SoftBank Hawks

Despite not having won the Pacific League since 2017, the SoftBank Hawks have finished runner-up the past two seasons, beat the Seibu Lions in the playoffs’ final stage. They then advanced to the Japan Series, which they have won three years in a row and five times in the last sixyears.

Manager: Kimiyasu Kudo
2020 Finish: 2nd, beat Seibu in final stage of PL Climax Series 4-1 in four games — Seibu’s only “win” the automatic one-win advantage the Lions received as league champs. The Hawks then beat the Yomiuri Giants in four-straight games in the Japan Series.

Manager’s record: Kimiyasu Kudo

Year	Team	G	W	L	T	Pct	Finish
2015	Hawks	143	90	49	4	.647	1
2016	Hawks	143	83	54	6	.605	2
2017	Hawks	143	94	49	0	.657	1
2018	Hawks	143	82	60	1	.577	2
2019	Hawks	143	76	62	5	.550	2
	Total	715	425	274	16	.608
Prev. 3 yrs			218	194	20	.529	3,4,1

Kudo, like his predecessor Koji Akiyama, and his Lions counterpart Hatsuhiko Tsuji, was a key part of the Seibu Lions’ golden age, see my PL history notes HERE.

A former pitcher, Kudo’s 224 career victories are 13th all-time in Japanese pro baseball history. He turned down the first team that sought to hire him as manager, the DeNA BayStars, when he found out they wanted an American-style organization, where the general manager and not the field manager had the final say in player personnel moves.

Kudo owes some of his longevity as a player to his study of sports science, and in 2015, his first season, the club was remarkably healthy but has since struggled with injuries.

The Hawks are well financed by owner Masayoshi Son, one of the world’s richest men, who took over the club in 2005 and vowed to make it the world’s strongest team. Under Son’s ownership, the Hawks spend more on domestic talent than any team in either league, became the first PL club to lure a star free agent in his prime (Seiichi Uchikawa) from the CL, and are now the last team to completely reject the posting system.

Key players

Yurisbel Gracial LF, RF
Taisei Makihara 2B, CF, SS, RF
Seiji Uebayashi RF, CF
Nobuhiro Matsuda 3B
Takuya Kai C
Seiichi Uchikawa 1B
Go Kamamoto CF, LF
Kenta Imamiya SS
Kenji Akashi 2B
Alfredo Despaigne DH

Strengths and weaknesses

The Lions have no glaring offensive weaknesses. They are Japan’s best base-stealing team, they get on base, they hit for power, they stay out of double plays, partly because they hit the ball on the ground less, steal bases better and have great team speed.

Team Offensive rankings

Best in the league: home runs, fewest GDP
2nd best in the league: SB Pct, sacrifice hits, Slug, Iso Power
Next to worst in the league in OBP
Worst in the league: doubles, triples, walks

Their Hawks are solid overall in both pitching and defense although they did issue the most walks in the league. With their biggest hitters — mostly star center fielder Yuki Yanagita — missing playing time, they club plugged holes with guys who could run and catch and throw.

Although SoftBank has modified their home park to make it home run friendly by shortening the home run distances as has been done by the Marines in Chiba and the Eagles in Sendai, they allowed the second-fewest home runs in the league.

Rankings against opponents’ offense

Best in the league: runs, doubles, triples, stolen bases, Avg, Slug allowed
2nd best in the league: home runs allowed and opponents’ SB Pct
Worst in the league: walks issued

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 in the league: saves, ERA
2nd best in the league: errors
Next to worst in the league: passed balls
And… the Hawks were 2nd in the league in sacrifice hits, their 100 was one shy of Orix’s 101; 4th in relievers used (477), 5th in intentional walks issued with 11, one more than Seibu’s league-low 10

