One of the oldest pro franchises, Orix purchased the club from the Hankyu Railroad in 1988 and has, with the exception of the seasons when Ichiro Suzuki was active under Hall of Fame manager Akira Ogi, has been pretty bad. They merged with the Kintetsu Railroad’s Kintetsu Buffaloes in 2004 and kept the better part of those two teams’ top talent, but have floundered since.
In 2014, behind an MVP season from then ace Chihiro Kaneko, the club finished within winning percentage points of its first pennant since 1996. Since 2002 after Ogi quit, the club has had 11 different managers, including Ogi for one year (2005). In 20 years, Orix has finished among the top three twice.
- Manager: Norifumi Nishimura
- 2019 Finish: Last. Despite its history and long pennant droughts, the Orix-Hankyu franchise has only finished last in consecutive seasons once (from 2002 to 2004).
Manager’s record: Norifumi Nishimura
| Year | Team | G | W | L | T | Pct | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Marines | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | (2) |
| 2010 | Marines | 144 | 75 | 67 | 2 | .528 | 3 |
| 2011 | Marines | 144 | 54 | 79 | 11 | .406 | 6 |
| 2012 | Marines | 144 | 62 | 67 | 15 | .480 | 5 |
| 2019 | Buffaloes | 143 | 61 | 75 | 7 | .448 | 6 |
| 2020 | Buffaloes | 53 | 16 | 33 | 4 | .327 | 6 |
| Total | 629 | 269 | 321 | 39 | .468 | ||
| Prev. 3 yrs | Marines | 432 | 211 | 208 | 13 | .504 | 2,4,5 |
| Prev. 3 yrs | Buffaloes | 429 | 185 | 235 | 9 | .441 | 6,4,4 |
Nishimura got his chance to manage in 2010 after a couple of Lotte executives seized control of the front office from Bobby Valentine in 2009 and sent him packing. Nishimura had been Valentine’s head coach and against all odds, the Marines reached the playoffs in 2010 by winning their final three regular-season games and then ran the table in the playoffs before beating the Chunichi Dragons in a thrilling Japan Series.
Nishimura has struck me as being incredibly old school when it comes to the sacrifice bunt ever since 2010, when he explained his rationale for bunting with his leadoff man after the Nos. 8 and 9 hitters reached to open the fifth inning when trailing by two runs on the road. But in his three seasons with Lotte, he never sacrificed as often as the league. It was only last year, with a fairly powerless Orix lineup that he carried on like the club’s other recent managers and bunted a lot more than average (0.066 sacrifice hits per runner on first base) in 2019.
Before he signed on to coach the club, former big leaguer So Taguchi criticized a team culture that allowed players, once they won regular jobs, to take it easy. The Buffaloes have produced a list of talented young players who appear to have failed to establish themselves after making names for themselves. Two big exceptions are outfielder Masataka Yoshida, now an annual MVP candidate, and right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto, whose stuff may be the best in NPB.
For one reason or another, players who leave Orix tend to do much better elsewhere. Following a purge of some of the front office’s bad actors, perhaps the team will see more players achieve their potential while still in a Buffaloes uniform.
The end
Nishimura called it quits on Aug. 20, after a loss left Orix 16-33-4, and was replaced by Satoshi Nakajima, who had managed the farm team since 2019. Originally signed by the Hankyu Braves before Orix purchased the club after the 1988 season. A longtime coach for the Nippon Ham Fighters, Nakajima had managed the Buffaloes’ Western League farm team to second in 2019 and was in second place when he moved up to the big club on Aug. 21.
Nakajima becomes the ninth manager for the Buffaloes, formed out of the merger of the Orix BlueWave and Kintetsu Buffaloes after the 2004 season, have had. This year marks the fifth time a manager has changed during the season since then.
Key players
- Keita Nakagawa RF, 1B, 3B
- Shuhei Fukuda 2B, SS
- Kenya Wakatsuki C
- Yuya Oda RF, CF, LF
- Masataka Yoshida LF, RF
- Hayato Nishiura CF, RF
- Koji Oshiro SS
- Shohei Kojima 3B, 1B
- Stefen Romero LF, DH
- Steven Moya 1B
Strengths and weaknesses
Despite Yoshida’s development as one of the PL’s best hitters, the club has serious issues drawing walks, getting on base and hitting for power. The lack of power may stem from what appears to be an organizational philosophy that values speedy slap hitters. In this respect, Delta Graphs groups the Buffaloes with the CL’s Chunichi Dragons in that both make less frequent hard contact and hit the ball on the ground more than their league rivals. Injuries to foreign hitters counted on for power, Stefen Romero and Chris Marrero, also hindered the team’s hope for more home runs.
