2011 Draft

Here is a look back at the Hanshin Tigers’ 2011 NPB Draft picks. How have their careers gone? How has the draft panned out for the team? Which other stars came out of the same draft in the same round as our guys?

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Round 1 – #51 Hayata Itoh (OF)

Highly touted as the star of Keio University’s baseball team, Hayata started his career in 2012 on the top squad, but it was short-lived. Since that time, he has struggled to prove himself (especially defensively), and as a result, has never gotten more than 172 plate appearances in a single season. He did not get a single call-up to the top squad in 2019. His 10 career home runs and .632 OPS fall well short of the hopes the team had for him.

Round 2 – #26/126/97 Hiroaki Saiuchi (RHP)

A local boy (Amagasaki, Hyogo) who played high school up in Aomori, Saiuchi made his top squad debut in September 2012. He stumbled at the start of the 2013 season, came back strong in 2014 and especially 15. From then until his release at the end of 2019, he had precious few top squad appearances. In fact, he (like a few more men on this list) even spent some time on a development player contract.

Round 3 – #33/133/93 Naoto Nishida (IF)

Nishida played on the powerhouse Osaka Toin High School team, one year before Shintaro Fujinami. Drafted as an infielder, he made just two plate appearances on the top squad in 2013. His farm track record was middling too, and he was given a development player contract at the end of the 2016 season. Despite getting re-registered on the team’s 70-man roster the next season, he was cut at the end of the 2018 season without ever getting another call-up.

Round 4 – #17/117/92 Kazuo Itoh (RHP)

Drafted out of college with high expectations, Itoh made one start in 2012, but then went downhill from there. His poor showing on the farm in 2013 led to a developmental contract, which, combined with injuries and middling performances, has limited him to just 34 total relief appearances in the past six seasons.

Round 5 – #56 Ryoma Matsuda (RHP)

Drafted out of high school, Matsuda made his debut in 2013, and alternated good and bad seasons (though all the while averaging a strikeout per inning) until the 2017 season, when he got shipped to the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in exchange for lefty Yuya Iida.

Development Round 1 – #128 Seiya Hirokami (C)

One of the first players ever to sign with the Gunma Pegasus of the BC League, Hirokami showed promise of being a power hitter, but he never made it to the top squad on the Tigers in 2012, and was cut at season’s end.

Overall Grade: F

I don’t think there’s a single angle you could look at this from and say it was anything better than an F. If Hayata can somehow stay on the top squad in 2020 and beyond, maybe we get ourselves up to a D… but that’s not looking too likely at this point.