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[NPB NOTEBOOK] Highlighting Some of the Year’s Best Performers So Far

Tigers slugger Teruaki Sato, Giants rookie closer Taisei Ota and Marines catcher Ko Matsukawa are shining for their respective teams.

April 23, 2022By Jim Armstrong


Hanshin Tigers slugger Teruaki Sato belts his fifth homer of the season in the second inning against the Yokohama DeNA BayStars on April 19. (ⒸSANKEI)

A lot of the early-season headlines in Nippon Professional Baseball have justifiably gone to sensational pitcher Roki Sasaki, who threw Japanese baseball’s first perfect game in 28 years on April 10, and then came within an inning of doing it again a week later.

The Chiba Lotte Marines flamethrower certainly deserves all the attention he is getting on both sides of the Pacific. But let’s take a look at some of the other players in NPB who are also off to strong starts this season.

Teruaki Sato ― Hanshin Tigers

While his team may be struggling mightily with a 4-19 start, the slugging infielder/outfielder already has five homers in his first 22 games to tie for second in the Central League with Munetaka Murakami of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows through Friday, April 22.

Sato also got off to a rocket start last year in his rookie season when he finished with 24 homers, 10 of which came by May 7.

But Sato slumped in the second half of the season including striking out five times in one game against the Hiroshima Carp on July 4, tying an NPB record.

On September 29, Sato set the NPB record for most plate appearances (54) without getting a hit by a non-pitcher.

Hanshin fans will be hoping he can keep the momentum going all season long this year.



Taisei Ota ― Yomiuri Giants

The Yomiuri Giants are off to a strong start to the season. One of the reasons for that is the performance of rookie pitcher Taisei Ota. The 22-year-old right-hander picked up his 10th save in the team’s 21st game of the season on Tuesday, April 19 at Tokyo Dome against the Hiroshima Carp.

The previous fastest was Kentaro Nishimura in 23 games in 2013.

“I didn’t get any strikeouts today and the defense came up big,” Ota said in the hero interview after his 10th save. “I was watching (pitcher Shosei Togo) Togo from the bullpen and wanted to produce pitching that would allow him to get the win.”

Ota now has 11 saves, tops in the Central League and has helped the Giants to a strong 17-7 start for a three-game lead over the Hiroshima Carp.


Chiba Lotte Marines catcher Ko Matsukawa in action against the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks on March 31. (ⒸSANKEI)

Ko Matsukawa ― Chiba Lotte Marines

Somewhat lost amid all the fanfare over Sasaki’s 17 perfect innings was the fact that his battery mate in both games was 18-year-old rookie catcher Ko Matsukawa.

The fact that a rookie was on the receiving end of such spectacular pitching is a credit to Japanese baseball in general and the Chiba Lotte Marines in particular.

Matsukawa showed a lot of poise in guiding Sasaki through his history-making performance, something not lost on the Marines’ ace pitcher.



“Honestly, I wasn’t thinking about the possibility of it (a perfect game),” Sasaki was quoted as saying by Kyodo News after his April 10 gem. “I figured it would be OK if I gave up a hit so I just put my trust in Matsukawa right until the end.”

Matsukawa also helped out the 20-year-old Sasaki with his bat, hitting a three-run double in the perfect game.

Lotte manager Tadahito Iguchi also praised the young catcher.

“I have to give credit to Matsukawa for calling such a great game and doing a solid job with the bat as well. The two of them are quite a battery.”


The Eagles’ Takayuki Kishi pitches on April 20. (ⒸSANKEI)

Soaring Eagles

The Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles have been one of the early surprises of the young season.

With an impressive 12-5 record, the Eagles lead the Pacific League by 1½ games over the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.

Their offense has been powered by Haruki Nishikawa, who leads the league with 15 RBIs and is second with a .333 batting average, and Hiroaki Shimauchi (.292, 11 RBIs).

There have been stellar performances by young players all around NPB this season but for pitching, the Eagles are relying on a couple of golden oldies in 38-year-old Takayuki Kishi and 34-year-old Masahiro Tanaka.

Kishi is 2-0 with a 1.35 ERA and 17 strikeouts in three starts.

Tanaka is 2-1 with a 2.05 ERA and also has 17 Ks.

Yuki Matsui is tied for the league-lead with 6 saves.

Rakuten finished third in the Pacific League standings last season so the Eagles were expected to be good this year, just not this good perhaps.

Former NPB and MLB pitcher Kaz Ishii, in his second season as manager, has his team off to a fast start with hopes of repeating their Japan Series championship season of 2013 when they were led by Tanaka.


Hokkaido Nipponham Fighters outfielder Go Matsumoto bats against the Saitama Seibu Lions on April 12. (KYODO)

Hamming it Up

After a rather slow start to the season, the Hokkaido Nipponham Fighters are showing signs of life under first-year manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo.