Team Offensive rankings
- Best in the league: offensive GDP
- Next to best in the league: stolen bases, strikeouts
- Next to worst in the league: home runs (for the 3rd time in 4 years), walks (worst or next to worst the last 4 seasons), BABiP
- Worst in the league: runs, Avg, OBP, Slug, Iso Power
Despite the emphasis on speed and defense, the Buffaloes’ team defense has really been only average at best. Things worked out well for them in 2018, when their team defensive efficiency was second best in Japan, but season has been an exception.
Catcher Kenya Wakatsuki did well cutting down base stealers in 2019, and the Buffaloes have been decent at turning double plays–despite a shifting cast of characters at second and short–but that was about it.
Rankings against opponents’ offense
- Best in the league: SB pct
- Next to best in the league: home runs, SB, GDP
- Next to worst in the league: runs, doubles, BABiP, slug
- Worst in the league: triples–Orix is the only team since 1999 to allow 40 triples in a season and did so the past two years
Other rankings
- Best in the league: complete games, quality starts
- Next to worst in the league: ERA
- And… the Buffaloes finished next to last in holds with 113, and led the PL in both intentional walks issued and sacrifice hits
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.
2019 team data
Batters
| Name | Bats | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | Avg | OBP | Slug | wOBA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masataka Yoshida | L | 143 | 610 | 521 | 92 | 168 | 24 | 2 | 29 | 85 | 5 | 1 | 79 | 64 | .322 | .413 | .543 | .408 |
| Shuhei Fukuda | L | 135 | 583 | 492 | 65 | 123 | 13 | 5 | 2 | 38 | 30 | 14 | 62 | 57 | .250 | .342 | .309 | .300 |
| Keita Nakagawa* | R | 111 | 396 | 364 | 39 | 105 | 21 | 2 | 3 | 32 | 9 | 5 | 25 | 62 | .288 | .334 | .382 | .318 |
| Kenya Wakatsuki | R | 138 | 348 | 298 | 21 | 53 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 21 | 2 | 0 | 21 | 73 | .178 | .241 | .218 | .215 |
| Koji Oshiro | R | 91 | 345 | 302 | 36 | 79 | 18 | 2 | 3 | 28 | 11 | 10 | 25 | 56 | .262 | .329 | .364 | .312 |
| STEFEN ROMERO | R | 81 | 331 | 295 | 47 | 90 | 15 | 0 | 18 | 63 | 3 | 3 | 25 | 83 | .305 | .363 | .539 | .384 |
| Shohei Kojima | L | 103 | 266 | 246 | 23 | 54 | 9 | 0 | 4 | 18 | 7 | 4 | 16 | 49 | .220 | .266 | .305 | .258 |
| STEVEN MOYA | B | 64 | 255 | 242 | 24 | 59 | 7 | 0 | 10 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 59 | .244 | .278 | .397 | .295 |
| Hayato Nishiura* | L | 77 | 239 | 220 | 24 | 43 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 18 | 8 | 3 | 13 | 56 | .195 | .239 | .255 | .224 |
| Yuya Oda | L | 82 | 203 | 180 | 21 | 37 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 21 | 9 | 5 | 12 | 47 | .206 | .275 | .306 | .260 |
| Shunta Goto | L | 91 | 194 | 165 | 17 | 37 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 22 | 4 | 3 | 19 | 47 | .224 | .314 | .321 | .286 |
| Masahiro Nishino | L | 56 | 188 | 166 | 21 | 40 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 24 | .241 | .314 | .301 | .282 |
| Ryoichi Adachi | R | 56 | 179 | 155 | 18 | 43 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 20 | 10 | 2 | 18 | 29 | .277 | .354 | .368 | .326 |
| Yuma Mune | L | 54 | 177 | 148 | 16 | 40 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 7 | 3 | 13 | 30 | .270 | .370 | .365 | .334 |
| CHRIS MARRERO | R | 43 | 133 | 123 | 8 | 26 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 35 | .211 | .256 | .317 | .256 |
| Kodai Sano* | R | 68 | 130 | 121 | 22 | 25 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 12 | 3 | 5 | 43 | .207 | .244 | .289 | .238 |
| JOEY MENESES | R | 29 | 118 | 102 | 7 | 21 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 14 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 28 | .206 | .288 | .363 | .288 |
| Yuma Tongu* | R | 28 | 93 | 91 | 5 | 18 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 22 | .198 | .204 | .352 | .239 |
