Lotte Marines

The Marines franchise won the first Pacific League championship and Japan Series in 1950. In 2005, Bobby Valentine became the first American manager to win a Japan Series. The club also saw a civil war that would put the movie “Major League” to shame as the front office sabotaged the 2009 season in an effort to get Valentine to quit.

The Marines are famous for their innovative supporters’ chants and rituals. The team displays a No. 26 shirt at its games to represent the fans. No word on whether with 26 players allowed on the bench for 2020 whether the fans will get a new number or not.

Manager: Tadahito Iguchi
2019 Finish: 4th, missed out on the team’s first playoff spot since 2016 by two games

Manager’s record:

Year	Team	G	W	L	T	Pct	Finish
2018	Marines	143	59	81	3	.421	5
2019	Marines	143	69	70	4	.496	4
	Total	286	128	151	7	.459
Prev. 3 yrs		439	199	224	6	.470	3,3,6

Iguchi was for a time in the early 2000s among the players who could arguably called the best in Japan, along with Kazuo Matsui, Kenji Jojima and Hideki Matsui.

Iguchi wants to commit to eight or nine regulars who can grow into their roles but doesn’t appear to have had any more success at that than his predecessor, Tsutomu Ito did. The Marines haven’t had a player who looked capable of producing an MVP-caliber season since Katsuya Kakunaka turned 30. The club is a large collection of fairly average players.

Iguchi has allowed only one pitcher to throw 130 or more pitches in a game and that was in his third game in charge on April 1, 2018. Part of the reason for that has been the dire state of his pitching staff. Right-hander Ayumu Ishikawa’s stuff is as good as anyone’s but he went through a 2-1/2 year funk after the 2017 World Baseball Classic.

Last year, the Marines pitching went from being among NPB’s worst to about average although the fielding remained a weakness. The offense took a fairly large stride as well.

Despite their past shortcomings, there is room for optimism in Chiba. The defense got a second-half boost with the acquisition of dynamic strong-armed right fielder Leonys Martin.

In 2019, the Marines reduced the home run distances at their wind-swept park next to the Tokyo Bayside and signed slugging free-agent third baseman Brandon Laird. As a result, the Marines went from hitting the fewest homers in the league to the middle of the pack, while their pitchers went from about league average in allowing homers to the worst.

Key players

Takashi Ogino CF
Katsuya Kakunaka LF
Ikuhiro Kiyota RF, LF
Shogo Nakamura 2B
Daichi Suzuki 1B, 3B, 2B >> Rakuten Eagles
Brandon Laird 3B
Tatsuhiro Tamura C
Yudai Fujioka SS
Seiya Inoue 1B
Leonys Martin RF

Strengths and weaknesses

The batters in 2019 had relatively poor results based on how hard they were apparently hitting the ball. The Marines and the Central League’s DeNA BayStars were rated by Delta Graphs as having the highest hard-contact percentage in NPB, but combined that with the two worst BABiPs in Japan. If they continue to hit the ball hard, the offense could easily have more impressive numbers.

Team Offensive rankings

Best in the league: Batters’ strikeouts
Next to worst in the league: Triples, Avg
Worst in the league: BABiP

Rankings against opponents’ offense

2nd best in the league: strikeouts (they were last in 2018)
Next to worst in the league: opponents’ Avg, OBP
Worst in the league: home runs, stolen bases, BABiP

Other rankings

Best in the league: Errors committed
And… the Marines were last in saves with 29, and issued 21 intentional walks, the 2nd moost in the league. Despite not sacrificing for the first nine games of the 2019 season, the Marines still sacrificed 98 times, 4th most in the league.

