Yomiuri Giants

The Giants were not the first pro baseball team in Japan, nor the second nor even the third, but they are the longest-lasting, the first three having gone out of business long before the Giants were organized. They are, however, the most successful franchise in Japanese history, and for many years the best paid and most popular as well.

Manager: Tatsunori Hara
2019 Finish: 1st CL pennant in five years, and 1st Japan Series appearance in six, although that ended in a four-game sweep at the hands of the SoftBank Hawks.

Manager’s record: Tatsunori Hara

Year	Team	G	W	L	T	Pct	Finish
2002	Giants	140	86	52	2	.623	1
2003	Giants	140	71	66	3	.518	3
2006	Giants	146	65	79	2	.451	4
2007	Giants	144	80	63	1	.559	1
2008	Giants	144	84	57	3	.595	1
2009	Giants	144	89	46	9	.659	1
2010	Giants	144	79	64	1	.552	3
2011	Giants	144	71	62	11	.533	3
2012	Giants	144	86	43	15	.666	1
2013	Giants	144	84	53	7	.613	1
2014	Giants	143	81	61	1	.570	1
2015	Giants	138	71	66	1	.518	2
2019	Giants	143	77	64	2	.546	1
	Total	1,858	1,024	776	58	.569
Prev. 3 yrs	1999-2001	410	228	180	2	.559	2,1,2
Prev. 3 yrs	2003-2005	424	204	210	10	.493	3,3,5
Prev. 3 yrs	2016-2018	429	210	208	11	.502	2,4,3

Hara returned to the Giants last year to begin his third stint as skipper. He’s walked away from the job twice, once in 2003 when he tired of hearing then Giants owner Tsuneo Watanabe berate him to the media, and again in 2015 because of fatigue. This season, he will pass Tetsuharu Kawakami, who won nine-straight Japan Series titles, in games managed for the Giants. Next year, Hara will pass his mentor, Shigeo Nagashima to become the franchise’s longest-serving manager.

In his first years in charge, 2002 and 2003 and again after he returned in 2006, Hara was a transformational figure in the team’s history, the first Giants manager in four decades to take opportunities from underperforming veterans and gave them to unheralded fringe players and minor leaguers. Sometimes, he overdid it, giving huge undeserved opportunities to guys based on their hustle and attitude without regard for their lack of other skills. But he has no fear of using untried talent and this has been a huge boost.

The prototypical Hara team has an offense that is good at stealing bases and hitting home runs, an adequate defense and a pitching staff that doesn’t walk batters or allow many home runs. His teams have good starting pitching with strong bullpens.

Key players

Kazuma Okamoto 1B, 3B, LF
Yoshihiro Maru CF
Hayato Sakamoto SS
Yoshiyuki Kamei RF, LF
Alex Guerrero LF >> released
Takumi Oshiro C, 1B
Akihiro Wakabayashi 2B
Yang Dai-kang RF–known by the Japanese reading “Yo” of his Chinese name, so one will see him as “Yoh Dai-kang”
Seiji Kobayashi C
Christian Villanueva 3B >> Nippon Ham Fighters

Strengths and weaknesses

Captain Hayato Sakamoto became the second shortstop in NPB history to hit 40 homers (Chunichi’s Masaru Uno hit 41 in 1985), free-agent center fielder Yoshihiro Maru was a plus on both sides of the plate, corner infielder Kazuma Okamoto maintained his strong production after his breakthrough 2018, while Alex Guerrero had the kind of season the Giants expected from him when they signed him away from Chunichi in 2018.

Team Offensive rankings

Best in the league: runs (for the 1st time in 7 years), home runs (1st time since 2013), SB pct, OBP, Slug, Iso Power
Next best in the league: doubles, walks, BABiP, Avg
Next to worst in the league: triples, strikeouts, GDP

The Giants were fourth in league ERA, their worst ranking since 2003, Hara’s disappointing second season in charge. But they managed to win the pennant despite injuries to ace Tomoyuki Sugano, who had been named Japan’s best starting pitcher the previous two seasons, and poor results from relievers expected to anchor the back of the bullpen.

In the end, Shun Yamaguchi had a career year and led the CL in wins, lefty Kota Nakagawa had a breakthrough season in the bullpen, and Rubby De La Rosa was a productive midseason acquisition. It was not a banner year for the pitching staff, but it worked in the end.