| Torai Fushimi | R | 39 | 72 | 61 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 16 | .164 | .278 | .213 | .231 |
| Tatsuya Yamaashi | R | 28 | 64 | 61 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 12 | .164 | .203 | .246 | .197 |
| Takahiro Okada | L | 20 | 56 | 50 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 19 | .120 | .214 | .180 | .191 |
| Hiroyuki Shirasaki | R | 25 | 54 | 49 | 6 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 14 | .204 | .278 | .327 | .272 |
| Kohei Suzuki | R | 58 | 53 | 44 | 3 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 12 | .227 | .333 | .250 | .280 |
| Ryo Nishimura | R | 19 | 53 | 49 | 3 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 10 | .265 | .294 | .449 | .324 |
| Yutaro Sugimoto* | R | 18 | 51 | 51 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 22 | .157 | .157 | .412 | .235 |
| Masato Matsui | L | 24 | 42 | 36 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | .194 | .256 | .194 | .215 |
| Sho Gibo* | L | 8 | 28 | 26 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | .231 | .286 | .269 | .257 |
| Yuki Miyazaki | R | 15 | 28 | 23 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | .130 | .250 | .130 | .196 |
| Yusuke Matsui | R | 7 | 18 | 18 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .333 | .333 | .556 | .383 |
| Daisuke Iida* | R | 8 | 16 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .000 | .000 | 0000 | .000 |
| Ryo Ota* | R | 6 | 16 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | .000 | .188 | 0000 | .131 |
| Shuto Takajo | R | 5 | 12 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .182 | .250 | .182 | .208 |
| Kengo Takeda | R | 6 | 9 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .125 | .222 | .125 | .178 |
| Katsuki Yamazaki | R | 24 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | .000 | .000 | 0000 | .000 |
| Taisuke Yamaoka | L | 26 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | .000 | 0000 | .000 |
| Daichi Takeyasu* | R | 10 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .000 | .000 | 0000 | .000 |
| Kohei Suzuki* | R | 19 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .000 | .000 | 0000 | .000 |
| Yudai Aranishi* | R | 13 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | 0000 | .000 |
| Tsubasa Sakakibara* | R | 13 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .000 | .000 | 0000 | .000 |
| Daiki Tajima | L | 10 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | .000 | 0000 | .000 |
| Yoshinobu Yamamoto | R | 20 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taisuke Yamaoka | R | 26 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 4 | 0 | 0 | .765 | 170 | 154 | 16 | 45 | 154 | 77 | 70 | 3.71 |
| Yoshinobu Yamamoto | R | 20 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 0 | .571 | 143 | 101 | 8 | 36 | 127 | 37 | 31 | 1.95 |
| Kohei Suzuki* | R | 19 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0 | .400 | 102 1/3 | 100 | 15 | 49 | 88 | 56 | 49 | 4.31 |
| Tsubasa Sakakibara* | R | 13 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | .429 | 79 1/3 | 64 | 5 | 37 | 59 | 29 | 24 | 2.72 |
| ANDREW ALBERS | L | 13 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | .250 | 63 1/3 | 84 | 12 | 10 | 45 | 44 | 41 | 5.83 |
| Sachiya Yamasaki | L | 36 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | .400 | 54 | 49 | 6 | 28 | 37 | 27 | 27 | 4.50 |
| Daichi Takeyasu* | R | 10 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .600 | 54 | 63 | 5 | 17 | 37 | 28 | 27 | 4.50 |
| Yudai Aranishi* | R | 13 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | .200 | 51 2/3 | 55 | 6 | 18 | 42 | 32 | 32 | 5.57 |
| Hirotoshi Masui | R | 53 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 18 | 14 | .200 | 50 1/3 | 51 | 5 | 24 | 64 | 29 | 27 | 4.83 |
| Taisuke Kondo | R | 52 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 22 | .400 | 49 2/3 | 39 | 4 | 22 | 61 | 19 | 19 | 3.44 |