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	CARTER STEWART JR.*	2	1
P	Kotaro Otake	10	1
P	Yuki Tsumori*	11	0
P	Akira Nibo	13	8
P	Ren Kajiya	14	6	Non-tendered
P	Nao Higashihama	16	7
P	Sho Iwasaki	17	12
P	Shota Takeda	18	8
P	Hiroshi Kaino	20	1
P	Tsuyoshi Wada	21	13
P	Seigi Tanaka*	25	3
P	Haruto Yoshizumi*	26	2	Non-tendered
P	Rei Takahashi	28	2
P	Shuta Ishikawa	29	3
P	Arata Shiino	34	2
P	LIVAN MOINELO	35	3
P	MATT MOORE	37	0	Non-tendered
P	Yuito Mori	38	6
P	Shuto Ogata*	39	0
P	Kazuki Sugiyama*	40	1
P	Kodai Senga	41	8
P	Ryoma Matsuda	42	9	Non-tendered
P	RICK VAN DEN HURK	44	5	Non-tendered
P	Jumpei Takahashi	47	4
P	Yuta Watanabe*	48	0	Aug. 31 Signed from Dev roster
P	Yuto Furuya*	49	3
P	Yugo Bando*	50	1
P	Keisuke Izumi*	53	1
P	Fumimaru Taura*	56	2
P	Shinya Kayama	57	8
P	DENNIS SARFATE	58	9
P	Masato Okumura*	61	1
P	Hiroyuki Kawahara	63	6
P	Yuki Matsumoto	66	5
P	Shunsuke Kasaya	67	5
P	Tomohisa Ozeki*	122	0
P	Reiji Kozawa*	123	3	Released 11/30
P	Yuto Nozawa*	129	0	Released 11/30
P	Naoya Okamoto*	133	0
P	Takeshi Watanabe*	137	0	Released 11/30
P	Tomoaki Shigeta*	138	0
P	Shun Murakami*	143	0
C	Hiroaki Takaya	12	13
C	Takuya Kai	19	6
C	Ryoya Kurihara	31	5
C	Kenta Tanigawara*	45	4
C	Takashi Umino*	62	0
C	Yuhei Kuki*	65	3
C	Soichiro Ishizuka*	121	0
C	Riku Watanabe*	132	0
C	Tamon Horiuchi*	144	1	Released 11/30
IF	Hikaru Kawase	00	4
IF	Seiichi Uchikawa	1	19	Non-tendered
IF	Nobuhiro Matsuda	5	14
IF	Kenta Imamiya	6	10
IF	Kenji Akashi	8	16
IF	Tetsuro Nishida	22	10	Non-tendered
IF	Ukyo Shuto	23	0
IF	YURISBEL GRACIAL	27	2
IF	Shu Masuda*	33	2
IF	Taisei Makihara	36	8
IF	Richard Sunagawa*	52	0
IF	Daiju Nomura*	55	1
IF	Masaki Miori*	68	3
IF	Jui Kobayashi*	69	0
IF	Keizo Kawashima	99	15
IF	Shogo Furusawa*	124	4	Released 11/30
IF	Kenta Kurose*	126	3	Released 11/30
IF	Daisuke Ito*	128	0
IF	Haruki Katsuren*	130	0
IF	Shota Araki*	136	0
OF	WLADIMIR BALENTIEN	4	9
OF	Akira Nakamura	7	12
OF	Yuki Yanagita	9	9
OF	Yuya Hasegawa	24	13
OF	Naoki Sato*	30	0
OF	Tatsuru Yanagimachi*	32	0
OF	OSCAR COLAS	46	2	Placed on restricted list 2/19. Non-tendered
OF	Seiji Uebayashi	51	6
OF	ALFREDO DESPAIGNE	54	6
OF	Shun Mizutani*	59	1
OF	Go Kamamoto	60	5
OF	Yusuke Masago	64	7
OF	Shogo Omoto*	125	0	Released 11/30
OF	Hidetora Funakoshi*	131	0
OF	Tsubasa Tashiro*	135	0	Released 11/30
OF	Yamato Higurashi*	139	0	Released 11/30
OF	Rikuya Shimizu*	141	0	Released 11/30
OF	Takamasa Nakamura*	142	0