Before losing to the Eagles 4-2 on Wednesday, April 20, the Fighters had won three in a row to improve to 7-12.

That included a 1-0 win over the Marines on April 17 that denied Roki Sasaki what would have been a second straight perfect game.

Among the standouts for the Fighters this season are outfielders Chusei Minnami, who hit the extra-inning solo homer in the win over Lotte and Go Matsumoto, who leads the Pacific League with a .400 batting average.

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Twenty-year-old Roki Sasaki of the Chiba Lotte Marines became the youngest professional baseball player ever to pitch a perfect game on April 10, 2022, at ZOZO Marine Stadium in Chiba. (Photo by T. Sato, Sankei)

CULTURE EDITORIAL|

Sasaki’s Perfect Game a Lesson in Skills, Courage, and Power

The Chiba Lotte Marines pitcher is achieving great results today because, in both his high school and pro careers, the people around him didn’t rush him.

Published 1 week ago on April 15, 2022

By Editorial Board, The Sankei Shimbun

It was truly one for the history books.

On April 10, pitcher Roki Sasaki, already a phenom at the tender age of 20 years and five months, tied Japan’s professional baseball record by striking out 19 of the batters he faced. On the way to becoming the youngest player ever to pitch a perfect game, the Chiba Lotte Marines’ gutsy right-hander also fanned 13 consecutive batters in a row, thereby setting a Japanese pro baseball record.

Sasaki has an awesome fastball that clocks in at a maximum speed of 164 kilometers per hour (102 miles per hour). But his toolkit also includes a forkball that travels at close to 150 kph and a curveball in the 120-kph range.

Sasaki might not have achieved his feat were it not for the excellent job done by his catcher, the 18-year-old rookie Ko Matsukawa. Together they led the Lotte Marines to a 6-0 pasting of the Orix Buffaloes, whose hitters tried hard to get the best of Sasaki. The game made for some truly pleasurable viewing.

In fact, this particular ballgame was replete with what is so appealing about sports.


Chiba Lotte Marines pitcher Roki Sasaki on April 10, 2022, responds to congratulations for pitching a perfect game at ZOZO Marine Stadium in Chiba (Kyodo)

Sasaki is a survivor of the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011. He lost his father and grandparents in that disaster, and his family had to relocate. His prowess as a pitcher garnered considerable attention from his junior high school days, but he personally chose to remain in Tohoku.

During the summer of his third year at Ofunato High School in Iwate Prefecture, Sasaki and his team made it to the finals of the regional qualifier of the National High School Baseball Championship. They were just one win away from qualifying to play in the national baseball tournament at Hanshin Koshien Stadium — the dream of every high school baseball player.

However, the team manager Yohei Kokubo refused to let Sasaki pitch, since he had just pitched nine innings the previous day and Kokubo did not want to risk damaging his young arm. Ofunato lost and Sasaki did not make the trip to Koshien. Although Kokubo’s decision caused an uproar, the trust between the teachers and students remained unshaken.

A similar thing happened after Sasaki joined the Lotte Marines. During his first year he was initially not even assigned to the club’s farm team, but instead concentrated on the mechanics of pitching and building up his physical strength. And last season he only took the plate for 11 games.

You have to admire the remarkable job they have done of keeping in fine shape the 160 kph fastball that Sasaki developed in high school as his main weapon. The great results Sasaki is achieving today are attributable to the fact that, in both his high school and pro careers, the people around him have been content to not rush him for results, which might have risked destroying his remarkable talent. Instead, they carefully nurtured it along.

That provides considerable food for thought. Doesn’t a results-oriented approach that takes things to extremes actually hinder growth?

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Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki has streak of 17 consecutive perfect innings snapped on first pitch of start

The NPB ace had retired 52 batters in a row before allowing a leadoff single on Sunday

By Mike Axisa

12 hrs ago

Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki's run of perfection came to an end on the first pitch he threw Sunday. Sasaki, a 20-year-old right-hander for the Chiba Lotte Marines, had retired a record 52 consecutive batters before Orix Buffaloes outfielder Shuhei Fukuda shot a base hit to right field to begin Sunday's game.

Sasaki struck out 19 in Japan's first perfect game in 28 years two weeks ago. He followed that up with eight perfect innings in his start last week. Sasaki went into Sunday's game with a 1.16 ERA and 56 strikeouts in 31 innings on the season.

Overall, Sasaki was mortal Sunday, allowing two earned runs on six hits and three walks in five innings. He also hit two batters and struck out four, and got some help when outfielder Akito Takabe threw a runner out at the plate in the first inning. Sasaki was good enough to get the win in Sunday's game.

"I worked my absolute hardest to throw strikes the whole day," Sasaki told the Kyodo news after Sunday's game. "I got into a lot of tough spots, but even with my poor command I managed to go five innings without letting them take the lead."

