The Eagles are Japan’s newest team, formed after the 2004 season as part of the settlement that ended limited players strikes by keeping the Pacific League at six teams after the Orix Buffaloes were formed from the merger of the Orix BlueWave and Kintetsu Buffaloes. The team won its only pennant in 2013, when Masahiro Tanaka went 24-0 and was named PL MVP.
- Manager: Hajime Miki, 1st year
- 2020 Finish: 3rd. Lost to the SoftBank Hawks in the first stage of the PL playoffs.
Former Manager’s record: Yosuke Hiraishi
| Year | Team | G | W | L | T | Pct | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Eagles | 80 | 37 | 41 | 2 | .474 | 6 |
| 2019 | Eagles | 143 | 71 | 68 | 4 | .510 | 3 |
| Total | 223 | 108 | 109 | 6 | .498 | ||
| Prev. 3 yrs | (2016-2018) | 349 | 160 | 182 | 7 | 5,3,6 |
The Eagles have been the step-children of internet shopping magnate Hiroshi Mikitani, who has shown a decided preference for his J-League soccer team, Vissel Kobe and spending on overseas sports.
Prior to the 2018 season, the Eagles hired former southpaw Kazuhisa Ishii to be general manager, citing his connections within the sport in Japan and in the major leagues. A talented but often inattentive player, Ishii on the surface appears to be poorly qualified for the job.
The most noticeable feature of his tenure so far has been to bring in as many former teammates as possible from his time with the Yakult Swallows and Seibu Lions. Including Miki, who managed the Eagles’ Eastern League farm team last year, nine of the organization’s 27 coaches are former teammates or coaches of Ishii’s.
Miki was a longtime coach with the Fighters and Swallows, and in his only managing experience, steered the Eagles farm team to the Eastern League pennant. I’m a fan of promoting the minor league manager, simply because most of them — particularly the pennant winners — have done quite well, often it seems because they know some of the untried guys who played for them on the farm and this gives them more options.
The club has been very active in the free agent market, particularly in snaring former Seibu Lions, top-caliber starting pitcher Takayuki Kishi in 2018 and slugging second baseman Hideto Asamura last year. The club has a host of fleet young outfielders but really no place to play them all, especially with Jabari Blash spending time in right field and producing runs at a high rate.
This year, they brought in former Marines captain, super utility player Daichi Suzuki, and where he plays is going to be a question mark. The Eagles are also hoping left-handed closer Yuki Matsui is able to succeed as a starter, where he failed as a rookie, to give them more options after Kishi and split-finger specialist Takahiro Norimoto at the top of the rotation.
Key players
- Hiroaki Shimauchi LF
- Ryosuke Tatsumi CF, RF
- Ginji Akaminai 1B, 3B — caught 4 innings against Orix on 4/27/2019, threw out only runner trying to steal
- Hideto Asamura 2B
- Eigoro Mogi SS, 3B
- Kazuki Tanaka CF, RF
- Zelous Wheeler 3B
- Jabari Blash DH, RF
Strengths and weaknesses
The Eagles were good at getting on base, and for the first half of the season squandered that advantage with some of the worst baserunning imaginable. They were the worst percentage base stealers in either league, and led both leagues in grounding into double plays, while leading the league in strikeouts.
Team Offensive rankings
- 2nd best in the league: walks, OBP
- Worst in the league: batters strikeouts and GDP
On defense, the Eagles pitchers didn’t issue a lot of walks, and their fielders were good at turning batted balls into outs, so their opponents’ OBP was second lowest in the league, as was their runs allowed, while they were poor at stopping the running game. So it’s no surprise that they tied with the Fighters for the fewest ground ball double plays in NPB last season with just 82.
Rankings against opponents’ offense
- 2nd best in the league: runs, doubles, walks, BABiP, OBP
- Next to worst in the league: stolen bases, SB pct allowed
- Worst in the league: GDP
The Hawks had some holes in middle relief and in the starting rotation, but their backup closer Yuito Mori led the league in saves.
