Hiroshima Carp

The Hiroshima Carp are Japanese baseball’s rags to riches story, the under-capitalized franchise of a city emerging from the world’s first nuclear attack who became the Central League’s first post-draft dynasty.

The team sought micro investments in its early years, often as little as people willing to throw money in a barrel at the stadium entrance. They won their first pennant in 1975. That year, a confluence of new management and new thinking touched off the club’s latent talent base and began establishing “the Carp style.”

Manager: Shinji Sasaoka
2019 Finish: 4th, ending Hiroshima’s three-year reign as CL champions.

Previous manager’s record: Koichi Ogata

Year	Current Teams::Team R short	M G	M Wins	M Losses	M Ties	M win pct	Team Results Same Year::Finish
2015	Carp	143	69	71	3	.492	4
2016	Carp	143	89	52	2	.631	1
2017	Carp	143	88	51	4	.633	1
2018	Carp	143	82	59	2	.581	1
2019	Carp	143	70	70	3	.500	4
	Total	715	398	303	14	.568
Prev. 3 yrs		432	204	211	17	.492	4,3,3

By winning three pennants in five years, Ogata comes in as one of the franchise’s most successful managers, but he did have help. The team’s move into new Mazda Zoom-Zoom Stadium in 2009, saw the club take the marketing and licensing chops it had used to stay afloat for years and turn the team into a cash cow.

The new money meant foreign stars could be offered generous long-term contract extensions, and money could be pumped into development both in Japan and in the team’s academy in the Dominican Republic. There, the focus shifted from training amateurs to finding players who had washed out of the low minors as teenagers and giving them another chance.

Sasaoka was one of several pitchers, who though basically starters, were given spells as the team’s closer until their arms could once more handle the strain of the starting rotation. He began working with the team’s minor leaguers in 2015, was promoted to first-team pitching coach in 2019, and got the managing job when Ogata abruptly quit after the 2019 season.

Key players

Ryosuke Kikuchi 2BSeiya Suzuki RF
Ryoma Nishikawa CF, LF
Takayoshi Noma CF, LF
Tsubasa Aizawa C
Ryuhei Matsuyama LF, 1B
Xavier Batista 1B–released following doping suspension
Kosuke Tanaka SS
Tomohiro Abe 3B
Kaito Kozono SS

Strengths and weaknesses

Team offensive rankings

Best in the league: GDP

Rankings against opponents’ offense

Best in the league: stolen bases,
2nd best in the league doubles, triples, home runs, SB pct, BABiP, Avg, Slug
Next to worst in the league: walks
Worst in the league: strikeouts

Other rankings

Best in the league: complete games, quality starts
2nd best in the league: ERA
Worst in the league: holds
And… the Carp have led the league in sacrifices for the last three years, were second in the league in intentional walks issued for the second-straight season

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	Allen Kuri	12	6
P	Takuya Kato*	13	2
P	Daichi Osera	14	6
P	Takeru Imamura	16	10
P	Akitake Okada	17	4
P	Masato Morishita*	18	0
P	Yusuke Nomura	19	8
P	Shota Nakazaki	21	9
P	Kazuki Yabuta	23	5
P	Ren Nakata	26	11
P	Hiroki Tokoda	28	3
P	Makoto Kemna*	29	2
P	Ryuji Ichioka	30	8
P	Koya Takahashi*	34	3
P	Atsuya Horie	36	5
P	Yasunori Kikuchi	39	12
P	Koya Fujii	41	5
P	KRIS JOHNSON	42	5
P	Sotaro Shimauchi*	43	1
P	Mikiya Takahashi	46	4
P	Sho Yamaguchi*	47	2
P	Makoto Aduwa	48	3
P	Hiroto Suzuki*	52	0
P	Takaya Toda	53	8
P	Norihiko Tanaka*	57	1
P	DJ JOHNSON	58	0	9/21 Sold to Eagles
P	Kyohei Nakamura	64	9
P	Shogo Tamamura*	65	0
P	Atsushi Endo	66	2
P	Yuta Nakamura	67	6
P	Takato Hiraoka*	68	2
P	TAYLER SCOTT	70	0
P	GERONIMO FRANZUA	97	2
P	EMAILIN MONTILLA	98	1
P	Takamasa Une*	120	0
P	Reira Fujii*	121	0
P	Ken Sasaki*	122	0
P	ALFREDO MENA	144	1
C	Shosei Nakamura*	22	2
C	Tsubasa Aizawa	27	13
C	Yoshiyuki Ishihara	31	18
C	Yuta Shirahama	32	16
C	Yoshitaka Isomura	40	9
C	Shogo Sakakura	61	3
C	Tomoki Ishihara*	62	0
C	Taiki Mochimaru*	123	0
IF	Kaisei Sone*	00	3
IF	Kosuke Tanaka	2	6
IF	Tetsuya Kokubo	4	12
IF	Tomohiro Abe	6	12
IF	Shota Dobayashi	7	10
IF	Ryosuke Kikuchi	33	8
IF	Takumi Miyoshi	35	9
IF	Kota Hayashi*	44	1
IF	Tatsuki Kuwahara	45	5
IF	Kaito Kozono	51	1
IF	Yuya Nirasawa*	54	0
IF	Takuto Nakagami*	56	1
IF	Ryoma Nishikawa	63	4
IF	Ryutaro Hatsuki*	69	1
IF	ALEJANDRO MEJIA	96	2
OF	Seiya Suzuki	1	7
OF	Hisayoshi Chono	5	10
OF	JOSE PIRELA	10	0
OF	Takayoshi Noma	37	5
OF	Koki Ugusa*	38	0
OF	Yuya Shozui*	49	1
OF	Hiroki Takahashi	50	7
OF	Ryuhei Matsuyama	55	12
OF	Minoru Omori*	59	0
OF	Atsushi Nagai*	60	2
OF	Motohide Kinoshita*	124	0