Armed with a triple-digit fastball and a devastating splitter, Sasaki is arguably the best pitcher in the world not employed by an MLB team. Our R.J. Anderson recently provided a scouting report:

According to data obtained by CBS Sports from Sunday's start, Sasaki's fastball averaged better than 99.5 mph and featured 19.8 inches of induced vertical break and 15.4 inches of horizontal break. That's an elite, unmatched combination.

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Sasaki's splitter checks in at 91.2 mph with 2.30 inches of induced vertical break and 7.80 inches of horizontal break. That velocity would rank as the second fastest, trailing only Hirokazu Sawamura of the Boston Red Sox. Sasaki's break numbers, meanwhile, compare most favorably to those of Blake Parker (2.9, 7.40). Parker's splitter last season generated a 36 percent whiff rate and a .232 average against.

When -- and if -- Sasaki will come over to MLB is unknown. He must accrue nine years of service time to be eligible for international free agency, and while he could request the Marines post him for MLB teams earlier than that, they are not obligated to do so. The Marines have posted only one player in their history: infielder Tsuyoshi Nishioka, who signed with the Minnesota Twins in 2010.

Even if the Marines do post Sasaki, MLB's international free-agent system would subject him to the bonus pools, limiting his earning potential (the largest bonus pools are in the $6 million to $7 million range each year). Sasaki will have to wait until he's 25 to avoid the bonus pools. An international draft, which is being discussed, would limit his options and earning potential even further.

The best opportunity for MLB fans to see Sasaki will be next spring's World Baseball Classic. The tournament will return next year and Japan typically takes its very best pro players to the event. Sasaki is, obviously, one of the best pitchers in his league.

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Roki Sasaki of the Lotte Marines pitches in a Pacific League game against the Orix Buffaloes at Kyocera Dome Osaka on April 24, 2022. (Kyodo)

Baseball: Imperfect Roki Sasaki gets win as Marines battle past Buffaloes

April 24, 2022 (Mainichi Japan)

OSAKA (Kyodo) --

Roki Sasaki allowed his first base runner and runs in three weeks, and worked just five innings, but the Lotte Marines held on to get him the win in Sunday's 6-3 Pacific League victory over the Orix Buffaloes.

On the heels of eight perfect innings but no decision a week ago and an April 10 perfect game against Orix, Sasaki's streak ended on his first pitch of the game at Kyocera Dome.

Shuhei Fukuda smashed a fastball from the 20-year-old right-hander past first base, ending a streak of 52 straight batters retired.

Lacking the sharp command of both his fastball and forkball that has been his calling card this season, Sasaki allowed two runs on three walks, two hit batsmen and six hits over five innings.

Sasaki, who garnered international attention with his feats, struck out just four batters, his lowest total of the year.

Only a big throw by left fielder Akito Takabe and a good tag by rookie catcher Ko Matsukawa kept the Buffaloes off the board in the first inning.

"The game can go either way most easily in the first inning, so I'm glad I charged the ball well there," said Takabe, who a few minutes later drove in the game's first runs.

After two walks and a two-out throwing error by right-hander Soichiro Yamazaki (0-2) loaded the bases, Takabe singled in two. A Koshiro Wada single made it 3-0.

"I hadn't been hitting at all when Roki pitched, so I badly wanted a hit, and I'm so glad we could get him the win," Takabe said.

Sasaki walked a batter in the fourth, his first since his March 27 season debut, but his command all but deserted him in the fifth.

The right-hander started a double play after Orix loaded the bases on a single and two no-out walks. One run scored on the play and Masataka Yoshida, winner of the last two PL batting titles, doubled in another.

It was the second hit of the game for Yoshida, who accounted for three of Sasaki's record-tying 19 strikeouts on April 10.

"I worked my absolute hardest to throw strikes the whole day," Sasaki said. "I got into a lot of tough spots, but even with my poor command I managed to go five innings without letting them take the lead."

The Marines bullpen survived a two-out bases-loaded pickle in the seventh and tacked on three runs in the ninth on a Takabe RBI single and a two-run Shogo Nakamura double.

Marines closer Naoya Masuda, the 2021 PL saves leader, surrendered three straight one-out singles in the ninth. Yutaro Sugimoto, the 2021 home run champ, made it 6-3 with a sac fly to deep center before closing it out.

Elsewhere, the SoftBank Hawks whipped the Nippon Ham Fighters 11-4, while Taiwan's Wu Nien-ting drove in three runs for the Seibu Lions in their 6-3 win over the Rakuten Eagles.

In the Central League, the Chunichi Dragons overcame a five-run deficit to beat the Yomiuri Giants 7-6 and snap the league leaders' six-game win streak, while the Hiroshima Carp scored twice in the 10th to beat the DeNA BayStars 5-4, and the Hanshin Tigers crushed the Yakult Swallows 11-3.

