While I cannot open the voting for the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame players division ballot to the public, I am curious what you all think.
I would like all readers who haven’t already voted on Twitter or other social media platforms, to submit their seven votes in the comments so I can compile them and announce the readers’ choices. So please, each of you, name your magnificent seven…
Below are the candidates, and how they compare to existing players in the Hall of Fame in terms of Bill James’ Win Shares.
The three tables for position players, starting pitchers and relievers give their career win share totals, including a slight adjustment for win shares accumulated in MLB, the average of each player’s three most-valuable seasons, and the average win share value of each player’s best five-year span.
I’ve listed them separately, because win shares doesn’t seek to make the best pitchers equal to the best position players. For that reason, I compare the starting pitchers to existing hall of fame starting pitchers, and relievers to the trio of specialty relievers who are now enshrined in the museum’s long narrow hall.
22 position player candidates
| Name R | Name J | Pos | Career | Best 3 years avg | 5-year peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ichiro Suzuki | イチロー | RF | 651.9 | 42.6 | 35.0 |
| Kazuo Matsui | 松井 稼頭央 | SS | 404.2 | 33.1 | 30.6 |
| Shinnosuke Abe | 阿部 慎之助 | C | 381.2 | 34.0 | 30.5 |
| Tadahito Iguchi | 井口 資仁 | 2B | 351.2 | 29.5 | 25.1 |
| Michihiro Ogasawara | 小笠原 道大 | 3B | 334.8 | 31.7 | 30.5 |
| Tuffy Rhodes | ローズ | CF | 319.9 | 33.8 | 25.8 |
| Hiroki Kokubo | 小久保 裕紀 | 3B | 310.6 | 28.6 | 25.5 |
| Nobuhiko Matsunaka | 松中 信彦 | 1B | 309.7 | 36.3 | 31.0 |
| Atsunori Inaba | 稲葉 篤紀 | RF | 302.2 | 31.0 | 27.3 |
| Takuro Ishii | 石井 忠徳 | SS | 298.9 | 26.8 | 24.1 |
| Kenji Jojima | 城島 健司 | C | 293.5 | 30.7 | 28.0 |
| Takahiro Arai | 新井 貴浩 | 3B | 263.6 | 22.5 | 20.2 |
| Yoshinobu Takahashi | 高橋 由伸 | RF | 262.4 | 26.2 | 20.2 |
| Tomonori Maeda | 前田 智徳 | LF | 262.3 | 25.5 | 17.9 |
| Kenjiro Nomura | 野村 謙二郎 | SS | 243.6 | 28.5 | 24.1 |
| Takeshi Yamasaki | 山﨑 武司 | 1B | 241.1 | 24.7 | 18.9 |
| Shinya Miyamoto | 宮本 慎也 | SS | 200.6 | 16.0 | 13.7 |
| Kazuya Fukuura | 福浦 和也 | 1B | 198.9 | 18.3 | 17.4 |
| Masahiro Araki | 荒木 雅博 | 2B | 193.1 | 18.4 | 15.2 |
| So Taguchi | 田口 壮 | CF | 170.1 | 17.4 | 15.0 |
| Masahiro Kawai | 川相 昌弘 | SS | 147.6 | 19.3 | 15.7 |
| Norihiro Akahoshi | 赤星 憲広 | CF | 146.2 | 24.5 | 20.2 |
| HOF Pos averages | 286.4 | 28.0 | 24.6 |
3 starting pitcher candidates
The “starting pitcher” averages are a little misleading because until the mid 1970s, there were three kinds of pitchers, top starters who also came on to relieve in high-leverage situations, starters who switched back and forth between starting and relieving, and a few pitchers who rarely started. The averages also do not include the quality pitchers who converted to other positions after their arms gave out. Their careers are averaged with the position players.
| Name R | Name J | Career | Best 3 years | 5-year peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Koji Uehara | 上原 浩治 | 234.3 | 21.9 | 15.1 |
| Masumi Kuwata | 桑田 真澄 | 191.0 | 24.2 | 19.6 |
| Shinji Sasaoka | 佐々岡 真司 | 171.7 | 18.9 | 14.4 |
| HOF SP avg | 230.2 | 27.5 | 21.8 |
3 relief pitcher candidates
There are only three dedicated relief pitchers in the Hall of Fame, Kazuhiro Sasaki, who is head and shoulders above Shingo Takatsu, and Tsunemi Tsuda, who was as good as Takatsu, but whose career and life were cut short by cancer.
| Name R | Name J | Career | Best 3 years | 5-year peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hitoki Iwase | 岩瀬 仁紀 | 163.2 | 14.7 | 14.0 |
| Tetsuya Yamaguchi | 山口 鉄也 | 87.9 | 14.2 | 11.9 |
| Takuya Asao | 浅尾 拓也 | 61.7 | 13.8 | 10.5 |
| Hall of Fame RP Avg | 123.3 | 16.4 | 12.0 |
