Hey everyone. This depth chart is especially for those who are new to the Hanshin Tigers, or are wondering what the team looks like this year before the season starts. I’m hoping to update this and post a new one around the all-star break.
There have been a few changes since last season, such as Takashi Toritani moving over to second (where he and his streak have forced Hiroki Uemoto down the depth chart), Kento Itohara moving into the starting role at shortstop (now that Yamato is with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars), and Yusuke Ohyama is free to play his natural position instead of being a stopgap at first. Speaking of first, Wilin Rosario is of course new to the Tigers, and is a very welcome addition!
The outfield remains mostly the same as last season, but so far this spring, Shun Takayama has looked more like his 2016 self, and Masahiro Nakatani has looked like a shadow of his 20-home run hitting self. And when one of the older guys needs to rest his legs, Shunsuke is a capable fill-in, and even a threat to bump both of the above guys from the center field spot.
The starting rotation is worrisome (particularly Shintaro Fujinami and Yuta Iwasada), but besides the guys listed on this list, there are also potential starters in Yuya Yokoyama, Daichi Takeyasu, newly acquired Yosuke Okamoto, and last season’s top two draft picks, Kosuke Baba and Haruto Takahashi. We also tend to forget about him, but veteran Minoru Iwata has the experience to fill in when the need arises.
The bullpen, solid as it was last year, has some question marks. The biggest of these is: Can the guys who worked 60+ games last season be counted on to do the same this year? My answer is: no. But hopefully they won’t have to. And the good news is, new import Diego Moreno has looked really good so far. Not to mention, Tsuyoshi Ishizaki had a fairly light workload last year, but also has the skills to dominate from the bullpen. He was, after all, named to the Samurai Japan squad earlier this spring!
For the record, the “disabled list” is actually our “development players” who are currently ineligible for top squad action. The template I use does not allow me to change those words.
Stay tuned, as this will probably be a busy week for H-TEN! Previews, forecasts, podcast, and anything else I can fit into my schedule!