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Sancti Spíritus leads Cuban baseball standings

Sancti Spiritus beat the Alazanes13-3 in eight innings with an offense of 12 hits.

Taken from Latin Press

Sunday, April 24, 2022 09:57 PM

Havana.-

Sancti Spíritus beat Granma today for the second day in a row and, after the defeat of Ciego de Ávila, they alone dominate the 61st National Baseball Series atandings.

Sancti Spiritus dug their spurs into Granma and beat them 13-3 in eight innings, with an offense of 12 hits, including home runs by shortstop Moisés Esquerré and catcher Yunior Ibarra.

Ariel Zerquera (7-2) was the victorious pitcher, Yunier Castillo (5-5) the loss and Yankiel Mauri scored his sixth save.

The victory improves Sancti spiritus record to 39-24. Combined with the loss of Ciego de Ávila 4-7 against Holguín, took another firm step in their aspirations to advance to the second round of the tournament.

Michel Cabrera, in relief, added his ninth win, Luis Marrero was the losing pitcher and catcher Osvaldo Vázquez homered.

In the morning games, Isla de la Juventud completed the sweep over Cienfuegos after a double victory of 4-3 and 5-0. The Pirates prevailed despite having less hits than their victims, three against eight, but the hits were timely. The wins improved Isla de la Juventud win total to 30 on the season.

José Luis Bring, Eliseo Rojas, Jordanys Acebal and Laidel Andrés Águila drove in one run to claim the victory for Franklin Quintana (1-2) and the loss to Pedro Mesa (1-7).

In the Latin American stadium, in Havana, Villa Clara and Industriales shared honors. Villa Clara beat the Lions 3-2 in the first game and later lost 3-1.

In the first game, the game was tied heading into the ninth inning. The winning run scored in the ninth and Alaín Sánchez (8-2) picked up the win.

The defeat to right-handed Pedro Álvarez (10-2) despite the home run by his teammate Jorge Enrique Alomá.

In the second game both teams were tied 1-1 for six innings, when with two men on base the designated hitter Oscar Valdés hit a double that batted in two runs to ensure victory 35 of the season for the Industrialists.

Reimon Figueredo (4-1) won and Elier Carrillo (5-6) lost and Andy Vargas picked up his sixth save.

In other results, Santiago de Cuba ended it's six game losing streak after beating Las Tunas 6-0, with effective work from the mound by the experienced Alberto Bicet (5-7), with the complete game performance .

Yudier Rodríguez (3-4) was the losing pitcher and Avispas de Santiago and Yoelkis Guibert, homered.

In other results, Mayabeque beat Artemisa 11-3, Guantánamo beat Camagüey 5-4 and Pinar del Río beat Matanzas 7-5 after a home run by Yasser Julio González with a man on base.

After these results Sancti Spíritus leads the standings with a record of 39-24 followed by Ciego de Ávila by one game; Las Tunas and Granma by three games; Mayabeque and Industriales, by three and a half games, Holguín by six games and Matanzas by seven games to complete the best eight teams.

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Frederich Cepeda, leader of the batters in the National Series number 61

The Cuban baseball championship enters the final stretch of its qualifying phase

In the midst of the struggle between the provincial teams, the best Cuban prospects have continued to go to professional leagues

Havana 25 Apr 2022 - 16:43 CEST

The qualifying stage of the Cuban National Baseball Series is coming to an end. After Sunday's session, there are barely a dozen games left to define the eight privileged teams that will go to the postseason. At this point in the championship, six teams are still battling for the last two qualifying spots.

The most notable thing this week, in addition to the cooling of the bats, which has caused the collective batting average to drop one point (.297 Ave), was the loss of the Ciego de Avila Tigers , who, after four consecutive losses, dropped out of first place in the standings.

Worse still was the streak of six straight losses by Santiago , a team that once again lost its momentum and with just two wins in their last ten games, dropped out of the qualifying zone and is in 12th place in the standings.

Benefitting the most in these last days were the Gallos de Sancti Spíritus, a team four consecutive wins in a row has regained first place. Sancti Spiritus has spent the most time in first place this season.

On the other hand, with seven wins in their last ten games, both the Industriales and Holguin are now in positions that seem comfortable in reaching the post season.

In the midst of the struggle between the provincial teams, the best prospects of the country have continued to leave for the professional leagues , and others will do so before their teams reach the long-awaited playoffs. This, in addition to having already caused discontent among fans, will further lower the already poor quality of this sport on the Island.

If we take a look at the individual leaders in pitching, we see that in addition to the absence, for several days, of Yoannis Yera from Matanzas, the most effective pitcher (1.52 PCL) and one with the most strikeouts (73), the man from Pinar del Rio has gone to Europe. Erlys Casanova, is the leader in on-base percentage with 1.06 .

