Re: Winter/Fall/Latin/Asian/World Ball
Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2022 11:44 pm
by joez
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Grand Granma, Matanzas in doubt in Cuban baseball final Defending Champion Granma Leads Series 2-1
Granma did not believe in the arsenal of left-handed pitcher Dariel Góngora and attacked from the very first inning.
Taken from Latin Press
Tuesday, June 21, 2022 06:21 PM
Matanzas.-
Granma put on an offensive display to beat Matanzas today (10-3), took advantage of the rival's shortcomings and lead 2-1 in the finals of the 61st National Baseball Series.
In a Victoria de Girón stadium full of fans, Granma did not believe in the arsenal of left-handed pitcher Dariel Góngora and attacked in the first inning with a double by Yosvani Millán, a rocket by Osvaldo Abreu and a sacrifice fly by Carlos Benítez.
The second inning seemed calm for Góngora (1.2 INN, 4R, 4H, 12B) without his usual speed, but the visitors returned to the attack after Yulián Milan was hit by a pitched ball followed by a home run by Darién Palma batting ninth in the line up.
With the score 4-0 against Matanzas, the manager of Matanzas lost patience, took his starter out of the game and relied on the skills of the young Andy Quesada to put out the fire before more than 15,000 followers in a red-hot facility.
In the midst of the storm and far from being daunted, Matanzas countered with a series of hits: a double by Javier Camero and an base hit by Juan Miguel Vázquez opened their scoring, in an inning that included a home run by Palma to central field.
However, the Matanzas bullpen found no vindication in the third inning: Quesada (0.1, 2R, 1H, 2BB) lost control of his delivery, Naykel Cruz (0.0, 2R, 1H, 1BB) was far from dominant and Alain López threw a wild pitch that rounded off another four run rally by Granma.
Granma right-hander Joel Mojena (5.0, 3R, 6H, 0K, 0BB) was master of the situation until he exploded in the sixth inning, surrendering three runs and allowed six hits.
Mojena achieved his second win in the postseason, while Kelbis Rodríguez (4.0, 0R, 3H) picked up the save, after completing four innings without too many problems.
For the winners, Millán (5-2, 2RBI), Alexquemer Sánchez (4-1, 2RBI) and Palma (4-1, 2RBI, 1HR) stood out, while Jefferson Delgado (4-2, 1RBI, 1-2B , 1-3B) and Yadil Mujica (4-2, 1RBI) supported the Matanzas cause.
The final will experience a sui generis impasse this Wednesday , as the Alazanes de Granma, current monarchs of the country, will complete the visa process on their way to represent Cuba at Haarlem Baseball Week 2022, in the Netherlands.
RESULT
Granma 2 2 4 0 0 2 0 0 0 ..........10 9 0
Matanzas 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0.........3 7 2
Won: Joel Mojena (2-0)
Lost: Dariel Gongora (2-2)
Saved: Kelbis Rodríguez
Home run: Darien Palma
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Re: Winter/Fall/Latin/Asian/World Ball
Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2022 2:35 pm
by joez
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Matanzas ties Granma in the Cuban baseball final
In a Victoria de Girón stadium dyed red, the men led by mentor Armando Ferrer bet on the accuracy of pitcher Yamichel Pérez's delivery.
Taken from Latin Press
Thursday, June 23, 2022 06:22 PM
Matanzas.-
THE CROCODILE of Matanzas today brought out their pride and character to sink the Alazanes of Granma (5-3) and tie 2-2 the series for the crown of the 61 National Baseball Series.
In a Victoria de Girón stadium dyed red, the men led by Armando Ferrer bet on the accuracy of pitcher Yamichel Pérez's delivery (3-0) and the strength of shortstop Erisbel Arruebarena and outfielder Yoismel Camejo, authors of the home runs of the game.
Under a powerful sun, the locals opened the scoring in the first inning thanks to a hit by third baseman Jefferson Delgado and a two-run homer by "Grillo" Arruebarena (3-2, 2RBI, 1R, 1-2B, 1HR, 1BB), his second in the series.
Boosted by more than 12,000 inflamed fans in the facility, the former major league shortstop returned to battle in the fourth inning , when he doubled and scored after another double by first baseman Yariel Duque.
With the score 3-1 in the seventh inning, centerfielder Camejo (3-1, 2RBI, 1R) surprised by homering in one of the most significant hits of his career and raising the difference for his team to four.
Pitcher Pérez (7.1, 3R, 9H, 2K, 3BB), who remained undefeated in the current postseason.
To close the game, right-hander Noervys Entenza (1.2, 0R, 1H) struck out pinch-hitter Lázaro Cedeño in the eighth inning to earn his second save.
Contrary to their characteristics in the tournament, the Alazanes had 11 hits, but they were far from being productive offensively and key men like Osvaldo Abreu failed in clutch situations.
To make matters worse, right-handed starter César García (4-2, 6.1, 5R, 9H, 1BB) did not have a happy outing either, and reliever Miguel Paradelo was far from his best.
Both teams will return to the field on Friday at 2:00 p.m. for the fifth game of the final, which will return to the Mártires de Barbados park in the eastern city of Bayamo.
RESULT
Granma 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 ..........3 11 0
Killings 2 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 – ............5 10 2
Won: Yamichel Perez (3-0)
Lost: Cesar Garcia (4-1)
Saved: Noervys Entenza (two)
Home runs: Erisbel Arruebarena and Yoismel Camejo
Re: Winter/Fall/Latin/Asian/World Ball
Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2022 3:12 pm
by joez
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Matanzas reverses history and checks the king of baseball in Cuba
Not even Hollywood scripts have the drama lived in a Victoria de Girón stadium turned into a real madhouse with Muñiz's homer in the seventh inning .
JIT Drafting
Friday, June 24, 2022 07:17 PM
Matanzas.-
A SWING by the emerging Ronney Muñiz made the earth tremble and the Crocodiles of this province came out of ostracism to overcome Granma (4-2) and place themselves one step away from dethroning the king of baseball in Cuba.
