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2023 Best 9s and 10s

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It’s that time again. The day I have to dig up the votes I cast for the season’s top players at each position in Japan’s Pacific and Central Leagues.

The big news is that Yoshinobu Yamamoto got every vote cast for the PL’s top pitcher except one, that went to Yoshihisa Hirano, and that’s a story I’m keen to hear about. My guess is that the reason Hirano received a vote was that someone with poor eyesight selected No. 16 on the spreadsheet we’re given instead of No. 18, and failed to check it.

Before COVID, the combined Best-Nine, MVP and Rookie of the Year Award ballots were a kanji-writing test, since failure to get the strokes right could disqualify a vote for a player. Now they are an eye chart.

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NPB news: Nov. 24, 2022

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The next batch of award winners’ names dropped Thursday, as the Central and Pacific leagues each named their all-league teams with the Best Nine Awards.

The MVP and Rookie of the Year awards will be announced Friday

There are a couple of head-scratching votes, but for the most part, the players who received votes were deserving.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto led the PL in votes with 260, , although his teammate Masataka Yoshida also had 260 — split between 219 for DH and 21 for the outfield.

Munetaka Murakami came within one vote of a unanimous selection for the CL’s third base award, with one voter casting his lot with DeNA’s Toshiro Miyazaki. I’m happy Miyazaki got a vote, but I wouldn’t want to be the one who had to defend saying he was the best in the league.

The same goes for the 125 voters who selected Takuya Kai on their ballot. It makes me wonder what Tomoya Mori did to piss off that many in the media.

For each player receiving votes, I’ll give you their vote total, their overall WAR from Delta Graph, and their overall win shares. I can’t break them down by position.

Pacific League

Pitcher

PlayerTeamVotesWARWS
Yoshinobu YamamotoBuffaloes2607.918
Roki SasakiMarines26.111
Kodai SengaHawks14.911

Catcher

PlayerTeamVotesWARWS
Takuya KaiHawks1250.57.0
Tomoya MoriLions843.720.0
Kenya WakatsukiBuffaloes262.09.0
Torai FushimiBuffaloes171.16.0
Ginjiro SumitaniEagles70.76.5
Kou MatsukawaMarines3-0.53.0
Toshiya SatoMarines10.86.0

First Base

PlayerTeamVotesWARWS
Hotaka YamakawaLions2574.727
Kotaro KiyomiyaFighters41.210
Keita NakagawaBuffaloes12.216
Akira NakamuraHawks11.811

Second Base

PlayerTeamVotesWARWS
Hideto AsamuraEagles2244.223.0
Shogo NakamuraMarines272.924.0
Masaki MimoriHawks73.914.0
Taisei MakiharaHawks33.615.0
Shuta TonosakiLions23.816.5

Third Base

PlayerTeamVotesWARWS
Yuma MuneBuffaloes2391.818.0
Hisanori YasudaMarines32.215.0
Ukyo ShutoHawks23.18.0
Yuki Nomura Fighters10.810.5
Ryota YachiFighters10.76.0

Shortstop

PlayerTeamVotesWARWS
Kenta ImamiyaHawks2394.618
Sosuke GendaLions204.414
Kotaro KurebayashiBuffaloes2-0.49
Hiroto KobukataEagles12.110
Daigo KamikawabataFighters12.710

Outfielders

PlayerTeamVotesWARWS
Go MatsumotoFighters1924.521
Yuki YanagitaHawks1891.817
Hiroaki ShimauchiEagles1803.122
Akito TakabeMarines1153.717
Masataka YoshidaBuffaloes414.932
Keita NakagawaBuffaloes332.216
Shuhei FukudaBuffaloes192.19
Ryosuke TatsumiEagles73.814
Yutaro SugimotoBuffaloes30.112
Taisei MakiharaHawks33.615
Takashi OginoMarines34.117
Kensuke KondoFighters24.020
Shuhei FukudaMarines1-0.31
Tsuyoshi SuganoMarines1-0.42

Designated Hitter

PlayerTeamVotesWARWS
Masataka YoshidaBuffaloes2194.932
Go MatsumotoFighters134.521
Alfredo DespaigneHawks101.110
Hiroaki ShimauchiEagles93.122
Yuki YanagitaHawks31.817
Kensuke KondoFighters34.020
Takumi KuriyamaLions20.05
Takahiro OkadaBuffaloes1-0.70
Yutaro SugimotoBuffaloes10.112
Yurisbel GracialHawks10.39
Brandon LairdMarines1-2.02

Central League

Pitcher

PlayerTeamVotesWARWS
Koyo AoyagiTigers2865.013
Shota ImanagaBayStars24.013
Yasuhiro OgawaSwallows22.59
Taichi IshiyamaSwallows11.25
Scott McGoughSwallows110
Yasuaki YamasakiBayStars114
Atsuki YuasaTigers110
Raidel MartinezDragons116

Catcher

PlayerTeamVotesWARWS
Yuhei NakamuraSwallows1762.110
Takuya KinoshitaDragons792.112
Takumi OshiroGiants322.613
Ryutaro UmenoTigers100.87
Hiroki MineiBayStars10.05
Shogo SakakuraCarp12.922

First Base

PlayerTeamVotesWARWS
Jose OsunaSwallows1600.216
Keita SanoBayStars412.422
Yusuke OyamaTigers292.618
Sho NakataGiants271.514
Ryan McBroomCarp81.319
Neftali SotoBayStars11.713
Shogo SakakuraCarp12.922

Second Base

PlayerTeamVotesWARWS
Shugo MakiBayStars2714.023
Tetsuto YamadaSwallows174.019
Naoki YoshikawaGiants73.917
Ryosuke KikuchiCarp42.615

Third Base

PlayerTeamVotesWARWS
Munetaka MurakamiSwallows29810.348
Toshiro MiyazakiBayStars11.617

Shortstop

PlayerTeamVotesWARWS
Takumu NakanoTigers2053.413
Hideki NagaokaSwallows881.713
Hayato SakamotoGiants32.913
Kaito KozonoCarp31.712

Outfielders

PlayerTeamVotesWARWS
Koji ChikamotoTigers2084.819
Keita SanoBayStars1812.422
Yuki OkabayashiDragons1416.818
Yasutaka ShiomiSwallows1305.920
Yohei OshimaDragons1070.915
Yoshihiro MaruGiants1013.923
Teruaki SatoTigers93.719
Masayuki KuwaharaBayStars52.815
Kotaro YamasakiSwallows40.29
Ryoma NishikawaCarp43.519
Domingo SantanaSwallows21.68
Takahiro ArakiSwallows1-0.50
Norichika AokiSwallows1-0.56
Yusuke OyamaTigers12.618
Shun TakayamaTigers10
Adam WalkerGiants111

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