His teammate Yosvany Torres , second in the same department (1.06), will also do so in the next few days, in the midst of a relentless fight by his Pinar del Rio team to enter the qualifying zone.

Luckily for the fans and their respective teams, the most successful pitchers of with wins, Pedro Álvarez (IND) and Hermes González (CFG) –both with ten– have not yet received offers to venture into those foreign leagues. Nor has it happened with Franklin Quintana (IJV), who leads with saves, also with ten.

Regarding the offense, the one who drives in the most runs in the season is about to fly to Canada: Yoelquis Guibert (60) from Santiago, a fundamental player for his team in the fight for a qualifying spot.

Pedro Pablo Revilla, from Guantanamo, king of the home runs in this National Series (21), may be listening to some foreign franchise, although his team has long since been ruled out of the battle for the postseason.

In another leading category (perhaps the most important), the 42-year-old veteran Frederich Cepeda remains at the forefront of the tournament hitters (.406 Ave), highlighting – with the respect that sporting glory deserves – the lack of good hitters that there is in Cuba these days, after two years of migratory waves.

After the results of this weekend, Sancti Spíritus (39-24) has a one game lead over Ciego de Ávila (38-25), three over Las Tunas (35-26) and Granma (36-27), and three and a half over Mayabeque (34-26) and Industriales (35-27), all of them practically guaranteed a place in the playoffs.

Holguín (33-30) is in seventh place and Matanzas (32-31) closes the qualifying zone , one game behind them.

In the group that fights to sneak into that qualifying zone are Villa Clara (29-30) and Pinar del Río (31-32) with the greatest possibilities.

They are followed by La Isla de Juventud and Santiago de Cuba (30-33).

Trailing without possibilities the quartet of Camagüey (28-35), Artemisa (24-35), Guantánamo (24-39), and Cienfuegos (19-44).

This week, with the particular sub series of 26 and 27 of the season, this championship will clear up a little more, which since the first weeks has had a very high level of competitiveness, despite the qualitative decline it has suffered for years, something that is undoubtedly irreversible, due to issues that would need to be discussed in a separate moment in time.

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Keita Sano of the DeNA BayStars hits a two-run double in the fifth inning of a Central League baseball game against the Yomiuri Giants at Yokohama Stadium on April 26, 2022. (Kyodo)

TOKYO (Kyodo) --

Keita Sano delivered a two-RBI double, and Shugo Maki followed with a two-run homer as the DeNA BayStars rallied back to beat the Central League-leading Yomiuri Giants 6-4 on Tuesday and snap a three-game losing streak.

The BayStars did their damage in the bottom of the fifth at Yokohama Stadium, consigning Yomiuri starter Shosei Togo (3-2) to the loss in a five-run inning.

The Giants jumped to an early lead when Kazuma Okamoto hit a two-run bomb with two out in the opening frame off right-hander Fernando Romero (2-2).

Last year's joint CL home run champion alongside the Yakult Swallows' Munetaka Murakami, Okamoto launched his seventh big fly of the season to the top of the batter's eye off Romero's 2-1 two-seamer.

Masayuki Kuwahara put DeNA on the board with a one-out RBI double in the fifth. Next to the plate was Sano, who lined his first pitch to right, scoring Romero and Kuwahara.

After Togo got Neftali Soto to fly out, Maki sent the 22-year-old right-hander's 0-2 fastball deep to right for his fifth home run.

The Giants closed the gap on back-to-back RBI doubles from Kazuya Katsuki and Adam Walker in the sixth before Soto pushed the lead back to two with a solo homer in the seventh.

The night's two other CL games -- the Hanshin Tigers versus the Chunichi Dragons and the Hiroshima Carp against the Yakult Swallows -- were rained out.

In the Pacific League, the SoftBank Hawks beat the Seibu Lions 3-0, the Orix Buffaloes outlasted the Nippon Ham Fighters 3-2 over 10 innings, and the Rakuten Eagles also needed 10 innings to overcome the Lotte Marines 3-2.

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Holguín with three wins in a row

They are on their way to an unexpected presence in the postseason of the 61 SNB.

Taken from Latin Press

Tuesday, April 26, 2022 09:43 PM

Havana.-

AFTER AN unsatisfactory start to the season, the Holguín Cubs today extended the magic touch in their game against the Indios de Guantánamo (6-2) on their way to the playoffs of the 61st National Baseball Series.

As if they had the lives of a cat, Holguin's second half surge at the end of the tournament shows them with three wins in a row and a 2 game lead for the 7th spot in the standings.

At the top of the game, Hernández's squad connected for 12 hits while their pitchers stopped the Indians' offense.

The victory went tof Uberleydis Rodríguez (6-1), author of a quality start, working 6.2 innings with just two runs, six hits, three strike outs and four walks.