Not even Hollywood scripts have the drama experienced in a Victoria de Girón stadium turned into a real asylum with Muñiz's home run in the seventh inning to the comeback.
With hardly any warm-up, the hero of Game 5 of the finals came off the bench, took a deep breath and hit right-handed reliever Kelbis Rodríguez's first pitch out of the park.
In just seconds, the homer turned history upside down and the Alazanes went from dominating the game 2-1 to trailing 2-3. Matanzas added an insurance run in the eighth to decide the game.
The chance to go from defeat to victory was real, even after the uncertain start by Matanzas pitcher Renner Rivero and the masterful pitching work of the Granma's pitcher Leandro Martínez.
Rivero's shutout disappeared in the third inning, when the Alazanes broke the spell with two hits and a walk. A double by Osvaldo Abreu, an intentional walk to Guillermo Avilés and a double by Iván Prieto and Granma took the lead 2-0..
In fact, the inning could have been worse thanks to right fielder Willian Luis's spectacular defensive play on a line drive by Pedro Almeida.
The situation overwhelmed the patience of Armando Ferrer and the manager of the Crocodiles and put an end to Rivero's performance early (2.2, 2R, 3H, 2K, 1BB, 1DB) and pinned his hopes on left-handed Naykel Cruz, one of the best pitching talents in the country.
Urged on by the fans to start the scoring, Matanzas scored a run in the fourth inning in the least imagined way: stealing home plate by Yadil Mujica, who took advantage of a mistake by the rival defense and imitated Usain Bolt until he heard the safe cry from home plate umpire Osvaldo de Paula.
For Granma, the left-handed Martínez dominated Matanzas with a stroke of mastery and exquisite control, as if to endorse the phrase that
"the devil knows more for being old than for being a devil."
The 42-year-old Martinez (1-0, 6.1, 1RC, 2H, 4K, 3BB) placed Matanzas runners on the corners, continually changed delivery angles and maintained surgical precision through 6.1 innings of work, with just two hits allowed.
However, the Granma manager decided to replace him and trust Rodríguez, who will never forget this day or Muñiz's first homer in the island's top tournament.
Cruz was the winner and for the save went to Noervys Entenza, seen as a cloth of tears for Granma and one of the candidates for the postseason most valuable player award.
Thus, with the series at 3-2 in favor of Matanzas, has a shot at revenge for the crown and will seek to finish off the defending champs next Monday at the Mártires de Barbados stadium, home of the Alazanes in the eastern city of Bayamo.
RESULT
Granma 002 000 000 2 6 0
Matanzas 000 100 21- 4 6 1
Won: Naykel Cruz
Lost: Kelbis Rodriguez
Saved: Noervys Entenza
Home run: Ronney Muniz
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Re: Winter/Fall/Latin/Asian/World Ball
Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 12:05 am
by joez
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Granma and Matanzas will define the 61 SNB in the seventh game
Third baseman Osvaldo Abreu and pitcher Yunier Castillo were the most valuable players for Alazanes from Granma.
Taken from Latin Press
Tuesday, June 28, 2022 01:49 PM
Bayamo.-
Emotions ran high. expressions of joy once again filled the province of Granma, whose inhabitants celebrated today the comeback of their team against the Crocodiles of Matanzas, in the sixth game of the 61st Baseball National Series .
Even when the Alazanes returned home trailing 3-2 in the series and needing two wins to take the series, the trust and support of the people and the coaching staff did not abandon manager Carlos Martí's team, who finally tied the series and restoring the hopes of everyone in the eastern territory.
At the end of the game with a scoreboard reading 3-1 in favor of Granma, cars sounded their horns in transit through the central streets of the city of Bayamo, while neighbors and passers-by exchanged smiles and words of congratulations and encouragement.
Let's go we win. Yeah, yeah. Boy, I'm going to El Bosque - a recreational and cultural area located in the vicinity of the Martyrs of Barbados stadium - were some of the chants that were heard between whistles and improvised congas in the neighborhoods.
The same was experienced on social networks, where fans of the Granma team, inside and outside the province, expressed their joy.
Congratulations to our courageous Alazanes for achieving the victory and taking the Series to the decisive seventh game, the provincial vice-governor Yanetsy Terry Gutiérrez wrote in her profile.
They also highlighted the signs of affection and good wishes towards pitcher Leandro Martínez, on the occasion of his birthday, in addition to the support after learning that he was designated as the starter for tomorrow.
Through your arm will flow the strength of the fans that maintains that it can be done, added Terry Gutiérrez.
Being a game divided into two days, each one was filled with emotions
Both teams threatened early - in the same first inning - as a kind of prologue to what would come later.
The calm did not last long in a Martyrs of Barbados stadium: William Luis singled.and scored on Yoisnel Camejo RBI single and the Matanzas opened the scoring in the second inning.
Minutes later and without warning, the rain broke and flooded the playin field. The organizing committee decided to suspend the game.
Finally, the resumption took place on the next day, Tuesday, at 10:30 am.
Matanzas pitcher Dariel Góngora (3.1, 2R, 4H, 2BB, 1DB) was not effective and Osvaldo Abreu (2-2, 1RBI singled to tie the game.
Under the relentless sun, an inning later the left-handed Góngora got into trouble again, after a walk to Carlos Benítez, a hit batter, and a hit by Darián Palma loaded the bases.
With the bases loaded, the Matanzas manager removed Góngora and placed his trust the hard throwing Naykel Cruz (4.2, 1R, 3H), one of the top pitching talents in the country.
Cruz released fastballs of more than 90 miles, dominated Yulián Milan, but lost control against substitute David Tamayo who walked. Carlos Benítez scored. Granma took the lead in the game 2-1.
Granma manager Carlos Martí varied his strategy: he removed Mojena (3.0, 1R, 3H, 3BB) and brought in relief pitcher Yunier Castillo.
Despite the long break, Castillo (6.0, 0C, 4H) rounded off a stellar performance and completed six innings without runs, three three hits allowed and exquisite control in his 90 pitch performance.