2019 team data

Batters

Name	Bats	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	Avg	OBP	Slug	wOBA
Ryosuke Kikuchi	R	138	619	547	77	143	36	2	13	48	14	5	41	102	.261	.313	.406	.317
Seiya Suzuki	R	140	612	499	112	167	31	0	28	87	25	16	103	81	.335	.453	.565	.437
Ryoma Nishikawa	L	138	585	535	70	159	23	3	16	64	6	7	32	81	.297	.336	.441	.337
Tsubasa Aizawa	R	126	447	376	38	104	21	2	12	63	2	1	58	81	.277	.387	.439	.365
XAVIER BATISTA	R	103	423	372	54	100	11	1	26	64	0	0	45	108	.269	.350	.513	.370
Kosuke Tanaka	L	97	355	311	33	60	13	0	3	27	8	3	32	89	.193	.268	.264	.243
Takayoshi Noma	L	123	353	314	52	78	10	5	2	16	14	2	27	56	.248	.317	.331	.287
Ryuhei Matsuyama	L	110	327	294	21	76	14	1	6	49	0	0	29	42	.259	.327	.374	.313
Tomohiro Abe	L	114	295	264	23	67	12	0	8	28	5	2	23	60	.254	.315	.390	.314
Kaito Kozono*	L	58	197	188	17	40	9	0	4	16	1	0	6	42	.213	.241	.324	.248
Hisayoshi Chono	R	72	197	180	13	45	7	1	5	20	0	2	15	40	.250	.310	.383	.303
ALEJANDRO MEJIA	R	56	173	162	13	42	6	0	7	17	0	0	11	46	.259	.306	.426	.315
Tetsuya Kokubo	R	51	125	114	5	28	3	0	1	5	0	0	10	19	.246	.306	.298	.271
Yoshitaka Isomura	R	65	117	108	10	30	9	0	4	21	0	1	5	24	.278	.307	.472	.338
Takumi Miyoshi	R	43	92	77	9	14	1	0	2	7	1	0	9	28	.182	.267	.273	.239
Yoshiyuki Ishihara	R	31	67	56	3	11	2	0	1	5	0	0	5	18	.196	.258	.286	.247
Shogo Sakakura*	L	51	64	61	4	14	4	0	1	7	0	0	3	19	.230	.266	.344	.272
Daichi Osera	R	26	60	47	3	6	1	0	0	0	0	0	6	31	.128	.226	.149	.189
Hiroki Tokoda*	L	25	49	39	1	5	1	0	0	1	0	0	4	16	.128	.209	.154	.179
KRIS JOHNSON	L	27	48	44	1	5	0	0	0	3	0	0	2	15	.114	.152	.114	.128
Hiroki Takahashi	R	27	48	43	5	12	1	1	1	3	0	1	4	11	.279	.340	.419	.330
Allen Kuri	R	27	41	36	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	23	.028	.054	.028	.043
Shota Dobayashi	R	28	38	34	1	7	0	1	0	2	0	0	2	9	.206	.250	.265	.225
JUAN SANTANA	R	13	34	33	1	6	0	0	0	5	0	0	1	5	.182	.206	.182	.179
Yusuke Nomura	R	18	32	24	0	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	10	.042	.080	.083	.080
Kaisei Sone*	L	64	31	25	17	5	0	0	0	2	5	2	3	10	.200	.310	.200	.236
Makoto Aduwa	R	19	28	25	2	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	19	.080	.080	.080	.072
Takashi Uemoto	R	31	22	21	5	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	5	.143	.143	.143	.129
Sho Yamaguchi*	R	9	5	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	.000	.000	0000	.000
Ko Shimozuru	R	2	4	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000	.000	0000	.000
Akitake Okada	L	3	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000	.500	0000	.350
Kazuki Yabuta	R	4	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000	.000	0000	.000
Atsuya Horie*	L	11	2	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.500	.500	.500	.450
Atsushi Endo*	R	34	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000	.000	0000	.000