2019 team data

Batters

Name	Bats	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	Avg	OBP	Slug	wOBA
Nobuhiro Matsuda	R	143	576	534	64	139	25	2	30	76	5	3	33	115	.260	.305	.483	.336
Seiichi Uchikawa	R	137	535	500	49	128	21	0	12	41	3	0	28	49	.256	.296	.370	.292
ALFREDO DESPAIGNE	R	130	519	448	61	116	9	0	36	88	0	1	63	119	.259	.355	.520	.375
Takuya Kai	R	137	454	377	42	98	15	0	11	43	9	4	50	114	.260	.346	.387	.329
Taisei Makihara	L	114	436	409	37	99	14	2	3	27	10	13	10	85	.242	.267	.308	.256
Kenta Imamiya	R	106	426	383	44	98	15	0	14	41	4	5	32	67	.256	.317	.405	.318
YURISBEL GRACIAL	R	103	410	373	61	119	17	1	28	68	4	3	22	84	.319	.365	.595	.407
Kenji Akashi	L	99	315	282	31	70	12	3	5	21	6	2	26	66	.248	.313	.365	.300
Seiji Uebayashi	L	99	286	258	28	50	6	2	11	31	10	4	18	75	.194	.254	.360	.265
Go Kamamoto*	L	86	189	173	18	38	2	1	4	11	11	1	12	56	.220	.270	.312	.261
Shuhei Fukuda	B	80	183	166	27	43	8	0	9	26	9	3	11	48	.259	.302	.470	.330
Akira Nakamura	L	44	159	139	10	34	3	1	3	11	0	0	15	13	.245	.321	.345	.299
Yuki Yanagita	L	38	157	128	17	37	6	1	7	23	4	1	28	28	.289	.420	.516	.405
Tomoki Takata	L	93	125	115	6	18	1	0	0	10	2	0	3	36	.157	.185	.165	.163
Ukyo Shuto*	L	102	114	102	39	20	3	2	1	6	25	5	2	27	.196	.212	.294	.216
Keizo Kawashima	R	47	88	66	14	24	5	1	1	8	4	1	17	9	.364	.488	.515	.438
Yuya Hasegawa	L	25	54	43	6	13	4	0	3	9	1	0	7	4	.302	.407	.605	.419
Masaki Miori*	L	24	51	48	7	10	2	2	0	1	3	2	2	17	.208	.255	.333	.249
Ryoya Kurihara*	L	32	45	39	4	9	0	1	1	7	0	0	3	10	.231	.311	.359	.291
Hiroaki Takaya	L	55	42	30	2	5	0	0	1	1	0	0	5	15	.167	.286	.267	.260
Hikaru Kawase*	L	29	37	34	1	6	0	0	0	1	1	1	1	5	.176	.200	.176	.174
Masayoshi Tsukada	R	18	24	18	1	4	0	0	1	3	0	0	5	6	.222	.417	.389	.341
Yusuke Masago	R	12	23	21	4	3	0	0	0	1	2	0	1	11	.143	.182	.143	.155
Yuki Mima	R	15	22	22	4	2	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	5	.091	.091	.273	.150
OSCAR COLAS	L	7	21	18	2	5	0	0	1	2	0	0	1	6	.278	.381	.444	.367
Tomoaki Egawa	R	11	17	15	1	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	.333	.412	.333	.347
Tetsuro Nishida	R	7	8	8	2	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	.125	.125	.250	.163
Kodai Senga	L	26	6	6	0	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.333	.333	.500	.367
Rei Takahashi*	R	23	4	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.250	.250	.250	.225
Shu Masuda*	R	2	4	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	0000	.000
Kotaro Otake	L	17	3	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000	.000	0000	.000
Yuki Matsumoto	L	7	3	2	0	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	.500	.500	1.000	.650
Yuhei Kuki*	R	2	3	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.333	0000	.233
Tsuyoshi Wada	L	12	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	.000	.500	0000	.350
Daiju Nomura*	R	2	2	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.500	.500	.500	.450
Shota Takeda	R	32	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	0000	.000
ROBERT SUAREZ	R	9	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
Kodai Senga	R	26	2	2	13	8	0	0	.619	180 1/3	134	19	75	227	60	56	2.79
Rei Takahashi*	R	23	0	0	12	6	0	0	.667	143	114	10	49	73	56	53	3.34
Kotaro Otake	L	17	1	0	5	4	0	0	.556	106	111	13	20	72	47	45	3.82
ARIEL MIRANDA	L	18	0	0	7	5	0	0	.583	86	80	13	48	58	44	40	4.19
Shota Takeda	R	32	0	0	5	3	1	9	.625	83	78	6	40	70	48	42	4.55
LIVAN MOINELO	L	60	0	0	3	1	4	34	.750	59 1/3	37	4	25	86	13	10	1.52
Hiroshi Kaino*	R	65	0	0	2	5	8	26	.286	58 2/3	49	6	34	73	28	27	4.14
Tsuyoshi Wada	L	12	0	0	4	4	0	0	.500	57 2/3	56	11	14	45	26	25	3.90
Yuito Mori	R	54	0	0	2	3	35	7	.400	53	40	5	13	59	13	13	2.21
Ryoma Matsuda	R	51	0	0	2	4	0	5	.333	52	41	8	32	57	23	22	3.81
Jumpei Takahashi*	R	45	0	0	3	2	0	17	.600	51	36	4	17	58	17	15	2.65
Arata Shiino*	R	36	0	0	5	2	0	6	.714	46	37	5	31	49	20	16	3.13
Akira Nibo	R	8	0	0	1	4	0	0	.200	38 1/3	40	6	16	15	19	17	3.99
Ren Kajiya	R	30	0	0	3	1	0	6	.750	36	42	4	22	23	26	24	6.00
Nao Higashihama	R	7	0	0	2	2	0	0	.500	35 1/3	36	5	23	26	26	25	6.37
Yuki Matsumoto	R	7	0	0	1	1	0	0	.500	33 2/3	35	2	11	32	18	15	4.01
Shinya Kayama	L	54	0	0	2	2	1	19	.500	31	29	1	5	26	13	9	2.61
ROBERT SUAREZ	R	9	0	0	0	4	0	0	.000	26 2/3	28	6	20	27	18	17	5.74
Hiroyuki Kawahara	L	19	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	23 2/3	22	1	14	10	10	7	2.66
Keisuke Izumi*	R	14	0	0	2	0	0	3	1.000.000	18 1/3	17	1	8	18	5	4	1.96
RICK VAN DEN HURK	R	3	0	0	2	0	0	0	1.000.000	17 1/3	13	2	2	22	7	6	3.12
Masato Okumura*	R	12	0	0	0	1	0	3	.000	12 1/3	13	3	7	10	12	12	8.76
Fumimaru Taura*	L	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	10	8	1	6	6	5	5	4.50
Shunsuke Kasaya*	L	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	5	6	1	7	7	4	4	7.20
Kenichi Nakata	R	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	4 2/3	3	0	3	2	1	1	1.93
Kazuki Sugiyama*	R	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	4	5	0	5	4	4	4	9.00
Shuta Ishikawa	R	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	3	2	0	0	3	0	0	0.00
Sho Iwasaki	R	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	2	1	0	1	2	1	1	4.50
Seigi Tanaka*	R	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0 2/3	1	0	2	0	0	0	0.00

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