Rankings against opponents’ offense

Next to best in the league: doubles, walks
Next to worst in the league: home runs, BABiP, Slug
Worst in the league: triples

Other rankings

Last in the league in complete games, 3rd in errors, 3rd in saves, 3rd in holds, 4th in ERA
And… the Giants led the league in relievers used, were 4th in sacrifice hits and 4th in intentional walks issued

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	RUBBY DE LA ROSA	12	1
P	Shosei Togo*	13	1
P	Hirokazu Sawamura	15	9	9/8 Traded to Marines
P	Kan Otake	17	18
P	Tomoyuki Sugano	18	7
P	Toyoki Tanaka	19	4	7/26 Signed from dev roster
P	ANGEL SANCHEZ	20	0
P	Hisashi Iwakuma	21	13
P	Ryoma Nogami	23	11
P	Yuki Takahashi	26	1
P	Kazuto Taguchi	28	6
P	Yohei Kagiya	30	8
P	Seishu Hatake	31	3
P	Kenshin Hotta*	32	0
P	Ryu Ota*	33	0
P	Toshiki Sakurai	35	4
P	Yuri Furukawa	40	7
P	Kota Nakagawa	41	4
P	CRISTOPHER MERCEDES	42	2
P	Nobutaka Imamura	45	8
P	Takuya Kuwahara	46	2
P	Takahiro Fujioka	47	10
P	Thyago Vieira*	49	0
P	Chiaki Tone	50	5
P	Yuhei Takanashi	53	3	7/15 Traded from Eagles.
P	Hosei Takata*	53	3	7/15 Traded to Eagles.
P	Daisuke Naoe*	54	1
P	Kyosuke Takagi	57	7
P	Ryosuke Miyaguni	58	9
P	Kai Yokogawa*	62	1
P	Seiji Tahara	63	8
P	Ryusei Oe*	64	3
P	Shun Ikeda	68	3	6/29 Traded to Eagles.
P	Haruto Inoue*	91	0
P	Hayato Horioka*	95	1
P	NATTINO DIPLAN	96	0
P	Tomohiro Yamakawa*	003	0
P	Suguro Takai*	011	1
P	Kaisei Hirai*	012	0
P	Tatsupei Tanioka	013	3
P	Daisuke Tatsumi*	015	3
P	Shingo Yamakami*	017	1
P	Yudai Tanaka*	019	1
P	Atsuro Hashimoto*	020	2
P	Hirotaka Yonahara*	023	3
P	REIMIN RAMOS	025	0
C	Seiji Kobayashi	22	6
C	Takumi Oshiro	24	2
C	Ginjiro Sumitani	27	14
C	Yukinori Kishida*	38	2
C	Shinnosuke Yamase*	67	0
C	Takaya Tanaka*	69	3	9/30 Sold to Eagles.
C	Rui Hirohata*	005	0
C	Shohei Koyama*	007	0
C	Ryutaro Takayama*	010	0
IF	Daiki Yoshikawa	00	9
IF	Hiroyuki Nakajima	5	17
IF	Hayato Sakamoto	6	13
IF	Kazuma Okamoto	25	5
IF	Naoki Yoshikawa	29	3
IF	Akihiro Wakabayashi	37	2
IF	ZELOUS WHEELER	48	5	6/29 Traded from Eagles
IF	Shunta Tanaka	51	2
IF	Takumi Kitamura*	52	2
IF	Yasuhiro Yamamoto	56	4
IF	Hirokazu Kikuta*	60	0
IF	Riku Masuda*	61	1
IF	Yoshiya Matsui*	65	1
IF	Kazuya Katsuki	68	5	9/8 Traded from Marines
IF	Dai Yuasa*	93	2
IF	ESTAMY URENA	98	0	9/17 Signed from dev roster
IF	Kenshin Higa*	001	0
IF	Hayato Hirama*	002	0
IF	Koki Orishita*	008	0
IF	Hibiki Kuroda*	021	0
IF	ESTAMY URENA	026	0
OF	Yang Dai-kang	2	14
OF	Yoshihiro Maru	8	12
OF	Yoshiyuki Kamei	9	15
OF	Shingo Ishikawa	36	8
OF	Soichiro Tateoka	39	12
OF	Shinnosuke Shigenobu	43	4
OF	ISRAEL MOTA	44	0
OF	Seiya Matsubara*	59	1
OF	Kaito Murakami*	66	2
OF	GERARDO PARRA	88	0
OF	Shuhei Kato*	94	0
OF	Kaito Ito*	97	0
OF	Kota Yamashita*	99	0
OF	Shun Kasai*	004	0
OF	Sota Kato*	006	0
OF	Takumaru Yaoita*	009	3
OF	Sota Arai*	022	0