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	Chihaya Sasaki	11	3
P	Ayumu Ishikawa	12	6
P	Tomohisa Otani	14	10	Non-tendered
P	Manabu Mima	15	9
P	Atsuki Taneichi	16	3
P	Roki Sasaki*	17	0
P	Kota Futaki	18	6
P	Yuki Karakawa	19	12
P	Taiki Tojo	20	4
P	Tatsuya Uchi	21	16	Non-tendered
P	Yusuke Azuma*	24	1
P	Daiki Yamamoto*	27	2
P	Takahiro Matsunaga	28	7
P	Yuji Nishino	29	7
P	Tsuyoshi Ishizaki	30	6
P	Masaki Minami	33	9
P	Seiya Dohi	34	3
P	Keita Watanabe*	35	2	Non-tendered
P	Yuki Ariyoshi	36	3
P	Fumiya Ono	37	5
P	Kakeru Narita*	41	4
P	FRANK HERRMANN	42	3	Non-tendered
P	Kazuya Ojima	43	1
P	Daiki Iwashita	46	5
P	Yasuhiro Tanaka	47	14
P	Toshiya Nakamura*	48	1
P	CHEN KUAN-YU	49	5
P	Naoya Masuda	52	8
P	Shu Hara*	56	4	Non-tendered
P	Hirokazu Sawamura	57	9	9/8 Traded from Giants
P	CHEN WEI-YIN	58	5	9/21 Signed as free agent Non-tendered
P	JAY JACKSON	58	3	7/10 Released at player's request
P	Rikuto Yokoyama*	60	0
P	Shoji Nagano*	62	2
P	Yuta Omine	64	13	8/24 Signed dev roster
P	Takuro Furuya*	65	1
P	Hideto Doi*	69	1
P	JOSE FLORES	86	0
P	Fumiya Motomae*	120	0
P	Mizuki Kamata*	121	0	Released 11/30
P	Ryotaro Mori*	123	0	Released 11/30
P	JOSE ACOSTA	128	0
P	EDUARD SANTOS	130	0	Released 11/30
C	Tatsuhiro Tamura	22	7
C	Toshiya Sato*	32	0
C	Yuta Yoshida	39	6
C	Yuito Munetsugu*	45	3
C	Naoya Emura	53	9
C	Toru Hosokawa	55	18	Non-tendered
C	Tomoya Kakinuma	99	3
C	Shota Ueda*	125	0
IF	Takashi Toritani	1	16
IF	Yudai Fujioka	4	2
IF	Hisanori Yasuda*	5	2
IF	Shogo Nakamura	8	5
IF	Taiga Hirasawa	13	4
IF	Ryo Miki	23	6
IF	Koki Fukuda*	40	0
IF	Seiya Inoue	44	6
IF	Shin Matsuda*	50	1
IF	BRANDON LAIRD	54	5
IF	Kazuya Katsuki	57	5	9/8 Traded to Giants
IF	Kei Hosoya	59	14	Non-tendered
IF	Kenta Chatani*	67	3
IF	Kenji Nishimaki	68	2
IF	Takuya Takahama	127	13	Released 11/30
OF	Takashi Ogino	0	10
OF	Ikuhiro Kiyota	1	10
OF	Kyota Fujiwara*	2	1
OF	Katsuya Kakunaka	3	13
OF	Shuhei Fukuda	7	13
OF	Shohei Kato	10	7
OF	Hiromi Oka	25	7
OF	Tsuyoshi Sugano	31	2
OF	Akito Takabe*	38	0
OF	Koki Yamaguchi*	51	1
OF	Kazuma Mike*	61	3	Non-tendered
OF	Koshiro Wada*	63	0	June 1 Signed from deve roster
OF	LEONYS MARTIN	79	1

