So long, Big Mess! Hanshin announced on the 13th that pitcher Randy Messenger (38) would be retiring at the end of this season. The man himself made the request with the team that same day, and they accepted. He struggled this season, his 10th in Japan, starting 13 games and winning three, losing seven and posting a 4.69 ERA. He injured his right shoulder in July and was on the farm but could not get desirable results in his starts during the past month, and made the decision to end his career. The plan is to have a press conference in the days to come.
So once again, the Tigers community gets rocked with some bad news. Takashi Toritani and (Senior Executive Advisor) Masayuki Kakefu will be leaving the team, and now Messenger’s retirement as a player. In his 10 seasons with the Tigers (from 2010 until present), he has been a constant in the lineup, even gaining Japanese player status, but will step down from the mound.
“‘Things aren’t going as I hoped,’ he said. He returned to America for some treatment on his shoulder in an attempt to get back to the top squad, gave it his all, but yesterday’s results weren’t there. He expressed a desire to make a clean break and shed the uniform, and we are going along with his request, all the while thankful for all of his hard work over the years.”
Vice chairman and club president Tanimoto made those comments before the game against Chunichi at Nagoya Dome on the 13th.
Messenger headed to Naruohama that morning and made his decision known to the team. Vice chairman Tanimoto was on a business trip, so a staff member in the international department talked to him. Farm manager Katsuo Hirata, who was running the farm team’s practice at Koshien that day, said “there was no talk of his next start” but nothing more. It all happened very suddenly.
His erratic pitching the day before was the clincher. In an attempt to make it back to the top squad this season, he asked if he could start in a friendly matchup against the Shikoku International League’s Tokushima Indigo Sox. However, in his five innings, he allowed 4 hits and walked 6, giving up 4 runs. During the game, there were some run-ins with the umpires and media, and he refused to talk to the press after the game as well. His frustration with himself caused the explosion, but upon returning home, he thought calmly about it and reached the decision to retire.
It was not the season anyone had in mind. He got domestic free agent rights last April and in his 10th season with the team, no longer counted against foreigner limitations. He was the Opening Day pitcher for the fifth year in a row and sixth year total, becoming the first foreigner in Japanese history to achieve the feat. On April 5th, he picked up his 100th career win (NPB and MLB combined) against the Hiroshima Carp (at Mazda Stadium). In spite of this, he really loved Japan, even adopting ramen as his favorite food, and said that “getting 100 NPB wins is really important to me.”
However, from that date forward, he only picked up two wins, getting stuck on 98 NPB wins. On July 10 at Koshien Stadium against the Giants, he lasted just two innings, giving up 4 runs, and was sent down to the farm. He felt discomfort in his right shoulder and went back to America for some treatment on July 27. He then returned to Japan on August 8 and had multiple mound appearances on the farm mound, but wasn’t able to get his best stuff back. With 100 wins out of reach this year, it seems his competitive spirit has burnt out completely.
There are plans for a press conference in the days to come, and a retirement ceremony at Koshien Stadium as well. The team will even discuss the possibility of giving him a post-retirement position. Vice chairman Tanimoto said, “He was a true samurai right until the end.” The first year of the Reiwa Era has become a history-changing one for the club.
Messenger’s Farm Mounds Since August
He made his return against the SoftBank Hawks on August 21, going three innings and allowing 2 runs on 2 hits. On the 27th against the Dragons, he allowed a run (2 hits) in 2 innings before the game was called due to rain. On September 3 against the Buffaloes he gave up a grand slam in the sixth, and ended with 6 IP 5 H 5 R on his record. Then at his request, he started the game on the 12th against the Indigo Sox in a friendly match, going 5 innings, giving up 4 hits, 6 walks and 4 runs. His frustration got the better of him, as he blew up at the umpire, the media and himself.
Data on Messenger
- * His 10 seasons with the Tigers are the most for any foreign player in team history.
- * His five year Opening Day starter streak is the longest for any foreigner in NPB history, and his 6 total are also most in NPB history. Even in club history, his 5 straight are only matched by Kei Igawa, and his six total are only matched by Masaaki Koyama and Yutaka Enatsu. His three Opening Day wins are also most by any foreigner in team history.
- * His 7 seasons of double-digit wins are more than any import in NPB history, as he topped Tai-yuan Kuo (Seibu) last year.
- * His 98 NPB wins are fifth-most in NPB history for an import.
- * His 1474 career strikeouts are most for a foreigner in NPB history.
- * His 226 strikeouts in 2014 are the most for any foreigner since the establishment of the 2-league system in 1950.
- * His stolen base attempt (and success) in the fifth inning on March 25, 2016 (Opening Day at Kyocera Dome against the Chunichi Dragons) was the first by a foreign pitcher in team history.