The Alazanes added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth, thanks to a walk to Sánchez, an infield hit by Palma, a sacrifice bunt by Milan and an error by third baseman Jefferson Delgado on a ground ball by Millán.
Third baseman Abreu (2-2, 1RBI) and the winner Castillo, were the most valuable players in the comeback.
Thus, the 61st National Baseball Series will be decided on its last day, with Granma and Matanzas ready to fight for the reign of the greatest sporting spectacle on the island.
RESULT
Game 6: Barbados Martyrs Stadium.
Matanzas 010 000 000 ..........1 7 1.
Granma 001 100 01x ..........3 7 1.
Won: Yunier Castillo (1-0).
Lost: Dariel Gongora (2-3).
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Game 6 Jun 26, 2022
Matanzas@Granma
https://youtu.be/jOpXK8AlR4E
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Re: Winter/Fall/Latin/Asian/World Ball
Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 11:36 pm
by joez
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Granma stands as Cuban baseball champion!
They defeated Matanzas 4-0 in a packed Martyrs Stadium in Barbados.
Taken from Latin Press
Wednesday, June 29, 2022 07:19 PM
Bayamo.
LOS ALAZANES of Granma today buried the odds against them to beat the Crocodiles of Matanzas 4-0 and make the comeback a reality (4-3) and once again proclaim themselves Cuban baseball champions.
In a Martyrs of Barbados stadium with standing room only, the team of manager Carlos Martí went down in history as the sixth four-time baseball champions on the Island.
Under the cry of "yes we can" that shook the stands, Martí's team came out fired up and in the first inning scored a run, after consecutive hits by Yosvani Millán and Osvaldo Abreu, Guillermo Avilés was hit by pitch and Millán scored on a double play ball by the captain Carlos Benitez.
The initial inning forced Matanzas pitcher Yamichel Pérez to exhibit his best qualities, control and confidence, to dominate without problems during the second and third innings that became a pitcher's duel between lefties, Yamichel Pérez against Leandro Martínez, a recently turned 43-year-old veteran.
However, Pérez's diminance disappeared at a snap of the fingers in the fourth inning on a home run by Avilés. The blast cleared the right field wall and Granma extended thrir advantage (2-0).
In the sixth inning, after singles by Millán and Abreu, home run hitter Avilés was hit by pitch, caused the exit of the flamethrower Pérez.
Against the ropes, mentor Armando Ferrer pinned all his hopes on right-hander Noervys Entenza to face Benítez with the bases loaded.
Entenza faced Benitez who grounded into a fielder's choice short to home. Millán scored. Ivan Prieto grounded into a fielder's choice short to home. Abreu out at home. Sanchez grounded into a fielder's choice short to second. Out at second. Aviles scored. Palma grounded into a fielder's choice second to short. Out at second for the third out of the inning. Entenza put out the fire but left a devastating score: another two runs and a 4-0 lead for Granma.
“We are the champions”, the fans repeated under a sea of umbrellas every time their players achieved a positive plays.
The sea of umbrellas came out again when the pa announcements reported: “Please maintain discipline. Do not jump onto the field at the end of the game.
The fans, in addition, chanted with each pitch by Martínez (1-0, 7.0, 0R, 5H, 1K), winner of the game after a seven-inning mound jewel, zero runs, one strikeout and five hits.
In pursuit of greater drama, a light drizzle fell on the field in the final stages of the game, a detail of nature to baptize the legitimate kings of Cuban baseball.
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Carlos Martí: The secret of the Alazanes de Granma is unity
Bayamo, Jun 29 (ACN)
The secret of the Alazanes de Granma is unity, the winning manager, Carlos Martí Santos categorically affirmed today, after his team won the crown of the LXI National Baseball Series (SNB) in this city . thus retaining the title of champions of the Cuban ball.
Fans and athletes with the desire to represent their province were also keys to success during the season, and in the grand final against the Matanzas Crocodiles, he commented to the press on the field of the Martyrs of Barbados stadium.
The field looked like a human volcano as fans erupted after the double-play on a grounder by Erisbel Arruebarrena, which was a last chance for Matanzas.
You said it was possible, when many of us saw it as very, very difficult, journalist Osviel Castro inquired, while Martí, simple and with an almost always inscrutable face, reiterated: "it's unity, it's unity," pondering the passion and dedication of the players above magic or secrets.
We lost several players to contracts abroad and other reasons, he said, but those who were in reserve came up and showed they could play, including outfielders Darián Palma Fonseca and Francisco Venecia Suárez.
He stressed that the center of the regular lineup, such as captain Carlos Benítez Pérez and catcher Iván Prieto González, deserve a trophy; and he also praised the batting performance of Guillermo Avilés Difurnó and Yulián Milan Santos.
We fought and fought, and we achieved the goal. I have great respect for the team from Matanzas and winning the sixth game gave us no security to take the title, because we knew that this seventh game was going to be difficult, among other things, because the lefty Yamichel (Pérez Hernández) pitched very well for us.
It was thus that the scoreboard was very close until we were able to plate four runs to make it a 4-0 ballgame when it was already very difficult for them to come back, taking into account the excellent way in which the veteran pitcher Leandro Martínez Figueredo came out.
Martí Santos remarked that the fans of Granma -which includes hundreds of followers beyond the provincial borders and even outside of Cuba- deserved the victory for their support at all times, since the beginning of the SNB.
The team suffered from the absences, but the people were with us until the end, he pondered.
Now millions of things go through the mind and heart of the experienced manager of the national four-time champions, but his dear mother is present in every thought, for whom, without a doubt, as he has already declared, the new championship is dedicated to her.
RESULT
Game Seven: Barbados Martyrs Stadium
Matanzas 000 000 000 ..........0 6 1
Granma 100 102 00- ...........4 7 0
Won: Leandro Martinez (1-0)
Lost: Yamichel Perez (3-1)
Saved: Cesar Garcia
Home run: Guillermo Aviles
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Game 7 Jun 29, 2022
Matanzas@Granma
https://youtu.be/1ddtj7xxRbs
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Re: Winter/Fall/Latin/Asian/World Ball
Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2022 2:16 pm
by joez
Osaka Teams Make Magic; Murakami Makes History
By Trevor Raichura
October 3, 2022
The 2022 NPB regular season was good to the last drop. We mean it. Listen to how 3rd place was decided in the Central League, how the pennant was won in the Pacific, and how a certain young man remained conspicuously absent from our updates in recent weeks, but etched his name in the books in his final at-bat of the year.