| Daiki Tajima | L | 10 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | .429 | 49 2/3 | 48 | 4 | 20 | 40 | 26 | 19 | 3.44 |
| Tomoyuki Kaida | L | 55 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 22 | .333 | 49 | 41 | 1 | 11 | 33 | 15 | 10 | 1.84 |
| Nobuyoshi Yamada | L | 40 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | .000 | 43 | 31 | 6 | 18 | 44 | 17 | 17 | 3.56 |
| Kazumasa Yoshida | R | 33 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | .500 | 37 2/3 | 33 | 3 | 14 | 28 | 17 | 17 | 4.06 |
| BRANDON DICKSON | R | 37 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 18 | 5 | .667 | 35 2/3 | 29 | 1 | 18 | 38 | 12 | 12 | 3.03 |
| Motoki Higa | R | 45 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 8 | .600 | 33 1/3 | 32 | 5 | 11 | 36 | 19 | 17 | 4.59 |
| TYLER EPPLER | R | 24 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 3 | .500 | 31 1/3 | 41 | 2 | 9 | 25 | 16 | 14 | 4.02 |
| Chang Yi* | R | 8 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | .333 | 27 1/3 | 36 | 7 | 9 | 17 | 20 | 18 | 5.93 |
| Keisuke Sawada | R | 28 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 17 | .500 | 26 | 28 | 3 | 15 | 19 | 14 | 14 | 4.85 |
| Takahiro Matsuba | L | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 22 2/3 | 26 | 3 | 9 | 13 | 16 | 14 | 5.56 |
| Fumiya Kanbe* | R | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | .000 | 21 | 17 | 4 | 5 | 19 | 10 | 9 | 3.86 |
| Yoshihisa Naruse | L | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 19 2/3 | 24 | 3 | 8 | 13 | 16 | 16 | 7.32 |
| Daiki Tomei | R | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .500 | 19 | 20 | 5 | 16 | 9 | 15 | 15 | 7.11 |
| Keisuke Kobayashi | R | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | .000 | 17 1/3 | 23 | 4 | 5 | 17 | 15 | 11 | 5.71 |
| Kazuyuki Kaneda | R | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000.000 | 7 1/3 | 12 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4.91 |
| Akira Iwamoto | R | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | .000 | 7 1/3 | 9 | 2 | 11 | 5 | 12 | 12 | 14.73 |
| Koki Saito* | L | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | 7 | 14 | 0 | 9 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 10.29 |
| Ryo Yoshida* | R | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 4 1/3 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 8.31 |
| Yu Hidarisawa* | L | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Ryoga Tomiyama* | L | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Yu Suzuki* | R | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4.50 |
| Mamoru Kishida | R | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 1/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
So who are the bunters?
Since I looked it up, here’s how last year’s NPB managers ranked in how often they bunted relative to their leagues over their careers.
| Name | Team | 2019 SH | Rel to league |
| Tsuyoshi Yoda | Dragons | 108 | 1.19 |
| Kimiyasu Kudo | Hawks | 100 | 1.15 |
| Tadahito Iguchi | Marines | 92 | 1.09 |
| Akihiro Yano | Tigers | 104 | 1.08 |
| Hideki Kuriyama | Fighters | 78 | 1.06 |
| Koichi Ogata | Carp | 111 | 1.04 |
| Junji Ogawa | Swallows | 84 | 1.03 |
| Yosuke Hiraishi | Eagles | 98 | 0.96 |
| Norifumi Nishimura | Buffaloes | 101 | 0.92 |
| Alex Ramirez | BayStars | 81 | 0.89 |
| Tatsunori Hara | Giants | 84 | 0.86 |
| Hatsuhiko Tsuji | Lions | 78 | 0.69 |
Only one manager in NPB history with 400-plus games under his belt has sacrificed relatively less than his league than Tsuji. NPB’s biggest bunting outlier is Hiroshi Gondo, who was essentially fired for being a non-conformist despite a very successful run in Yokohama. By the way, Orix general manager Junichi Fukura, Nishimura’s predecessor, bunted 24 percent more often than the league, the second-highest figure in history behind Hall of Fame Dragons manager Shunichi Amachi (1949 – 1958).
