Every year, I’ll go through the hitters with standout numbers in the minors, looking for guys who should have do well at the top level if given time to adjust. It’s not complex analysis. I look for guys with decent playing time with high offensive winning percentages — a measure of their production in the context of the runs their team scores and allows.

I’m not 100 percent convinced these guys will be stars. I don’t see any can’t-miss prospects at the moment, but they might be very good if given regular playing time.

Taiki Sekine, DeNA BayStars

Sekine’s 25-year-old left-handed-hitting outfielder, with discipline, speed, and some pop. Sekine’s minor league numbers began to take off in 2017 when he posted a .596 offensive winning percentage in the Eastern League. It’s gone up since then as his strikeouts have gone down and his walks have increased.

Takumaru Yaoita, Yomiuri Giants

Yaoita is a 24-year-old left-handed-hitting outfielder, who has bounced around the developmental and 70-man rosters of first the Eagles and now the Giants, who got him to strike out less and hit for more power last year.

We should keep an eye on the Giants’ minor leaguers this year. Katsuya Katsuki basically did nothing for the Lotte Marines except hit for power. But he became a terror after the Giants acquired him in the Hirokazu Sawamura trade.

Masaru Watanabe, Chunichi Dragons

Watanabe is a 27-year-old left-handed-hitting outfielder. He is speedy, hits for average and can steal bases. His numbers make him look like a clone of Teppei Tsuchiya, whom the Dragons gave away so he could be an all-star for the Rakuten Eagles.

Seiya Hosokawa, DeNA BayStars

Hosokawa is a 22-year-old left-handed-hitting outfielder. He is a disciplined power hitter who hits for average. Former manager Alex Ramirez had his eye on Hosokawa from Day 1, and time is on his side more than it’s on Sekine’s.

Shogo Sakakura, Hiroshima Carp

Sakakura is a 22-year-old left-handed-hitting catcher. He’s a disciplined hitter who doesn’t strike out, which means he may draw 70 or 80 walks a year if he bats eighth in front of the CL pitcher’s spot. His 2020 slash line .287/.346/.411 looks about what can be expected from him with the first team.

Note: Two PL players would have been on this list, but both found their feet with the first team in 2020, SoftBank’s Ryoya Kurihara and Orix’s Keita Nakagawa.