Takuya Yasaki*	R	5	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	0000	.000
Sotaro Shimauchi*	R	25	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	0000	.000
KYLE REGNAULT	L	52	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	0000	.000
Kyohei Nakamura	L	43	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	0000	.000
Yuta Nakamura	R	2	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	0000	.000
CASEY LAWRENCE	R	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	0000	.000
Takahiro Iwamoto	L	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	0000	.000
EMAILIN MONTILLA	L	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
Daichi Osera	R	26	6	2	11	9	0	0	.550	173 1/3	176	22	35	136	72	68	3.53
KRIS JOHNSON	L	27	1	1	11	8	0	0	.579	156 2/3	132	12	58	132	50	45	2.59
Hiroki Tokoda*	L	25	1	0	7	6	0	0	.538	139 2/3	131	17	48	101	54	46	2.96
Allen Kuri	R	27	1	1	8	8	0	3	.500	118	107	11	41	96	50	46	3.51
Yusuke Nomura	R	18	0	0	6	5	0	0	.545	95 1/3	96	6	34	65	52	43	4.06
Makoto Aduwa	R	19	1	0	3	5	0	0	.375	91 2/3	101	14	27	52	52	44	4.32
GERONIMO FRANZUA	L	67	0	0	8	6	12	18	.571	71 2/3	55	8	32	94	29	22	2.76
Yasunori Kikuchi	R	58	0	0	1	3	0	15	.250	61	39	4	23	43	21	19	2.80
KYLE REGNAULT	L	52	0	0	6	3	0	15	.667	59 1/3	53	7	34	67	25	22	3.34
Kyohei Nakamura	L	43	0	0	0	1	0	12	.000	44 1/3	31	5	17	58	16	13	2.64
Atsushi Endo*	R	34	0	0	1	1	1	6	.500	42 2/3	36	1	25	38	19	15	3.16
Shota Nakazaki	R	36	0	0	3	3	9	5	.500	35 1/3	44	3	17	23	24	16	4.08
Ryuji Ichioka	R	33	0	0	0	0	0	16	.000	31	29	1	10	18	11	10	2.90
Sotaro Shimauchi*	R	25	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	28 2/3	19	1	19	33	15	14	4.40
Sho Yamaguchi*	R	9	0	0	1	3	0	0	.250	26	25	3	13	21	14	14	4.85
Takeru Imamura	R	27	0	0	3	1	1	4	.750	25 1/3	18	2	9	17	10	10	3.55
Atsuya Horie*	L	11	0	0	0	1	0	0	.000	20 2/3	20	4	14	23	14	14	6.10
Kazuki Yabuta	R	4	0	0	0	2	0	0	.000	12 2/3	17	4	10	6	13	13	9.24
Takuya Yasaki*	R	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	8	10	2	6	11	5	5	5.63
Akitake Okada	R	3	0	0	0	2	0	0	.000	7	9	2	11	4	12	11	14.14
Koya Fujii*	R	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	6 1/3	13	0	9	8	10	10	14.21
Ren Nakata	R	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	5 2/3	8	1	6	4	11	6	9.53
Yuta Nakamura	R	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	5 2/3	11	3	5	4	8	8	12.71
CASEY LAWRENCE	R	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	.000	5	4	1	4	3	6	6	10.80
EMAILIN MONTILLA	L	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	.000	4 1/3	11	1	4	8	8	7	14.54
JOHNNY HELLWEG	R	5	0	0	1	0	0	1	1.000.000	3 2/3	2	0	1	2	0	0	0.00
Makoto Kemna*	R	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	1	1	0	1	1	0	0	0.00
Katsuhiro Nagakawa	R	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0 1/3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00

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