Designated Hitter Yordan Manduley (4-2, 1R), outfielder Edilse Silva (5-2, 1RBI, 1R, 1-2B) and third baseman Maykel Cáceres (5-2, 1RBI, 1R), had multi hit games

In the absence of only 11 matches in the regular calendar, the Holguin players have a record of 34-30 and are on track to qualify among the eight teams that will play the postseason of the 61st National Series, whose start is scheduled for the coming month of May.

In the rest of the games, Industriales knocked out Pinar del Río 10-0, Cienfuegos surprised Mayabeque 11-9, Villa Clara blanked Matanzas 3-0, Camagüey dominated Ciego de Ávila 7-2, Las Tunas defeated Sancti Spíritus 9-3 and Granma thrashed 1-8 Santiago de Cuba.

The Standings:

1 Sancti Spíritus 39-25
2 Ciego de Ávila 38-26
3 Las Tunas (36-26)
4 Granma (37-27)
5 Industriales (36-27)
6 Mayabeque (34-27)
7 Holguín (32-32),
7 Matanzas (32-32) All with access to the next round.

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9 Villa Clara (30-30)
10 Pinar (31-33)
11 Isla (30-33)
12 Santiago (30-34)
13 Camagüey (29-35)
14 Artemisa (24-35)
15 Guantánamo (24-40)
16 Cienfuegos (20-44)

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Baseball: Aoyagi goes distance as Tigers show signs of life

April 29, 2022 (Mainichi Japan)

TOKYO (Kyodo) --

Koyo Aoyagi went the distance in his second straight start as the Central League's last-place Hanshin Tigers beat the Yomiuri Giants 3-2 on Friday for their first four-game win streak of the season.

Aoyagi (3-0), a side-arm right-hander, struck out seven and walked one while allowing six hits in his 129-pitch outing as Hanshin improved to 8-20 with one tie this season.

"Our bullpen got a lot of work in our last series, so I tried hard to go as deep into the game as I could," Aoyagi said. "It feels great to be on the mound when the game is over, and I'd like to do that as much as I'm able."

The pitcher helped break a scoreless game by singling to lead off the second before Teruaki Sato blasted a mammoth home run into the upper deck at Tokyo Dome, his seventh of the season.

Giants ace Tomoyuki Sugano (3-3) was pulled for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the third. The Giants scored an unearned run in the fifth, but an excellent catch by center fielder Koji Chikamoto ended the inning with a runner on to preserve the lead.

Hanshin's Yusuke Oyama drove in an eighth-inning insurance run with his fourth home run, while Giants cleanup hitter Kazuma Okamoto completed the scoring with his league-leading 10th home run in the ninth inning.

Elsewhere, Hiroshima Carp ace Daichi Osera (4-1) threw a two-hit shutout in a 1-0 win over the Chunichi Dragons, while the Pacific League champion Orix Buffaloes walked off 1-0 winners against the Seibu Lions.

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The Cuban Baseball Federation discriminates against the players it cannot squeeze…and their teams
Yoannis Yera, Cuban pitcher exported by the Cuban Baseball Federation. CALIXTO N. LLANES JIT

The state entity has removed several prominent players that have the most notable performances during the current series and exported them to foreign leagues.

YUSIMI RODRIGUEZ LOPEZ

Madrid 29 Apr 2022 - 18:33 CEST

A little over a week ago, the president of the state Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB), Juan Reinaldo Pérez Pardo, announced sanctions for players who break their contract with the National Series and made it clear that only that entity can authorize the contracts of the players abroad.

Although the measure of punishing the players by prohibiting them from returning to the current season and from participating in the next year's season aroused criticism among fans, who described it as a violation of the rights of athletes , some might try to justify it with the argument that the objective is that the teams do not remain "lame" in the middle of the Cuban baseball championship, especially when the qualification to the playoffs is being challenged and not affect the spectacle that the fans enjoy. False.

The only concern of the FCB is the money that it cannot get from the players who leave through contracts managed on their own. The proof is that the state entity itself has removed several of the players that have the most notable performances during this series and export them to foreign leagues.

Yoannis Yera , a pitcher from Matanzas who has been the most effective during the championship with the most strikeouts, has left Cuba exported by the FCB. His departure weakens the pitching staff of the Matanzas Crocodiles who are in ninth place. The first eight team make the playoffs.

In the same case is Erlys Casanova , a pitcher from Pinar del Río has just left for Europe, also through an FCB contract, while his team is fighting to qualify for the playoffs.

The Santiago Wasps , also involved in the fight for a spot to the next phase of the competition, will lose a key player with the departure to Canada of Yoelquis Guibert , leader in RBI's during the season.

The export of these players to other leagues, when the championship season has not finished, implies that they break their contract with the National Baseball Series . But since their contracts are "authorized" by the FCB, which means that this state entity obtains an economic benefit from them, the players will not suffer the sanctions announced by Pérez Pardo last week.