Other rankings
- Best the league: wild pitches thrown
- 2nd best in the league: ERA
- And… the Eagles were 2nd in relievers used (489) although a good distance behind the Fighters. The Eagles’ 98 sacrifices were 3rd, and they were 4th in intentional walks issued with 18.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eigoro Mogi | L | 141 | 648 | 568 | 86 | 160 | 28 | 6 | 13 | 55 | 7 | 5 | 66 | 121 | .282 | .358 | .421 | .344 |
| Hideto Asamura | R | 143 | 635 | 529 | 93 | 139 | 26 | 2 | 33 | 92 | 1 | 1 | 93 | 162 | .263 | .372 | .507 | .374 |
| Ginji Akaminai | L | 141 | 590 | 529 | 56 | 161 | 24 | 1 | 5 | 56 | 2 | 5 | 52 | 58 | .304 | .370 | .382 | .339 |
| Hiroaki Shimauchi | L | 133 | 585 | 506 | 68 | 145 | 21 | 5 | 10 | 57 | 3 | 4 | 58 | 65 | .287 | .372 | .407 | .348 |
| JABARI BLASH | R | 128 | 527 | 426 | 66 | 111 | 20 | 0 | 33 | 95 | 2 | 3 | 81 | 157 | .261 | .397 | .540 | .403 |
| ZELOUS WHEELER | R | 117 | 472 | 411 | 53 | 100 | 15 | 0 | 19 | 67 | 3 | 5 | 43 | 96 | .243 | .320 | .418 | .323 |
| Ryosuke Tatsumi* | L | 124 | 369 | 314 | 42 | 72 | 12 | 2 | 4 | 25 | 13 | 3 | 39 | 101 | .229 | .320 | .318 | .291 |
| Yoshiaki Watanabe* | L | 77 | 245 | 218 | 15 | 49 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 40 | .225 | .274 | .284 | .252 |
| Kazuki Tanaka | B | 59 | 193 | 160 | 22 | 30 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 3 | 7 | 26 | 37 | .188 | .298 | .269 | .261 |
| Kengo Horiuchi* | L | 65 | 140 | 122 | 6 | 19 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 41 | .156 | .202 | .205 | .179 |
| Kazuya Fujita | L | 61 | 136 | 124 | 13 | 32 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 16 | .258 | .303 | .339 | .286 |
| Motohiro Shima | R | 57 | 131 | 110 | 12 | 23 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 20 | .209 | .298 | .336 | .289 |
| Louis Okoye | R | 52 | 122 | 110 | 12 | 20 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 15 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 29 | .182 | .242 | .300 | .243 |
| Ren Wada | R | 31 | 113 | 107 | 7 | 27 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 32 | .252 | .277 | .364 | .279 |
| Hikaru Ota* | R | 55 | 112 | 96 | 10 | 21 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 23 | .219 | .279 | .271 | .254 |
| Ko Shimozuru | R | 50 | 101 | 88 | 12 | 22 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 28 | .250 | .333 | .341 | .308 |
| Toshiaki Imae | R | 26 | 79 | 76 | 7 | 21 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 16 | .276 | .304 | .342 | .290 |
| Ayatsugu Yamashita | L | 31 | 66 | 60 | 8 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 13 | .183 | .222 | .350 | .249 |
| Yuichi Adachi | R | 21 | 47 | 39 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 12 | .154 | .190 | .333 | .224 |
| Luciano Fernando | R | 16 | 39 | 34 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 10 | .235 | .289 | .265 | .255 |
| Yuya Ogo* | L | 22 | 34 | 29 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 11 | .172 | .273 | .345 | .279 |
| Tsuyoshi Yamasaki | L | 16 | 30 | 27 | 4 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 5 | .333 | .333 | .593 | .400 |
| Itsuki Murabayashi* | R | 49 | 25 | 24 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | .083 | .083 | .125 | .092 |
| Naoto Watanabe | R | 19 | 19 | 16 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | .063 | .167 | .250 | .189 |
| Itaru Hashimoto | 左 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .000 | .100 | 0000 | .070 |
| Tsuyoshi Ishihara* | R | 4 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | .000 | .000 | 0000 | .000 |
| Takayuki Kishi | R | 15 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | .000 | .000 | 0000 | .000 |
| Yasuhito Uchida | R | 2 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 | .600 | 0000 | .420 |
| Manabu Mima | L | 25 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .250 | .250 | .250 | .225 |
| Takumi Miyoshi | R | 17 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .250 | .250 | .250 | .225 |
| Wataru Karashima | L | 27 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | .000 | 0000 | .000 |
| Ryota Ishibashi* | L | 28 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | .000 | 0000 | .000 |
| Takahiro Shiomi | L | 9 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | 0000 | .000 |
