Tag Archives: Hanshin Tigers

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The kotatsu league: Moves aplenty

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Tigers announce Bour agreement

The Hanshin Tigers announced Thursday that they have come to terms with Justin Bour. The team’s director of baseball operations, Osamu Tanimoto said, “He reminds one of (two-time triple crown batter Randy) Bass.”

@thehanshintiger might have said: “Welcome to the monkey house”

The comparison is not utterly without merit since both came to Hanshin as left-handed hitters with some pop who drew walks, but their ages and career paths prior to signing with Hanshin are so different.

Kyodo News Plus’ story is HERE.

Unlike Bass, who was at the age of 21 one of the best Triple-A hitters in America and then got better, Bour came out of college and didn’t make it to Triple-A until he was 26. The following year he had 446 plate appearances for the Marlins. Bass had 366 plate appearances over six major league seasons, most coming in his Age 27 season with the San Diego Padres in 1981.

It’s not hard to look at Bour’s major league career and see Bass doing the same or even a little better. Of course Bass came to Japan at the age of 29, while Bour is nearly two years older.

Bass’ Japanese batting stats are HERE, in Japanese unfortunately.

Although Bass took a couple of years to really master the Japanese strike zone, he had two seasons when he walked more often than he struck out — something that had been routine for him in the minors.

I’m not saying Bour has no chance to be nearly as good, but Bass — whose bid for the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame is gaining momentum in the expert’s division, is a fairly optimistic target.

Sugano wants 20 wins before moving to majors

Kyodo News reported that Yomiuri Giants ace Tomoyuki Sugano has set a target of 20 wins for next season after a 2019 campaign that was marred by injury and ended his bid for an unprecedented third straight Sawamura Award. The Kyodo News story as published by Nikkei Shimbun is HERE.

Sugano’s player profile is HERE.

“I want to try and win 20 games,” he said after signing his 2020 contract. “I understand what I am capable of, and I think it’s important to go into the offseason having set oneself such an issue to attend to.”

On Wednesday, Giants owner Toshikazu Yamaguchi left the door open a crack for the possibility that Sugano could be posted, even while asserting that the club has not changed its official policy of rejecting the posting system altogether.

Yamaguchi said, “The case of (pitcher Shun) Yamaguchi was an individual exception…Sugano, of course, sat out a year as an amateur (to sign with the Giants) and so that is something that could be taken into consideration.”

On Thursday, Sugano said, “My desire (to go to MLB) remains unchanged. But my focus is on next year. I want to take care of that business, aim for a championship, and after that, I expect there will be various discussions.”

No such luck for Senga

Asked whether the Giants move to discuss posting had changed the landscape for his team, SoftBank Hawks owner Masayoshi Son, said in essence, “No, no, and hell no.”

“Why should we do anything that’s not in the team’s best interest.”

This does not bode well for star right-hander Kodai Senga, who will not be able to file for international free agency until Nov. 2024 at the earliest, — when two months before he turns 32. Although some said hell had frozen over when the Giants posted Yamaguchi, it seem

Hawks ditch Miranda, Suarez

The SoftBank Hawks announced Thursday they will not offer contracts to to left-hander Ariel Miranda and right-hander Robert Suarez. Suarez had been a bullpen workhorse in 2016, but has not been as effective after needing elbow surgery after the 2017 World Baseball Classic.

After eight impressive starts in 2018, Miranda was much less effective this season over 18 games.

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Haraguchi reveals cancer severity

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On Sunday, the Daily Sports reported on Hanshin Tigers catcher Fumihito Haraguchi’s visit to a cancer care facility. On Jan. 24, Haraguchi announced he had been diagnosed with colon cancer and had surgery two days later.

Haraguchi’s English language player page is HERE. The 27-year-old revealed that although he returned to play 43 games this season, the follow-up examination after his surgery revealed that his cancer was at stage 3B, meaning:


Stage IIIB: The cancer has grown into or through the outermost layer of the colon or rectum and may have spread into nearby organs or tissues. The cancer has spread to up to three lymph nodes near the primary site, but has not spread to distant organs.

Cancer Treatment Centers of America, colorectal cancer stages.

He began having treatment in cycles composed of four weeks of drug therapy and two weeks of rest. Although the team told him to be patient and come back when he was fully fit, Haraguchi opted for a plan to receive treatment over a five-year period while still playing, and his physician credited that desire to play with boosting his recovery.

“My doctor liked baseball and encouraged me to play as much as I could,” Haraguchi said. “The plan is receive treatment as I play five years, although that demands careful monitoring of my situation.”

Simply being able to play would have been testament enough, but Haraguchi wrote the most melodramatic script allowable.

In his first at-bat of the season, he delivered a two-out, RBI pinch-hit double in Chiba. Five days later, on June 9, he batted with one on and two outs in the ninth at Koshien Stadium, and hit a sayonara home run off Nippon Ham Fighters closer Ryo Akiyoshi..

Haraguchi was encouraged by the chief physician at the care facility to reveal his situation.

“I was able to give the children (receiving treatment) courage,” he said after he had avoided revealing his situation all year. “The head doctor implored me to speak out, and I told the team that.”

“I’ve been able to compete while going through this. There are people who are doing their best fighting illnesses, and can resume working. They can even play sports. I wanted to relate that.”