Tora (虎) = Tiger
Kichi (キチ) = short for kichigai (気違い) = lunatic
We are…
Episode 009: H-TEN Awards 2020
Here we are at the end of a shortened (but extra-long) 2020 regular season, my man. The Tigers finished 7 games over .500 (60-53-7), which after the disaster 2-10 start, is not bad. We actually kept up with the Giants in the final 90% of the season! In a few words, what are your thoughts on the 2020 season?
It definitely looked longer than usual but I’m glad it happened. Overall, this season helped people all over the world to have some joy besides what was going around them. Although starting super slow and getting hit hard by some critical injuries and covid cases, this Tigers team showed a lot of improvement and I’m hopeful for next season.
Spoken like a true Tigers fan… hopeful for “next season” is the annual cry of the sadist. But as I have pointed out in the past, this team is following a very clear trend since the start of the two-league era…
1950s → No championships
1960s → Two pennants in three years, no Nippon Ichi
1970s → No championships
1980s → One Nippon Ichi
1990s → No championships
2000s → Two pennants in three years, no Nippon Ichi
2010s → No championships
2020s → We’re due for a Nippon Ichi
True story man but hey, I do think this team can excel under Akihiro Yano. We’re climbing the ladder each year under his wings and the next step is to win it all.
We have not had this many solid pieces in place (fielders, starters, etc.) in a long time. If the guys who have solidified their spots in the lineup can step it up even more, plus one or two more guys break out, look out! This team will be really strong.
And by being solid I mean stepping up on the defense big time! We really need to become better in this regard. The offense has already improved and can be better but we can’t be the number one team when it comes to errors.
Yeah, I hear ya. We’ll talk about that a little later, I’m sure. Alright man, let’s get into the purpose of this episode — the handing out of hardware to various players for their accomplishments… and perhaps we’ll hand out a few steaming turds to the guys we think need to step up or ship out in 2021! Let’s start with…
Hitter of the Year
Most certainly Yusuke Ohyama. He’s our HR king and has fought until the end for the Central HR title. He still needs to work on his approach at the plate but despite that, he’s my hitter of the year.
Then it’s unanimous. Obviously when a guy starts the year on the bench but still swats double the homers that he did the previous year, all while improving his average and even his defense (which is not this category), you have to be impressed. It took me a while to come around on him, but you’re right. His approach at the plate needs work at times, but I even see growth in his “first-pitch-swing” thing because towards the end of the season, he was selective about when he did it. I mean, he went 23-62 (.371) with 5 homers on first pitch… so we can’t really fault him there.
And let it be known that he accomplished that in less than a 120 games (as said previously) which is really impressive. I wonder how it’s gonna be next year in a full 143-game-season.
Yeah, it will be interesting for sure. Just for everyone’s reference, here is his line, plus a video highlight of our pick for best hitter.
Starting Pitcher of the Year
Yuki Nishi. He has proven more and more that he’s most definitely our most reliable starting pitcher. He and Umeno make the perfect battery and you can tell that they have built pretty good chemistry which reflects on the outcomes of the outings.
He gave up quite a few home runs this year, which was quite alarming… but there is little-to-no doubt as to who our Opening Day pitcher will be in 2021, and yeah, his last name is Nishi. The thing is, we have solid four starters (Nishi, Aoyagi, Akiyama, Takahashi) that we can pencil in for next season, and that doesn’t include a certain tall lanky guy who will win one of the awards below, no doubt.
You have a point there that needs our attention for sure. This year was very atypical when it comes to giving up homers and it really made a difference in close games. Regardless, he’s our ace and 2021 opening day starting pitcher without a doubt.
Yep. He posted a career-best ERA and was in the race for best in the CL until his final start of the year, which was pretty awful. Just the same, his line here tells you all you need to know: he’s good. Real good. And we’re glad he signed with us in the 2018 offseason.
Relief Pitcher of the Year
This one is gonna be a hard one because I have two names in my sleeve and to me they all were really impressive but after further consideration, I’ll have to say that Robert Suarez is my reliever of the year. He had some rough outings at the beginning of the season but he was able to adjust and never looked back. He was that good this year that he even caught the attention of a few MLB teams.
Yeah, there was a crazy stretch there in which he was unhittable… and as much as I want to agree with you here, we have to be divided on some of these, right? Which is why I’m going to pick Suguru Iwazaki, who went 18 games without giving up a run, and ended with an ERA of under 2.00 despite being the one to give up the crippling home run in Game 1. He is an often-overlooked man in the bullpen, and without Kyuji and Nohmi next year, he has to take on a veteran role moving forward.