The Tokyo Yakult Swallows had the CL locked up a couple of weeks ago already, and the Yokohama DeNA Baystars had assured themselves of second place some time back as well. But there was a three-horse race for third place between the Hiroshima Carp, Hanshin Tigers, and Yomiuri Giants. The former two teams had three games left and found themselves a half-game behind the latter, who had just two games remaining. None of these were head-to-head matchups and it was entirely plausible that they would find themselves knotted together after Game 143. Also of note, because these were all make-up games and the schedule was pieced together somewhat oddly, they only played at the same time on Sunday. Anyhow… the Tigers won Tuesday and Wednesday against the Swallows, putting themselves outright in third. The Carp lost on Thursday and Friday against those same Swallows, eliminating themselves from the race. On Saturday, the Giants got blanked by the Baystars, 1-0, which knocked them out as well, since the tiebreaker would have gone to the Tigers by virtue of a 14-10-1 head-to-head record against the Giants. So although Game 143 on Sunday did not matter, it is fair to say this playoff race came down to the wire.
And so, the Tigers will roll into Yokohama this coming weekend to play a best-of-three against the Baystars. The winner of that short series will immediately find itself a game down in the best-of-seven series to be played at Meiji Jingu Stadium against the Swallows starting next week Wednesday.
If you think the CL finish was wild, you haven’t heard anything yet. The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks had won five of six games, reducing their magic number to 1 with two games to play. Meanwhile, second-place Orix Buffaloes had just one game in which to keep their pennant hopes alive. The Hawks in fact needed just a tie or better in one of their final two games. Guess what: they lost in extra innings against the third-place Saitama Seibu Lions on Saturday (Hotaka Yamakawa’s 41st home run was the dagger) after tying the game in the ninth… and then despite leading the Chiba Lotte Marines on Sunday, they served up a big home run to Koki Yamaguchi in the sixth and dropped their final game. Just minutes before the final out of their game, the Buffaloes had put the finishing touches on their come-from-behind 5-2 victory over the Rakuten Eagles, thereby tying themselves atop the standings. They win the pennant by virtue of winning the season series against the Hawks. It is the first time that two teams ended the year at the top with identical records (in this case, 76-65-2). This kind of avenges the 2014 season, in which the Hawks’ 78-60-6 (.565) eclipsed the Buffaloes’ 80-62-2 (.563) record. Ties matter – sometimes they work in your favor, other times they do not!
Therefore, the Pacific League playoffs see the Lions heading to Fukuoka for a best-of-three against the Hawks, and the winner of that series will face an 0-1 deficit in Osaka against the Orix Buffaloes in the Final Stage of the Climax Series.
Anyone out there remember Munetaka Murakami of the Swallows and the incredible season he was having through 130 games? He kind of hit a brick wall and was stuck on 55 home runs (good for a four-way tie with Sadaharu Oh, Tuffy Rhodes, and Alex Cabrera)… until tonight. In his fourth and final at-bat of the final game of the year, he hit a no-doubter into the right-field stands for his 56th long ball of the year. He ends the year just four behind the single-season record holder, former teammate Wladimir Balentien, who hit 60 in 2013. By the way, Murakami also became the youngest player ever to win the Triple Crown, at age 22 years, 8 months. He ended the regular season with a .318 average, 56 home runs, and 134 RBIs. What a year.
Re: Winter/Fall/Latin/Asian/World Ball
Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2022 2:32 pm
by joez
Baseball’s Biggest Hitters: Murakami Munetaka Joins Japan’s Triple Crown WinnersSports Oct 5, 2022
Yakult Swallows slugger Murakami Munetaka led his team to the Central League pennant this season, in the process becoming the youngest-ever baseball player to win the triple crown, leading the league in home runs, batting average, and runs batted in. He is the eighth player in Japanese baseball history to achieve the feat.
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The triple crown is one of the most revered achievements in baseball. In offensive terms, this refers to a single batter leading the league in home runs, batting average, and runs batted in for the season. In the long history of professional baseball in Japan, just eight players have snagged the triple crown, a feat only achieved 12 times in the last nine decades. Below we list the batters in this elite category, including Murakami Munetaka of the Yakult Swallows, who joined their ranks in the 2022 season as the youngest-ever triple crown holder, at just 22 years old.
Nakajima Haruyasu (autumn 1938; Tokyo Giants)
Born in 1909, this first baseman for the Giants—a team then in the Japanese Baseball League, which had launched in 1936—earned his triple crown in an era when two seasons were played each year, in the spring and the fall. He hit 10 home runs and batted in 38 runs over just 38 games in the autumn season.
Nomura Katsuya (1965; Nankai Hawks)
In 1965 this celebrated catcher won the first triple crown in the postwar era, when competition was split into the Pacific and Central Leagues. His offensive prowess was combined with prodigious talent behind the plate, where he was famed for keeping tabs on the quirks of opposing batters and signaling for the perfect pitches to get them out. He was a playing manager for Nankai in 1970–77 and went on to manage the Yakult Swallows, where his team won three Japan Series championships. He remains the only catcher ever to take a triple crown.
Nomura Katsuya was the first triple-crown holder in the postwar era. (© Kyōdō Images)
Oh Sadaharu (1973, 1974; Yomiuri Giants)
Born to a Chinese father and Japanese mother, Oh was a Japanese baseball legend, becoming the first player to win the triple crown twice while also winning 11 Japan Series rings, being named the Central League’s most valuable player nine times, and slugging his way into the history books with a world-record 868 career home runs.