2019 team data

Batters

Name	Bats	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	Avg	OBP	Slug	wOBA
Hayato Sakamoto	R	143	639	555	103	173	26	0	40	94	5	3	77	123	.312	.396	.575	.415
Yoshihiro Maru	L	143	631	535	82	156	26	1	27	89	12	5	86	125	.292	.388	.495	.384
Kazuma Okamoto	R	143	628	555	84	147	29	0	31	94	3	0	62	132	.265	.343	.485	.359
Yoshiyuki Kamei	L	131	503	450	67	128	27	2	13	55	9	1	45	91	.284	.346	.440	.343
ALEX GUERRERO	R	101	333	287	33	68	16	2	21	54	1	0	40	59	.237	.337	.526	.366
Takumi Oshiro	L	109	329	294	19	78	16	1	6	30	0	1	25	80	.265	.330	.388	.321
Akihiro Wakabayashi*	B	77	273	234	34	56	9	1	5	21	11	2	32	51	.239	.335	.350	.310
Seiji Kobayashi	R	92	236	213	20	52	6	0	2	19	1	0	7	48	.244	.280	.300	.263
CHRISTIAN VILLANUEVA	R	73	235	202	24	45	9	0	8	24	2	0	25	52	.223	.325	.386	.319
Yang Dai-kang	R	110	231	208	28	57	8	1	4	21	0	1	22	66	.274	.346	.380	.326
Yasuhiro Yamamoto	R	92	212	177	31	41	7	3	2	10	2	0	22	51	.232	.340	.339	.306
Shinnosuke Abe	L	95	192	158	15	47	8	0	7	27	0	0	28	23	.297	.411	.481	.391
Shunta Tanaka	L	62	176	156	17	35	7	0	4	14	2	0	14	36	.224	.285	.346	.282
Shinnosuke Shigenobu	L	106	174	158	25	42	7	2	2	16	14	3	11	43	.266	.308	.373	.296
Ginjiro Sumitani	R	58	138	126	17	33	4	0	6	26	0	0	7	28	.262	.309	.437	.322
Shingo Ishikawa	R	55	76	70	12	18	2	0	4	10	0	0	6	14	.257	.316	.457	.332
Shun Yamaguchi	R	26	69	56	2	4	2	0	0	2	0	0	3	34	.071	.119	.107	.110
Hiroyuki Nakajima	R	43	65	54	5	8	4	0	1	5	1	0	9	21	.148	.277	.278	.260
Daiki Masuda*	R	75	58	50	20	10	2	2	0	6	15	2	6	11	.200	.286	.320	.264
Tomoyuki Sugano	R	22	53	46	2	4	1	0	0	3	0	0	0	16	.087	.087	.109	.087
Naoki Yoshikawa	L	11	46	41	7	16	1	0	0	3	1	2	3	4	.390	.432	.415	.384
CRISTOPHER MERCEDES	L	22	42	36	1	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	16	.083	.108	.083	.092
Yuki Takahashi*	L	18	34	32	1	3	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	20	.094	.094	.094	.084
Toshiki Sakurai	R	29	29	23	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	13	.087	.160	.087	.128
Nobutaka Imamura	L	17	26	23	2	4	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	9	.174	.208	.174	.179
Soichiro Tateoka	R	25	16	14	4	4	2	0	0	1	3	0	2	4	.286	.375	.429	.363
TAYLOR JUNGMANN	R	10	14	13	1	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	.231	.231	.231	.208
Kota Yamashita*	L	12	13	12	1	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	.167	.231	.250	.223
Daiki Yoshikawa	R	10	10	9	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	.000	.100	0000	.070
JORGE MARTINEZ	NA	6	8	8	0	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	5	.125	.125	.250	.163
Yukinori Kishida*	R	4	7	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000	.000	0000	.000
Takumi Kitamura*	R	5	7	5	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	2	.000	.286	0000	.200
Seishu Hatake	L	5	4	2	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	.500	.667	.500	.533
Kyosuke Takagi	L	55	4	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	0000	.000
Shingo Usami	L	3	4	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.250	.250	.250	.225
Kazuto Taguchi	L	55	3	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000	.000	0000	.000
Shosei Togo*	R	2	3	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000	.000	0000	.000
