2	0	0	2	9	.209	.244	.256	.229
Seishiro Sakamoto	R	20	44	40	2	7	0	0	2	3	0	0	1	8	.175	.195	.325	.213
Koyo Aoyagi	R	25	43	37	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	19	.000	.026	0000	.018
Kai Ueda	R	81	37	33	22	8	0	0	1	2	12	2	1	8	.242	.286	.333	.277
ONELKI GARCIA	L	21	33	30	1	4	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	9	.133	.133	.133	.120
Haruto Takahashi	L	19	31	30	1	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	13	.100	.100	.100	.090
Minoru Iwata	L	14	27	22	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	17	.000	.083	0000	.058
Takumi Akiyama	L	10	19	16	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	3	.125	.176	.125	.147
RANDY MESSENGER	R	14	19	18	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	10	.000	.000	0000	.000
Taiga Egoshi	R	49	16	15	8	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	9	.067	.125	.067	.100
Yuta Iwasada	L	8	12	11	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	5	.000	.083	0000	.058
Fumiya Araki	L	9	9	9	4	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	4	.111	.111	.222	.144
Atsushi Mochizuki	R	8	8	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000	.000	0000	.000
Hiroto Saiki	R	3	6	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	.000	.000	0000	.000
Shunsuke Fujikawa	R	6	6	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	0000	.000
Kairi Shimada*	L	7	5	4	2	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	.250	.400	.500	.400
Shintaro Fujinami	R	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	0000	.000
Masumi Hamachi*	R	21	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.000	1000	1.000	.900
Suguru Iwazaki	L	48	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	0000	.000
Kenya Nagasaka*	R	3	1	1	2	1	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	1.000	1000	4.000	2000
Noriharu Yamasaki	R	2	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	0000	.000

Pitchers

Name	Thr	G	CG	SO	W	L	S	H	W Pct	IP	H	HR	BB	K	R	ER	ERA
Yuki Nishi	R	26	1	1	10	8	0	0	.556	172 1/3	159	12	36	112	60	56	2.92
Koyo Aoyagi	R	25	1	1	9	9	0	0	.500	143 1/3	145	14	42	100	56	50	3.14
Haruto Takahashi	L	19	0	0	3	9	0	1	.250	109 2/3	115	9	38	125	56	46	3.78
ONELKI GARCIA	L	21	1	1	6	8	0	0	.429	103 2/3	123	8	40	79	66	54	4.69
RANDY MESSENGER	R	14	1	0	3	7	0	0	.300	79	71	11	38	55	45	41	4.67
Minoru Iwata	L	14	1	0	3	4	0	0	.429	77 2/3	90	13	21	43	46	39	4.52
Hiroya Shimamoto	L	63	0	0	4	0	1	11	1.000.000	59 1/3	42	4	14	60	13	11	1.67
PIERCE JOHNSON	R	58	0	0	2	3	0	40	.400	58 2/3	34	2	13	91	12	9	1.38
Kyuji Fujikawa	R	56	0	0	4	1	16	23	.800	56	29	3	32	83	11	11	1.77
RAFAEL DOLIS	R	56	0	0	5	4	19	10	.556	55 1/3	36	1	11	50	16	13	2.11
Koki Moriya*	R	57	0	0	2	2	0	7	.500	54	45	3	17	53	19	18	3.00
Suguru Iwazaki	L	48	0	0	3	0	0	26	1.000.000	53 2/3	24	5	17	58	11	6	1.01
Takumi Akiyama	R	10	0	0	4	3	0	0	.571	50 2/3	56	5	12	35	27	24	4.26
Atsushi Nomi	L	51	0	0	1	2	0	18	.333	44	37	5	24	41	21	21	4.30
Yuta Iwasada	L	8	0	0	2	4	0	0	.333	40 1/3	43	4	15	33	19	18	4.02
Atsushi Mochizuki	R	8	0	0	1	1	0	0	.500	31 1/3	33	4	16	26	15	14	4.02
Masumi Hamachi*	R	21	0	0	2	1	0	0	.667	28	35	4	8	27	21	19	6.11
Hiroto Saiki	R	3	0	0	2	1	0	0	.667	15 1/3	20	0	5	14	8	8	4.70
Taiki Ono	R	14	0	0	0	1	0	5	.000	11 2/3	11	0	13	6	3	3	2.31
Masaki Tanigawa*	R	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	7 1/3	8	0	3	4	4	3	3.68
Yuya Onaka	R	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	5 2/3	6	1	5	6	4	4	6.35
Keisuke Takano	R	4	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	5 2/3	6	0	1	6	4	3	4.76
Yosuke Okamoto	R	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	5 1/3	6	2	3	4	5	5	8.44
Kentaro Kuwahara	R	7	0	0	2	0	0	3	1.000.000	5	10	1	3	6	9	5	9.00
Shintaro Fujinami	R	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	4 1/3	4	0	6	3	1	1	2.08
Kosuke Baba*	R	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	3 1/3	7	3	1	4	4	4	10.80
Yuya Iida	L	3	0	0	1	0	0	0	1.000.000	3 1/3	5	0	5	6	4	4	10.80
Shungo Fukunaga*	R	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	2	6	1	1	3	5	5	22.50
Yukiya Saito*	R	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	2	1	0	3	2	0	0	0.00
Tsuyoshi Ishizaki	R	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	1 1/3	2	0	1	0	1	1	6.75
Akifumi Takahashi	L	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0 1/3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00

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