Oh’s single-footed batting stance was mimicked on playgrounds throughout Japan. (© Jiji)
Ochiai Hiromitsu (1982, 1985, 1986; Lotte Orions)
This infielder won his first triple crown in 1982 at age 28, making him the youngest player to date to accomplish the feat. He would go on to take the crown two more times, becoming the only player ever to do so three times in all. He was named Pacific League MVP twice and went on to a managing career for the Chūnichi Dragons after hanging up his glove.
Ochiai and his wife Nobuko celebrate his second triple crown in 1985. (© Jiji)
Boomer Wells (1984; Hankyū Braves)
Gregory De Wayne “Boomer” Wells became the first foreign player to win a triple crown in Japan by taking the honor in 1984, when he was also named the Pacific League’s MVP.
Boomer Wells at bat. (© Jiji)
Randy Bass (1985, 1986; Hanshin Tigers)
In 1985 and 1986, when Ochiai was winning his consecutive triple crowns in the Pacific League, US slugger Randy Bass was doing the same in the Central League. In the 1986 season he marked a batting average of .389, which remains the all-time Japanese baseball record to this day.
Bass sends another ball to the stands. (© Jiji)
Matsunaka Nobuhiko (2004; Daiei Hawks)
The left-fielder Matsunaka was the only player in Japan to win a triple crown during the Heisei era (1989–2019). He was named the Pacific League’s MVP twice and also played on the world stage, taking the field for the Japanese national team at the 1996 and 2000 Olympics and the 2006 World Baseball Classic.
Matsunaka goes to bat for the Hawks. (© Jiji)
Murakami Munetaka (2022; Yakult Swallows)
Murakami’s ferocious season at the plate slowed down toward the end, but in the final regular season game, he hit his first home run in 15 games to bring his season total to 56, placing him ahead of Oh Sadaharu, Tuffy Rhodes, and Alex Cabrera (all at 55) and behind only Wladimir Balentien (60) on the single-season record list. At age 22, he is the youngest-ever triple-crown winner in Japanese baseball history.
Japanese Professional Baseball Triple Crown Winners
SeasonPlayer (Team)Batting avg. / HRs / RBIs1938 (autumn)Nakajima Haruyasu (Giants).361 / 10 / 381965Nomura Katsuya (Hawks).320 / 42 / 1101973Oh Sadaharu (Giants).355 / 51 / 1141974Oh Sadaharu (Giants).332 / 49 / 1071982Ochiai Hiromitsu (Orions).325 / 32 / 991984Boomer Wells (Braves).355 / 37 / 1301985Ochiai Hiromitsu (Orions).367 / 52 / 1461985Randy Bass (Tigers).350 / 54 / 1341986Ochiai Hiromitsu (Orions).360 / 50 / 1161986Randy Bass (Tigers).389/ 47 / 1092004Matsunaka Nobuhiko (Hawks).358 / 44 / 1202022Murakami Munetaka (Swallows).318 / 56 / 134
Re: Winter/Fall/Latin/Asian/World Ball
Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2022 4:37 pm
by joez
Baseball’s Best Young Hitter and Pitcher Play in Japan
Munetaka Murakami and Roki Sasaki are rewriting the NPB record books in their early 20s—and inspiring dreams of how great they could get
By Ben Lindbergh on September 15, 2022 6:30 am
More so than most seasons, the 2022 MLB campaign is a congeries of remarkable individual exploits. Aaron Judge is aiming for 60-plus homers and lapping both leagues in long balls. Shohei Ohtani is performing weekly two-way wonders for the second straight year. Judge and Paul Goldschmidt are contending for Triple Crowns. Albert Pujols, on the path to 700 homers, looks like his old—scratch that, young self, and Justin Verlander is angling for the lowest ERA by a qualified, 36-and-up AL/NL starter not named Cy Young. On the opposite end of the experience spectrum, four rookie position players—Julio Rodríguez, Adley Rutschman, Michael Harris II, and Steven Kwan—have cleared the four-bWAR threshold, tied for the most ever; Jeremy Peña may make it a record five. (In that event, one more strong start by Spencer Strider would bring the combined pitcher-plus-position-player total of four-WAR rookies to six, the most since 1934.) Almost every major end-of-season awards race will feature a runner-up who would win handily in many other years.
Which makes it all the more amazing that the year’s most sensational statistical feats might not come from the majors—the American majors, at least. Japan’s major leagues, known as Nippon Professional Baseball, are home to two phenoms whose accomplishments and projections compare favorably to any of their Stateside contemporaries’. Munetaka Murakami, third baseman for the Central League’s Yakult Swallows, is leading in every Triple Crown category and matching Judge homer for homer as he nears Japan’s single-season home run record. Roki Sasaki, starting pitcher for the Pacific League’s Chiba Lotte Marines, almost pitched back-to-back perfect games in April—he was pulled eight innings into the second perfect start, having retired a record 52 consecutive batters—and has exhibited unprecedented per-batter dominance overall. Going by performance relative to their leagues, Murakami is approximately peak Barry Bonds, and Sasaki is approximately peak Pedro Martínez. They’re having two of the best seasons in the nearly 90-year history of Japanese professional leagues—and they’re doing it at ridiculously early ages.
Murakami is 22 and Sasaki is 20. Their combinations of precocious skills and unparalleled production have, in the judgment of journalist Jim Allen, raised the excitement surrounding them to levels unmatched by any of the recent Japanese superstars who’ve subsequently strutted their stuff in the States. “Nobody their age has ever done anything like what they’ve done, so expectations and hype [are] through the roof,” reports Allen, who has covered Japanese baseball since the early 1990s. No league or continent qualifiers are necessary: Murakami and Sasaki are the best young hitter and pitcher, respectively, in the world. “You’re spot on with your focus on the two of them as elite under-23 players,” says a scouting director for an MLB team. “It’s so exciting to see what they’re doing.”
In breaking down what this duo have done, let’s start with Murakami, because as incredible as Sasaki has been, Murakami’s season has no equal this side of Sadaharu Oh (who holds the career home run record of 868). Put it this way: Murakami, a 2017 first-round draft pick and the 2019 Central League Rookie of the Year, won the Central League MVP award last year, when he hit .278/.408/.566 with 39 homers, played in all 143 of Yakult’s games, and posted a 167 wRC+ and 6.5 WAR (per the website NPB Stats). Yet he’s on track to be about 75 percent more valuable this year.