2019 team data

Batters

Name	Bats	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	Avg	OBP	Slug	wOBA
Daichi Suzuki	L	140	614	527	76	152	34	4	15	68	3	1	56	75	.288	.373	.454	.364
Shogo Nakamura	R	143	586	512	68	119	22	0	17	59	12	6	53	96	.232	.317	.375	.309
Takashi Ogino	R	125	569	508	76	160	35	7	10	46	28	10	40	56	.315	.371	.470	.366
BRANDON LAIRD	R	139	553	487	59	121	18	0	32	89	0	0	55	128	.248	.333	.483	.352
Seiya Inoue	R	129	509	429	60	108	16	1	24	65	0	0	67	98	.252	.362	.462	.360
Katsuya Kakunaka	L	108	435	368	47	95	17	1	8	48	2	2	55	63	.258	.359	.375	.330
Ikuhiro Kiyota	R	117	377	336	49	85	8	2	10	57	1	3	35	77	.253	.325	.378	.312
Tatsuhiro Tamura	R	100	321	284	30	69	12	1	3	31	1	2	22	59	.243	.294	.324	.278
Yudai Fujioka	L	81	278	250	36	66	14	1	2	21	3	1	16	33	.264	.306	.352	.294
LEONYS MARTIN	L	52	228	194	32	45	9	0	14	39	3	3	26	57	.232	.342	.495	.361
Hiromi Oka	R	95	182	154	36	35	8	1	6	16	13	1	18	32	.227	.330	.409	.325
Ryo Miki	R	89	145	126	20	27	3	0	2	15	5	0	6	38	.214	.270	.286	.253
Shohei Kato	B	60	120	109	12	22	3	1	4	9	4	2	7	32	.202	.263	.358	.272
Taiga Hirasawa	L	51	108	91	10	18	3	1	1	8	0	2	12	28	.198	.291	.286	.265
KENNYS VARGAS	B	35	102	84	4	15	5	0	1	6	0	0	16	36	.179	.324	.274	.282
Tomoya Kakinuma*	R	34	73	54	5	9	0	0	1	2	0	0	4	20	.167	.286	.222	.246
Tsuyoshi Sugano	L	28	73	66	7	13	2	0	3	7	0	0	6	11	.197	.274	.364	.284
Yuta Yoshida	R	32	56	47	2	11	1	0	2	7	0	1	5	13	.234	.308	.383	.308
Naoya Emura	R	23	35	31	3	3	0	0	1	4	0	0	2	10	.097	.152	.194	.158
Kazuya Katsuki*	L	26	33	33	3	5	0	0	1	3	0	0	0	9	.152	.152	.242	.170
Kazuma Mike*	B	25	22	21	3	6	1	1	1	5	0	0	1	8	.286	.318	.571	.364
Kei Hosoya	B	29	20	19	3	3	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	7	.158	.200	.211	.190
Kyota Fujiwara*	L	6	19	19	0	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	6	.105	.105	.105	.095
Toru Hosokawa	R	31	8	6	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	.333	.333	.333	.300
Takuya Takahama	L	8	7	7	0	2	2	0	0	3	0	0	0	3	.286	.286	.571	.371
Kota Futaki	R	22	6	5	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	4	.000	.167	0000	.117
Shin Matsuda*	R	3	6	5	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	1	1	1	.200	.333	.200	.267
Seiya Dohi	L	6	4	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	.000	.000	0000	.000
Kazuya Fukuura	L	1	4	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	0000	.000
Daiki Iwashita*	R	21	3	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000	.000	0000	.000
Hideaki Wakui	R	18	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000	.000	0000	.000
MIKE BOLSINGER	R	20	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	0000	.000
Ayumu Ishikawa	R	27	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	0000	.000
Atsuki Taneichi	R	26	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	0000	.000
LEE TU-HSUAN	R	1	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
Kota Futaki	R	22	1	0	7	10	0	0	.412	128 2/3	127	16	30	115	68	63	4.41
Ayumu Ishikawa	R	27	0	0	8	5	0	5	.615	118 2/3	129	9	28	81	50	48	3.64
Atsuki Taneichi	R	26	0	0	8	2	0	2	.800	116 2/3	114	11	51	135	47	42	3.24
Hideaki Wakui	R	18	2	1	3	7	0	0	.300	104	121	14	27	87	58	52	4.50
MIKE BOLSINGER	R	20	0	0	4	6	0	0	.400	103	105	14	52	86	61	53	4.63
Daiki Iwashita*	R	21	0	0	5	3	0	1	.625	96 1/3	80	14	47	74	44	39	3.64
Yuji Nishino	R	37	1	1	2	3	2	5	.400	70	56	6	23	64	23	23	2.96
Naoya Masuda	R	60	0	0	4	5	27	12	.444	58 2/3	36	5	22	56	15	14	2.15
Tomohito Sakai	R	54	0	0	5	4	0	20	.556	57 2/3	51	9	25	60	28	28	4.37
CHEN KUAN-YU	L	44	0	0	1	1	0	5	.500	57	54	2	27	45	28	23	3.63
Kazuya Ojima*	L	10	0	0	3	5	0	0	.375	54 1/3	55	5	20	45	28	26	4.31
Taiki Tojo	R	58	0	0	1	0	0	16	1.000.000	52 1/3	52	7	21	53	26	22	3.78
Yasuhiro Tanaka	R	44	0	0	4	1	0	2	.800	39 2/3	42	2	12	29	12	12	2.72
Yuki Karakawa	R	40	0	0	5	3	0	14	.625	37 2/3	47	7	6	30	25	22	5.26
Takahiro Matsunaga	L	46	0	0	2	3	0	25	.400	34 2/3	25	3	17	32	13	10	2.60
Chihaya Sasaki	R	7	0	0	2	1	0	0	.667	32	26	2	12	22	11	9	2.53
Seiya Dohi	L	6	0	0	1	0	0	0	1.000.000	31 2/3	35	4	12	28	12	11	3.13
Toshiya Nakamura*	L	10	0	0	1	1	0	3	.500	25	23	2	8	21	12	12	4.32
Yusuke Azuma*	R	24	0	0	3	2	0	7	.600	21	19	2	13	16	11	11	4.71
BRANDON MANN	L	14	0	0	0	2	0	3	.000	16	16	1	12	20	9	7	3.94
Yuki Ariyoshi	R	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	.000	7 1/3	12	4	5	2	11	11	13.50
Kazunari Abe	R	4	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000	4	1	0	2	2	0	0	0.00
Shoji Nagano*	L	5	0	0	0	1	0	3	.000	4	3	0	2	2	2	2	4.50
Masaki Minami	R	4	0	0	0	1	0	0	.000	3 2/3	4	1	4	3	5	5	12.27
Tsuyoshi Ishizaki	R	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	2	4	0	1	0	2	2	9.00
JOSH RAVIN	R	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	1 2/3	3	1	3	1	5	5	27.00
Tomohisa Otani	R	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	.000	1 2/3	2	0	2	1	3	2	10.80
Keisuke Takano	R	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	1 1/3	3	2	1	0	2	2	13.50

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