Shuhei Kato*	L	5	3	3	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	0000	.000
Hirokazu Sawamura	R	43	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	0000	.000
Ryoma Nogami	R	13	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000	.000	0000	.000
Ryosuke Miyaguni	R	29	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000	.000	0000	.000
RYAN COOK	R	13	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	0000	.000
Takuya Kuwahara*	R	16	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	0000	.000
Chiaki Tone	L	26	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	0000	.000
Hosei Takata*	R	2	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	0000	.000
Ryusei Oe*	L	8	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	0000	.000
Yohei Kagiya	R	27	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	0000	.000
Yuri Furukawa	R	3	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
Shun Yamaguchi	R	26	0	0	15	4	0	0	.789	170	137	8	60	188	60	55	2.91
Tomoyuki Sugano	R	22	3	1	11	6	0	0	.647	136 1/3	138	20	32	120	65	59	3.89
CRISTOPHER MERCEDES	L	22	0	0	8	8	0	0	.500	120 1/3	137	12	28	89	49	47	3.52
Toshiki Sakurai	R	29	0	0	8	6	0	0	.571	108 1/3	109	12	42	82	53	52	4.32
Yuki Takahashi*	L	18	0	0	5	7	0	0	.417	93	70	14	48	89	34	33	3.19
Nobutaka Imamura	L	17	0	0	3	2	0	0	.600	81 2/3	82	9	26	54	39	37	4.08
Kazuto Taguchi	L	55	0	0	3	3	1	14	.500	65 1/3	59	11	18	66	30	30	4.13
Kota Nakagawa	L	67	0	0	4	3	16	17	.571	64 2/3	57	3	18	74	19	17	2.37
Kyosuke Takagi	L	55	0	0	3	1	0	10	.750	54	51	11	13	48	23	23	3.83
Hirokazu Sawamura	R	43	0	0	2	2	1	13	.500	48 1/3	40	3	17	55	14	14	2.61
TAYLOR JUNGMANN	R	10	0	0	3	4	0	0	.429	44 1/3	49	9	26	28	33	30	6.09
Ryosuke Miyaguni	R	28	0	0	0	2	0	3	.000	29 2/3	26	2	9	21	16	13	3.94
Yohei Kagiya	R	27	0	0	0	2	0	6	.000	27	21	4	18	11	11	9	3.00
Kan Otake	R	32	0	0	4	0	0	8	1.000.000	26	26	2	8	24	9	8	2.77
RUBBY DE LA ROSA	R	26	0	0	1	0	8	5	1.000.000	24	16	4	5	32	6	6	2.25
SCOTT MATHIESON	R	28	0	0	2	2	1	8	.500	22 2/3	28	2	9	19	11	11	4.37
Chiaki Tone	L	26	0	0	0	1	0	8	.000	22 2/3	17	2	17	21	7	5	1.99
Takuya Kuwahara*	R	15	0	0	0	1	0	2	.000	19	17	4	4	16	11	10	4.74
Ryoma Nogami	R	13	0	0	1	2	1	3	.333	18	19	1	6	16	10	7	3.50
Seiji Tahara	R	25	0	0	2	2	0	5	.500	16 2/3	14	1	7	9	8	8	4.32
Seishu Hatake	R	5	0	0	0	1	0	0	.000	15 2/3	26	2	5	14	14	12	6.89
RYAN COOK	R	13	0	0	0	2	6	0	.000	15	19	2	6	9	8	8	4.80
Ryusei Oe*	L	8	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	10 2/3	13	3	3	7	9	8	6.75
SAMUEL ADAMES	R	11	0	0	0	1	0	3	.000	9 1/3	10	2	4	4	7	7	6.75
Shosei Togo*	R	2	0	0	1	0	0	0	1.000.000	8 2/3	6	1	3	11	2	2	2.08
Mitsuo Yoshikawa	L	9	0	0	0	1	0	3	.000	6 1/3	12	2	6	4	7	7	9.95
Hosei Takata*	R	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	5	7	0	2	7	3	3	5.40
Yuri Furukawa	R	3	0	0	1	1	0	0	.500	5	4	0	2	10	4	4	7.20
Masahiko Morifuku	L	7	0	0	0	0	0	3	.000	4 1/3	5	2	0	5	3	3	6.23
Hayato Horioka*	R	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	4 1/3	5	1	3	2	3	3	6.23
Koki Sakamoto*	R	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	2	5	0	0	3	3	3	13.50
Jun Ikeda	L	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	1	2	1	1	1	2	2	18.00

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