Murakami, who in high school was called “Higo’s Babe Ruth”—“Higo” being the former name of Kumamoto prefecture, where he was born—has posted a stat line this season that resembles Ruth’s best. The headline is that he’s hit 55 home runs, vaulting him into a four-way tie for second place on the NPB single-season leaderboard with Oh (1964), Tuffy Rhodes (2001), and Alex Cabrera (2002). Only Wladimir Balentien, who hit 60 for Murakami’s club, the Swallows, in 2013, stands above him. Murakami is on pace to break Balentien’s record, and he needs only one dinger to top Oh’s record for a Japanese-born player. As it is, his homer total matches his jersey number, which he was given when he joined the Swallows in honor of Oh’s record and of Hideki Matsui, who before Murakami was the most recent Japanese-born player to hit 50.
Murakami, who has earned a new nickname this year—Murakami-sama, or “Mura-god”—has already set some records: He became the youngest NPB player to hit 40 homers (surpassing Oh and fellow Hall of Famer Koji Akiyama) and the first to go deep in five consecutive plate appearances. And while the shorter NPB season may prevent Murakami from hitting as many homers as Judge—even though he’s proved durable again, missing only one contest—he has outpaced Judge’s tally through the same number of player games.
Like Judge, who boasts the highest single-season wRC+ by a qualified hitter since Bonds, Murakami isn’t just a homer machine; he’s an extremely well-rounded offensive player, as evidenced by his .337/.472/.761 slash line in 551 plate appearances (with 12 stolen bases to boot) and his August on-base streak of 14 consecutive plate appearances, one shy of the NPB record. Also like Judge, he’s head and shoulders above the next-biggest home run threats—though at 6-foot-2, not as literally. Hotaka Yamakawa of the Pacific League’s Seibu Lions is second in NPB with 39 round-trippers, but Murakami’s closest “competitor” in the Central League has 27, less than half of Mura-god’s total. By OPS, the closest qualified hitter is more than 250 points south.
Unsurprisingly, Murakami blisters the ball, another thing he has in common with Judge. Per DeltaGraphs, no NPB player with at least 200 plate appearances has a higher hard-hit rate, and his homers typically clear the wall with plenty of real estate to spare. “I can’t recall a single one where I’ve gone, ‘Oh man, is that going to be a homer? Oh, it just snuck out,’” says Swallows starter Cy Sneed, who joined Murakami’s team last year after pitching for the Astros from 2019 to 2020. “It’s like, ‘Oh, that ball’s absolutely crushed. How far is it going to go?’” According to team batted-ball data accessed by Sneed, Murakami hit a homer on August 26 that left his bat at 193 kilometers per hour, or 119.9 miles per hour. Since Statcast started tracking batted balls in MLB in 2015, only Giancarlo Stanton (in 2018 and 2020) and Judge (in 2017) have hit homers that hard. Granted, NPB’s TrackMan system may produce slightly different readings from Statcast, but Murakami’s dinger appeared totally tattooed.
While Oh and Matsui pulled most of their long balls—as do most prolific home run hitters—the left-handed Murakami has launched more than half of his homers to left or center. The oppo shot he hit for his 55th is indicative of his huge power to all fields, as shown in this spray chart from DeltaGraphs.
“We play in a pretty small ballpark,” Sneed says. “It doesn’t matter for him.” That checks out. Meiji Jingu Stadium, the home of the Swallows, is the homer-happiest park in NPB, but Murakawa has hit 33 of his 55 homers on the road—including seven in 44 plate appearances (and 36 at-bats) at the Chunichi Dragons’ Nagoya Dome, the least homer-friendly NPB park.
Murakami’s excellence to all fields is mirrored in his excellence against all pitch types. According to DeltaGraphs, Murakami leads qualified NPB hitters in per-pitch production against four-seamers, sliders, splitters, and cutters, while rating well above average against sinkers, curves, and changeups. Nor does he have a weak spot in or around the strike zone. As Sneed says, “I always look for, Does a guy have a hole? Does he struggle with something in, does he struggle with spin in a certain spot? … And I haven’t seen one. … It’s not like he’s just hitting the ball up or he’s just hitting the ball down or whatever, he’s covered everything. … Lefty, righty, a guy that throws soft, a guy that throws hard.” It’s true: Murakami’s heat map (displaying runs above average per 100 pitches) is red virtually everywhere. Mura-god indeed.
“What’s impressive to me is he’s doing what he’s doing in big spots against really, really good arms here,” Sneed says, citing an oppo taco Murakami hit off one of the top pitchers in Japan—and “a legit MLB arm”—SoftBank Hawks ace Kodai Senga (who’ll probably become an actual MLB arm next season). “He’s not doing it against the guy who’s mopping up in the seventh in a lopsided game. He’s doing it against dudes.” Sneed knows what he would do if he were one of the dudes who had to face his slugging teammate. “If I was pitching against him, I joke with guys on the team that I would, from the mound, be saying, ‘Hey, put him on, four [balls], put him on,’” he says. “Because there’s not a safe place to go to him.”
What makes Murakami’s monster season even more astounding is that—despite the best efforts of Murakami himself—offense is significantly down in Japan. No one knows why, but suspicions about the ball abound; the league says the ball hasn’t changed (though the packaging has), but NPB secretary general Atsushi Ihara has a history of secretly tampering with the pill’s construction. Whatever the cause(s), leaguewide OPS in the Central League is down 19 points since last season, 35 points since 2020, and 51 points since 2018. If NPB’s ball, like MLB’s ball, has been deadened, it hasn’t seemed to bother Murakami, and he’s only heated up as the season has gone on. In June, he hit .410/.515/.940 with 14 bombs; in August, he slashed .440/.588/.987 with a dozen dongs. Murakami’s 10-game rolling wRC+ chart looks like the heart rate of everyone who’s watched him. “The spotlight has grown brighter and brighter, because he really hasn’t slowed down,” says Jason Coskrey, who covers Japanese baseball for The Japan Times. Neither has his team: At 73-53-2, the Swallows sport NPB’s best record by a wide margin.