Yosvany Torres , also from Pinar del Río, second pitcher in batting average against, must also leave for Spain in the next few days through a contract that was not signed with the FCB.

Presumably, he will be sanctioned like 22 other players who have left the National Series , according to the FCB president's statements at the press conference last week.

Punishment for the players… and for the team

The departures of these athletes to play abroad have similar effects for their teams in Cuba, whether their contracts are managed through the FCB or on their own. However, the regulations establish when a player leaves with a contract from that body subordinate to the Government, another player can take his place in the provincial team. If he leaves through a contract that he got independently, the team cannot bring in another player and must play with one less man on his roster.

In this way, the FCB, with its discriminatory policy, not only punishes with the aforementioned sanction the athlete who left without the state entity being able to obtain an economic benefit from him, but also the rest of the team in Cuba.

None of this has to do with the US embargo or the blocking of the agreement that the FCB had achieved with Major League Baseball (MLB), by former US President Donald Trump. It has to do with the fact that the regime, although it can no longer present its underpaid professional athletes as amateurs, still considers them property. For this reason, when they dare to seek improvement for their careers autonomously, he punishes them like slaves who escape from the barracks. And he does it without paying attention to the effects that the punishment has on the teams and the fans.

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BASEBALL: NATIONAL SERIES

Cuban Baseball Championship: Industriales collapses in the final stretch of the qualifying phase

Star pitcher seems to take its toll on the team from the Cuban capital.

Havana 02 May 2022 - 11:27 CEST

The Cuban National Baseball Series could not be more close after the double headers this Saturday. In four of the stadiums that hosted games the most striking was the one received by the Industriales of Havana

The teams that swept their series are precisely the ones that are involved in the fight for the qualifying spots to the championship postseason, which has caused complications in the middle of the standings with eight games left in their regular season schedule.

After the results of the last day, Sancti Spíritus and Ciego de Ávila woke up with 40 victories in first place. Such a number of wins can still be achieved by the 12 teams that remain in contention for the playoffs, a clear example of how complex predictions are in Cuban baseball .

Proof of this are the famous Industriales, a team that practically had the ticket to the postseason in their hands, and then lost four in a row this week, which has generated an uproar on social networks, given their level of popularity with their loyal fans and rabid opponents.

The Industriales offense, the most powerful weapon they have shown in this season has been alarmingly extinguished. .

Star pitcher Pedro Álvarez as reported this Saturday by the provincial media outlet Tribuna de La Habana , was sanctioned by the team's management for his decision to leave his team, although hours later he retracted, and could not climb the mound in the doubleheader where the Industriales fell twice against the Matanzas Crocodiles .

Like those from Santiago de Cuba and Pinar del Rio,who achieved sweeps on Saturday made things more difficult for the team from the capital n this final stretch.

Now, behind Ciego de Ávila and Sancti Spíritus (40-28), there is Las Tunas (38-28), Mayabeque (36-27), Granma (38-30), and Industriales (36-31), and only a half game behind the Industriales is Holguín (36-32), the best team in the second half of the season.

Matanzas and Pinar del Rio (35-33) were placed one game and a half behind the Industriales. One game behind remains La Isla de la Juventud (33-33), two behind Santiago de Cuba (33-35) and Villa Clara (31-33). As the last teams with a mathematical chance is Camagüey (32-36), which also emerged victorious in its last two games.

Regarding the individual leaders, only two have changed from the previous week. These are the cases of William Saavedra from Pinar del Río , who this week destroyed the pitching of the Industrialist of the capital to lead the hitters (418 Ave), and Franklin Quintana from Pinar del Río , who is now the absolute leader in saved games by compiling 11 in the in the season.

The fight for the title of most home runs is another attractive contest to end the first half of the season. This Saturday Avilanian Alfredo Fádraga hit homer 21 to tiel Pedro Pablo Revilla from Guantanamo . But a few minutes later, Revilla hit number 22 to maintain his lead.

1.SSP 40 28 .589 -
2.CAV 40 28 .589 -
3.LTU 38 28 .576 1
4.MAY 36 27 .572 1.5
5.GRA 38 30 .559 2
6.IND 36 31 .538 3.5
7.HOL 36 32 .530 4
8.MTZ 35 33 .515 5
9.PRI 35 33 .515 5
10.IJV 33 33 .500 6
11.SCU 33 35 .486 7
12.VCL 31 33 .485 7
13.CMG 32 36 .471 8
14.ART 24 38 .388 13
15.GTM 26 42 .383 14
16.CFG 20 46 .304 19

8 games left in the qualifying stage of the first half of the season

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Since Bauer suspended by MLB for 2 years, can he play for one of these overseas leagues?

All except Cuba. Don't think any of these other leagues would want him.