I don’t blame you for picking up Iwazaki ‘cause that was my second choice hands down. I agree with you when it comes to being overlooked because he definitely is! It doesn’t matter the situation, if it’s a jam or if we need the guy to eat some innings, when you need a reliable reliever, your guy is Iwazaki.
If both guys come back in 2021, then ⅔ of the new JFK is in place. Maybe we miraculously get K. Itoh and Tanigawa to perform and we have I(toh)T(anigawa) I(wazaki)S(uarez) (OVER)! Anyways, here are the two guys’ numbers so you can see just how good they both were in their own respect.
Defender of the Year
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Surprise Player of the Year
You remember when you mentioned a certain tall lanky guy while discussing Nishi? Well, by now you probably know who we are talking about right? If you thought about a name that starts with the letter “F” and ends with “ujinami” you’re right! Just so you have an idea of how big of a surprise this guy was, imagine every single time that he would show up, Koshien would go crazy. Not just that but every time he would pitch, you could expect something around 100 mph or more on the gun and guess what? With a lotta control to it. If you’re not surprised by that, I don’t know what else will surprise you.
How good was Shin-chan after the Corona call-up (September 25), you ask? 30 ⅓ IP, 21 H, 17 BB, 0 HBP, 4 ER, 37 K and a 1.19 ERA.
Just sensational! For a moment I even forgot that corona incident and all the rumors prior to that.
Thanks to you giving this award to him, I’m going to throw you and everyone else a curveball. Kosuke Baba, anyone? I had zero expectations for him and he came through and filled a void in the bullpen that allowed us to hold on in some games. Let’s not kid ourselves: he did not have an all-star year or even a full stretch that was lights-out… but this gives us one more weapon in the bullpen (or rotation if he surprises us again next year), and that’s never a bad thing. See, I always had high hopes for Shin-chan, and while his return to dominance surprised me, Baba shocked me even more.
Disappointing Player of the Year
This next guy was a huge let down to me. Probably Sato will be the answer next year in RF, so if you’re thinking about Yoshio Itoi, you’re right. I don’t even know where to start. It’s almost like he doesn’t want to be there anymore. No energy, not focused, completely lost. I expected so much from him and all I can say is that I’m pretty disappointed based on his performances from previous years.
It’s pretty easy to pick on Itoi, and I would have chosen him if you hadn’t. But there are just too many candidates here to both agree on this award. Two guys made me wonder, “Do you even want to keep playing into your 30s? Because you sure aren’t showing hunger despite your potential.” Fumiya Hojoh and Shun Takayama are guys who need to do better with the chances they are given. I also have a pitcher I wonder what happened to, but since Atsushi Mochizuki is still quite young and really hasn’t established himself yet, it’s hard to call his season truly disappointing, so I’ll cut him some slack.
I would say Takayama is much more of a let down than Hojoh. Back in 2016, Takayama was considered our prospect of the future. So much hype on the guy, he was on every magazine cover. Hojoh never got to that level, I think. We had expectations since Toritani was stepping down but then Itohara came right after and kinda raised that level of concern if he would really step up to be our next SS. Btw, should we even talk about Egoshi?
To me, Egoshi is a player whose breakout I dream of, but he has never really done much beyond a magical month at the start of 2016. But all of these guys’ days are numbered moving forward… plenty of guys younger than them have shown more promise, and we keep on drafting new players that they also will have to out-perform in order to get playing time moving forward.
Promote This Farmer!
There’s no other guy that gets me more excited to get called up than Junya Nishi. I used to love to watch him pitch at the Koshien tournament and I just can’t wait to see him in action for the Ichi-gun.
I think I gotta go with the #2 draft pick, Kouta Inoue, who hit 9 homers in his first season on the farm. The kid is still… a kid! But yeah, he gives me hope of an unbelievable talent on this team in years to come. He and Ohyama in the cleanup slots is going to make this team fearsome for opponents’ pitchers.
I know you’re not alone in this. From what I’ve seen based on the card market (his signed rookie card can get to 98,000 yen easy), Inoue has been the most hyped player on the farm. If there’s one guy that people want to see more than anything at Nishinomiya, this guy is Inoue.
Honestly, the farm boys’ numbers, on the whole, were pretty lame this year, with the team finishing comfortably in last place and there being few signs of power or speed… so yeah, this one was a pretty easy decision.
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