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All told, Murakami has posted a 243 wRC+, according to NPB Stats, which is tied with Oh’s 1970 season for third all time among qualified hitters—behind only Oh’s 1973 (255) and Oh’s 1966 (245). (For reference, Bonds’s 244 in 2002 is the highest in MLB history.) Murakami’s 10.3 WAR (which dwarfs 2022 also-ran Yamakawa’s 5.9) puts him on pace for 11.5, which would vault him into a tie for fifth all time—and some of the seasons in the same vicinity came before NPB ascended to its current standing as the strongest league outside of MLB. (“My research suggests that Japan didn’t reach its current [AAA-AAA+] level of play until the mid-1960s,” says analyst Eric Chalek.) According to FanGraphs’ Dan Szymborski, Murakami’s 2022 NPB output is the equivalent of a .273/.355/.574 line with 45 homers in MLB, which would tie him for fourth among qualified hitters in OPS and slot him comfortably behind Judge in the home run pecking order. “You couldn’t craft a better middle-of-the-order hitter,” Sneed says.
Notwithstanding his age, it doesn’t seem like there’s a lot left for Murakami to work on, though Sneed describes him as an upbeat, team-first type who always works hard. (“He’s there when I get there; he’s there when I leave.”) The only knock on him is that he’s a bat-first player—though it would be tough not to be a bat-first player with a bat like that. Sneed describes him as a “serviceable” third baseman who has a “pretty decent arm” and “does a fine job over there” but who’s “not going to win a Gold Glove or anything.” (DeltaGraphs’ UZR figure rates him almost exactly league average.)
One scout for an MLB team, who praises Murakami as “the total package at the plate,” says, “the question will be if he can stay at third base. He is more [Yoshi] Tsutsugo than Seiya Suzuki athlete/body type-wise, but the bat is easily ahead of both of those guys at this stage of his career. I think he could be playable in left field or profile as a bat-first third baseman in the vein of a Rafael Devers.”
Because he’s not a great glove at a premium position, Murakami doesn’t quite boast the best MLB WAR projection of any player under 23. Szymborski’s ZiPS projections put Wander Franco and Julio Rodríguez ahead of him in projected five-year WAR, though Murakami edges out other highly touted rookies such as Gunnar Henderson, Bobby Witt Jr., Nolan Gorman, Michael Harris II, and Riley Greene. But both the ZiPS and Oliver projection systems peg Murakami as the best hitter in the world under 23. Oh told The Asahi Shimbun that Murakami is “in a class of his own among today’s young players.” The legendary slugger was talking about NPB players, but bat-wise, Murakami is in his own class among any league’s young players.
“Not very long ago, Ohtani was here,” Sneed says. “That guy’s pretty good. And he wasn’t doing this.”
Admittedly, Murakami doesn’t pitch. That’s where Roki Sasaki comes in.
“Murakami is such a complete hitter … and Sasaki is just absurd,” says the MLB scouting director. “His arm was special in high school, but he was just a lean, athletic kid from the middle of nowhere in the countryside, and just figuring stuff out on his own. So for him to develop command of a full arsenal of wipeout pitches as quickly as he did … I just don’t even know. What if he keeps getting better? I don’t know what the limit is, but I can’t wait to see how far it goes.”i
Sasaki didn’t go quite far enough to top Johnny Vander Meer and seal a second straight perfecto on April 17: His manager, former NPB/MLB player Tadahito Iguchi, pulled him after 102 pitches with one inning to go so as not to overtax his arm. However, Sasaki struck out an NPB-record 19 batters in the complete perfect game—the first in NPB since 1994—including a world-record 13 in a row. Had he posted the same line in MLB, he would have been rewarded with a 106 Game Score, the highest ever. Working with an 18-year-old catcher, he threw almost exclusively fastballs and splitters (labeled as forkballs by some sources). His heater averaged roughly 99.5 mph, with some serious movement.
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Sasaki, who at an early age lost his father, his grandparents, and his home in the fallout from the Great East Japan Earthquake, went on to earn his own high school nickname (“The Monster of the Reiwa”) and break Ohtani’s high school pitch-speed record by touching 163 km/h (101.3 mph). Although MLB teams hoped to convince him to bypass NPB, he decided to stay, was drafted first overall in 2019, and signed with the Marines. In 2020, he didn’t pitch, a continuation of his high school coach’s prudent, measured use of his arm at a formative time, which broke with hard-driving tradition. Last year, the teenaged Sasaki made 11 appearances for Chiba Lotte, recording a 2.27 ERA with more than a strikeout per inning and more than four strikeouts per walk. That set the stage for a full unveiling in 2022.
“This was supposed to be the year we really saw Sasaki in the rotation for a full season, so the hype around him was already kind of like it was for Stephen Strasburg’s debut back in the day in MLB, and when Shohei Ohtani, already playing as an outfielder, started pitching for the Fighters,” Coskrey says. “Then he threw the perfect game and everything went through the roof. I think Sasaki definitely surpassed Ohtani for a brief period, especially with him coming so close to another perfect game in his next start.”
Sasaki didn’t maintain his perfect pace, but he hasn’t fallen far from it: In 123 1/3 innings, he’s dealt to the tune of a 2.04 ERA and a 1.64 FIP, pitching his home games in one of the two NPB parks that inflates scoring more than the Swallows’. Although the Marines have limited his workload—his perfect outings are the only ones this year in which his pitch count has hit triple digits—his rate stats are unsurpassed. Per NPB Stats, his strikeout rate (36.1 percent), K-BB rate (31.8), WHIP (0.795), and park-adjusted FIP (45, where 100 is average and lower is better) are all the best in NPB history for a starter with at least 100 innings accumulated. (Pedro’s FIP- from 1999 through 2003: 45; Jacob deGrom’s since 2018: 50.) According to DeltaGraphs, his four-seamer has averaged 98.4 mph (nearly 2 1/2 mph faster than second-place Senga’s), and his slider and curve are also fastest in class. He trails 24-year-old Orix Buffaloes ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto—the only regular starter who has a speedier splitter—for the NPB WAR lead by barely half a win, even though the also-elite Yamamoto has thrown almost 50 more frames.