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Carlos Martí, manager of the Alazanes de Granma.

Four teams secure playoffs

Sancti Spíritus, Las Tunas and Granma are already qualified.

Another six teams will compete in the last week for the last three places.

Havana 09 May 2022 - 11:29 CEST

The National Baseball Series is already in the last week of its qualifying stage and half of the teams that will be present in the postseason have yet to be defined. Four of a total of eight available spots have already been won for the biggest sporting spectacle on the Island, when only a couple of games remain for most of the teams with options.

In the last week, the Gallos de Sancti Spíritus (44-29), the Leñadores de Las Tunas (42-29) and the current defending champions, the Alazanes de Granma (43-30); without a doubt, the three teams that, despite having important absences on their teams, have been the best.

This group was joined over the weekend by the Tigres de Ciego de Ávila (40-33), despite experiencing their worst moment of the season. The Tigers have lost six games in a row and 12 times in the last 15 games, since the injury of their captain Yorbis Borroto, who had surgery on his leg after a collision on the field of play.

On the other hand, it is only a matter of time before the Hurricanes of Mayabeque (39-29) reach the fifth qualifying spot, since they only need one victory, perhaps two, of the seven games left five of them were games suspended throughout the regular season.

The fight for the three remaining positions is centered among six teams. The three teams that are currently in the qualifying zone that do not depend on anyone to achieve the playoffs: the Industriales de La Habana (37 -33), the Crocodiles of Matanzas (38-35) and the Vegueros of Pinar del Rio (38-35).

The Industriales will have to win three of the five remaining games (three suspended), while the other two teams will achieve the playoffs if they win the two remaining games, regardless of what happens in the other games.

The other trio of teams that is currently out of the top eight positions is in a complicated situation, since they have the task of winning in all the games that remain and wait for a disaster of the other contenders. They are the Piratas de la Isla (36-35), the Holguín Cubs (37-36) and the Villa Clara Leopards (34-35).

On Wednesday of this week the official calendar will conclude and from that day on all the games that have been pending due to weather, transportation problems, or group illnesses will be rescheduled. The National Baseball Commission announced that the playoffs of this 61st edition of the National Series will begin three days after the last recovery game have been played.

Regarding the individual leaders, William Saavedra from Pinar del Río is the leader in offensive average (.414), slugging percentage (.742) and OPS (1.216).

Another experienced player, Frederich Cepeda , from Sancti Spiritus , is the one who has received the most walks (92), the one who has reached the most bases (.576), and with an offensive average above .400 (.409). .

Furthermore, Pedro Pablo Revilla from Guantanamo hit three homers this week to reach 24 during the season and reaffirms himself as the leader in that department.

Yoelkis Guibert from Santiago continues to be the best by leading in RBIs (77), runs scored (70), total bases (169), and is third in home runs (19).

In pitching, José Ramón Rodríguez from Camagüey is now the top winner (11) and the one with the most strikeouts (76).

Franklin Quintana from Pino saved the most games (13).

Yaonni Yera from Matanzas has the best ERA (1.52), though it won't ultimately give him the necessary innings pitched to dominate in the department.

The most attractive game this week will be that between the Industrialitst and the Piratas de la Isla on the latter's home field, as they are direct elimination games.

In another four of the remaining seven games, teams will be involved in games with playoff implications.

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Japan home run king Hotaka Yamakawa

Baseball: Lions' Yamakawa knocks out Fighters

May 8, 2022 (Mainichi Japan)

TOKOROZAWA, Saitama (Kyodo) --

Hotaka Yamakawa hit a pair of early home runs, his Japan-leading 13th and 14th, to drive in five runs and power the Seibu Lions to a 5-1 Pacific League win over the Nippon Ham Fighters on Sunday.

At Saitama Prefecture's Belluna Dome outside Tokyo, Yamakawa belted a two-run homer in the first off Toshihiro Sugiura (1-3) in the first. The 2018 PL MVP hit a three-run shot in the third to chase the Fighters' starting pitcher.

First-year Lions lefty Dietrich Enns (2-1) allowed one run on three hits over six innings. He struck out four without issuing a walk.

Another first-year import, Seibu's Brian O'Grady, drew a walk before each of Yamakawa's home runs and doubled.

Elsewhere in the PL, the SoftBank Hawks clobbered the Lotte Marines 8-4 for their sixth straight win, while the PL-leading Rakuten Eagles won their 10th consecutive decision, beating the Orix Buffaloes 2-1 in 10 innings.

In the Central League, the Yakult Swallows handed rookie relief sensation Taisei Ota (1-1) his first loss, coming from behind in the ninth to beat the Yomiuri Giants 4-3, while the Hiroshima Carp pounded the DeNA BayStars 17-3 and the Hanshin Tigers beat the Chunichi Dragons 4-3.

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