| Hirohito Shimai* | R | 10 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .000 | .500 | 0000 | .350 |
| Kenji Tomura | R | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | 0000 | .000 |
| Yuri Furukawa | R | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | 0000 | .000 |
| Kenji Nishimaki | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manabu Mima | R | 25 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 0 | .615 | 143 2/3 | 146 | 19 | 24 | 112 | 69 | 64 | 4.01 |
| Ryota Ishibashi* | R | 28 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 0 | .533 | 127 1/3 | 116 | 20 | 35 | 71 | 60 | 54 | 3.82 |
| Wataru Karashima | L | 27 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 6 | 0 | 2 | .600 | 117 1/3 | 119 | 14 | 57 | 84 | 59 | 54 | 4.14 |
| Takayuki Kishi | R | 15 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | .375 | 93 2/3 | 80 | 12 | 25 | 86 | 37 | 37 | 3.56 |
| Yuki Matsui | L | 68 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 38 | 12 | .200 | 69 2/3 | 40 | 5 | 24 | 107 | 17 | 15 | 1.94 |
| Takahiro Norimoto | R | 12 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | .500 | 68 | 58 | 7 | 10 | 67 | 27 | 21 | 2.78 |
| Kohei Morihara | R | 64 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 29 | .667 | 64 | 47 | 3 | 18 | 65 | 15 | 14 | 1.97 |
| Koji Aoyama | R | 62 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 16 | .333 | 53 1/3 | 37 | 8 | 18 | 36 | 16 | 16 | 2.70 |
| Takahiro Shiomi | L | 9 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .750 | 51 1/3 | 42 | 6 | 9 | 47 | 18 | 18 | 3.16 |
| ALAN BUSENITZ | R | 54 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 28 | .571 | 51 | 46 | 1 | 20 | 45 | 15 | 11 | 1.94 |
| FRANK HERRMANN | R | 50 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 21 | .625 | 47 1/3 | 31 | 5 | 16 | 49 | 16 | 16 | 3.04 |
| SUNG CHIA-HAO | R | 48 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 24 | .600 | 45 1/3 | 34 | 2 | 23 | 40 | 14 | 11 | 2.18 |
| Hayato Yuge* | L | 8 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | .500 | 43 1/3 | 40 | 5 | 9 | 34 | 18 | 18 | 3.74 |
| Yuri Furukawa | R | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .333 | 38 1/3 | 37 | 6 | 21 | 31 | 27 | 27 | 6.34 |
| Shu Sugahara | R | 9 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | .250 | 35 1/3 | 35 | 1 | 20 | 21 | 19 | 16 | 4.08 |
| Yuya Fukui | R | 8 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .750 | 33 | 31 | 3 | 24 | 20 | 19 | 19 | 5.18 |
| Tomohiro Anraku | R | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 32 1/3 | 30 | 5 | 11 | 19 | 22 | 17 | 4.73 |
| Yuhei Takanashi | L | 48 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 14 | .667 | 31 1/3 | 25 | 0 | 23 | 41 | 8 | 8 | 2.30 |
| Yuya Kubo | R | 22 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .667 | 22 1/3 | 16 | 3 | 11 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 2.82 |
| Yoshinao Kamata | R | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .500 | 21 2/3 | 25 | 4 | 12 | 15 | 13 | 13 | 5.40 |
| Fumiya Ono | R | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 18 2/3 | 26 | 3 | 5 | 14 | 13 | 13 | 6.27 |
| Yusuke Nishimiya | L | 14 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1.000.000 | 16 1/3 | 18 | 0 | 17 | 21 | 15 | 14 | 7.71 |
| Kenji Tomura | R | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 15 2/3 | 17 | 1 | 9 | 15 | 15 | 11 | 6.32 |
| Hiroki Kondo* | R | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 9 1/3 | 14 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 9 | 8.68 |
| Ryuta Konno | R | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000.000 | 9 | 13 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 10.00 |
| Shoma Fujihira | R | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 8 2/3 | 9 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 10 | 10 | 10.38 |
| Hiroyuki Fukuyama | R | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | 8 2/3 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5.19 |
| Kento Kumabara | R | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 3 1/3 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5.40 |
| Kanji Teraoka* | R | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 9.00 |
| Yuki Watanabe* | L | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Yoshinori Sato | R | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
