Tag Archives: Kazuhisa Ishii

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NPB 2021 news

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Eagles poised to sign Castillo

The Rakuten Eagles of Japan’s Pacific League announced Saturday that former Boston Red Sox outfielder Rusney Castillo has agreed to join the club.

The 33-year-old Castillo has spent the bulk of his U.S. pro career at Triple-A Pawtucket with 99 games for Boston, the last coming in 2016. From 2015 to 2019, the right-handed-hitting Castillo slashed .293/.335/.425 for Pawtucket in 467 games.

Castillo, who played most of his 2018 season in center, might be a step up defensively from 32-year-old Stefen Romero, whom the Eagles did not re-sign after he slashed .272/.354/.539 for them in 2020, and could surpass Romero offensively — if he plays 130-plus games since Romero’s only downside has been being hurt without the chance to rehab during the season.

Eagles GM Kazuhisa Ishii said, he expects a hitter who can start rallies and make hay with runners in scoring position.

“He has mid-range power and can hurt you deep but does not live by the long ball,” Ishii told the Eagles’ website. “I expect his role will be to set the table and bring home runs. “

“Due to suspensions of new entries into the country, it’s highly likely now that he will not arrive in time for Currently, it is highly likely he will not arrive in time for camp. However, when he does get here, we dilligently support him so he can be ready to play as soon as possible.”

In addition to being the GM, Ishii will manage the Eagles this year as they seek to overtake the Orix Buffaloes in the race for the most-managerial changes title with their third skipper in three years.

Baseball, Free, News

NPB 2020 Nov. 13

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Friday’s games

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PL

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Other news

Eagles president: Don’t lose 1-run games

Rakuten Eagles team president Yozo Tachibana said losing one-run games was an impediment to success on Friday, when he met the press along with general manager Kazuhisa Ishii, who has been assigned to replace Hajime Miki as the club’s skipper.

“He (Ishii) has a cheerful disposition, but he’s also strict. So I want the team to enjoy winning but be tough. We lost a lot of one-run games this year, and to prevent that from happening we need to be strict,” Tachibana said.

Over and over the pair repeated variations on the theme of addressing weakness to overcome obstacles. In addition to being poor at one-run games, Ishii said the club had many strong points but was not good in do-or-die situations.

Through 49 games, the Eagles were 27-19-1 but went 28-38-7 from there to finish 2-1/2 games out of the last playoff spot.

“On Nov. 12 the team’s top executives met and decided to ask Ishii to manage,” Tachibana said. “He’s been watching the team all along and he knows the players. He’s been shaping the team but not while in uniform but now we want him in uniform so that fans can see the kind of baseball that springs from his thinking.”

Ishii has never looked overly comfortable in front of an audience although in informal settings he smiles easily. You could see that in the presser as he looked tense through much of it, particularly when Tachibana was speaking, but did warm up to the setting as time went by.

Manager Junichi Fukura took over as Orix GM, while Rakuten GM Kazuhisa Ishii will manage, too.

Active roster moves 11/12/2020 — none

Starting pitchers for Nov. 13, 2020

Pacific League Climax Series

Hawks vs Marines: PayPay Dome 1 pm, 12 midnight EDT

Kodai Senga (11-6, 2.16) vs Manabu Mima (10-4, 3.95)

Central League

BayStars vs Giants: Yokohama Stadium 2 pm, 1 am EDT

Kentaro Taira (4-6, 2.30) vs Tomoyuki Sugano (14-2, 2.04)