Sasaki “has electric stuff,” the MLB scout says, saluting his “easy 100 mph fastball with the best forkball in Japan” and “advanced fastball command.” Sneed, scout, and stats alike say that Sasaki’s curve and slider, which he’s thrown a combined 10 percent of the time, are still works in progress, as are (the scout adds) “some of the subtleties of the position, such as holding runners and fielding his position.” But, the scout concludes, “if he keeps progressing, he will be the highest-ceiling pitcher to come out of Japan since Darvish and Ohtani.”
ZiPS is unequivocal: Sasaki projects to be by far the best of the thin crop of current under-23 pitchers over the next five years.
ZiPS-Projected 5-Year WAR, Under-23 Pitchers
NAME WAR
NAME WAR
Roki Sasaki 18.5
Grayson Rodriguez 10.4
Hunter Greene 10.1
Kyle Harrison 9.8
Matthew Liberatore 8.9
Reese Olson 8.6
Reid Detmers 8.5
Eury Pérez 8.5
Taj Bradley 7.9
Joey Cantillo 7.6
“Japan’s majors are not as deep as America’s for a variety of reasons,” Allen says, “but that is no proof that the best player in Japan can’t also be the best player in the world. It’s just harder to compare them.” Murakami and Sasaki are so superlative, though, that their overseas counterparts are the ones who suffer from the comparison.
Last year, Sasaki surrendered his first pro home run to—who else?—Murakami:
In their next matchup, later in the same game, Sasaki seized the upper hand with a swinging strikeout:
That thrust and counter may have marked the start of decades of one-upmanship. In this year’s All-Star Game, the two tangled again, and Murakami singled off Sasaki. The two players smiled: Game recognized game, as historic seasons intersected like ZiPS passing in the night.
The obligatory question, of course, is when those ships could cross the Pacific and meet in the American majors. The unavoidable answer is that it’s going to take a while, a consequence of the two players’ youth.
To qualify as an international free agent—which the 29-year-old Senga could become this winter—an NPB player needs nine years of service, which Murakami and Sasaki are nowhere near. What’s more, MLB’s CBA dictates that international players who are younger than 25 or have less than six years of service are subject to the international bonus pool system. Even if Murakami or Sasaki could convince their NPB teams to post them before they clear those thresholds, the players would make a tiny fraction of what they’re worth, as Ohtani did when he signed with the Angels before his age-23 season. Moreover, their NPB teams would receive meager compensation for letting them go. In other words, Murakami and Sasaki are NPB players for the long haul.
How long? Although Sasaki’s status as a coveted draftee likely gave him the leverage to work out an arrangement whereby Chiba Lotte would post him when he wants to go, Allen estimates that Sasaki won’t enter MLB until 2027, a few months after his 25th birthday. He envisions Murakami crossing over at the same time, as he embarks on his age-27 season (like Seiya Suzuki this year). Coskrey says he could see Murakami making the leap sooner, in the next three to four seasons, though he also expects Sasaki’s transition to take five or six. So, settle in for a protracted wait.
But don’t sleep on Sasaki and Murakami until then. Baseball excellence doesn’t have to happen here for it to wow us. It should be blowing us away today, even as Judge and Ohtani turn our heads at home.
In Japan, Murakami and Sasaki are making heads spin. But they’re also changing minds—and, perhaps, reflecting shifts in training and development that have already begun. “I think they are proof of changes in Japan opening up to children’s potential more and letting their talent flow rather than trying to sculpt it into its final form at a young age,” Allen says. “There is more knowledge about weight training, nutrition, and rest, and more coaches willing to protect young stars and not turn them off baseball by being 20th-century-throwback hard-asses.” Sasaki, who’s been handled with conspicuous care by both his high school and NPB teams—with his participation and support—has become a case study in how to take the long view with a promising pitcher in a nation where young arms have often been abused. “The Japanese game is more cognizant of pitchers’ health and development than before,” says Coskrey, who also credits Yu Darvish for spreading this gospel. If that patience pays off, generations of pitchers could reap the rewards. (Unless the main lesson learned from Sasaki is that it helps to throw really hard.)
Meanwhile, the Swallows (led by manager and former NPB/MLB player Shingo Takatsu) have encouraged Murakami to let it eat. Sneed notes that in NPB, “Everybody’s not trying to do damage like they are in the States.” There’s more small ball, and more hitters prioritize putting the ball in play, which leads to less power and fewer strikeouts. Murakami is far from an all-or-nothing hitter, but he does swing for the fences—all of the fences. “He’s the outlier here,” Sneed says. “He has more of the American-style approach, trying to drive the ball at all times.”
And in contravention of collectivist-cliché norms, the stars have sometimes talked the talk after making fans gawk and supplying the sock. Although Allen says that both Sasaki and Murakami “have been frequent visitors to the ‘I’m glad the team won, this isn’t about me’ neighborhood,” Coskrey notes that “neither has really downplayed what they are doing,” adding that Murakami “is pretty confident and it’s not hard to see.” In his August 2 “hero interview”—a term for the postgame, sideline debrief that MLB should adopt—Murakami admitted, “I thought it would be cool if I hit five in a row, so I went up looking for a home run.” He has also acknowledged that he’s hoping to set the single-season record and win the Triple Crown. “I think there definitely is a lot of that, ‘We’re all pulling together on the same rope’ kind of thing,” Sneed says. “But I also think at the same time, the best way for him to pull on the rope is to hit 60 homers.”
Not much rope remains in the 143-game season, so board the bandwagon now. Maybe Murakami and Sasaki are the future of NPB and MLB. But their present is pretty special too.
Thanks to Dan Szymborski, Kazuto Yamazaki, and Brian Cartwright for research assistance.
