Tora (虎) = Tiger
Kichi (キチ) = short for kichigai (気違い) = lunatic
We are…
Episode 006: Midseason Report Card
We are at exactly the midway point of this season, Zorny! It’s been a fun one, filled with ups and downs, drama, and of course, losses to the Giants. How are you holding up, man?
I caught myself thinking about this the other day and I remember seeing this Tigers team in the very beginning and wishing the season could be over as soon as possible due to a very poor start but, of course, things changed and the team showed a lot of improvement. By the end of the day, one thing I’ll never learn is to sit back and enjoy the ride. It’s a long season (I keep telling myself that) and anything can happen. So far, I’m content.
Cool, bro. Yeah, I have not enjoyed the rollercoaster so much — what I mean is, the highs are really high, but the inclinations are just too steep! That having been said, I do love NPB and the Tigers, and I don’t know if anything will ever change that.
The rollercoaster analogy is on point. I feel the same.
Well man, I want to do something today that I have done in the past, but this time with another torakichi in tow. Let’s take a look at each of these players and break down our thoughts on them based on how they did in Games 1-60. You get the first word, mate. Let’s start with our ace.
Yuki Nishi
Shaky start. Needs to work on his command I should say. B
His 11 homers against are a huge concern but his 10/11 QS are reassuring. He’s also got the #3 ERA in the CL. A-
Koyo Aoyagi
Unpredictable. When he starts, it’s really hard to tell if he’s gonna have a good or bad outing. C
That having been said, he has not had any total disasters other than the one against Hiroshima at Kyocera Dome (3 IP 6 R). I’m bullish on him. B+
Takumi Akiyama
Average. He’s not been able to go that deep in games but overall he gives us a chance to stay in the game. C
How he gets by with so little velocity for a man of his size, I have no clue, but he looks like he’s settled in halfway between his dominant 2017 and his disastrous 2019. C+
Onelki Garcia
Grinder. I love this guy’s passion and he has pitched better than last year. He probably found his groove and showed a lot of improvement. C+
If he can reel in that control a little bit (ranked #2 in the CL in walks given), I would be a huge fanboy. He’s better than he was last year but still not what he could be. C+
Shintaro Fujinami
Fujinami has improved a lot and I’m glad that he’s going after guys once again. This is the old Fujinami that we all know. At the same time, the new Fujinami still shows sometimes struggling with command and creating messes. B+
Dude! I am still not convinced until he can do it for an entire game, which he has done once in his six starts, but yeah, he is probably operating at 2016-level now. Needs to be better. C+
Haruto Takahashi
Comebacker. When he’s on, he’s on! I really look forward to every game he’s pitching. My only concern is that runners seem to get in his head too much and he starts to put himself into unnecessary jams. A+
I love this pitcher – future ace material for sure! How he holds up the rest of the way is key because he has not stayed healthy in his first three seasons now. A-
Robert Suarez
Heat. Suarez seems to have things under control now but when he’s shaky, he’s gonna give you a heart condition. B
And that’s the keyword – control. When he walks guys, trouble lurks around the corner. But he’s got lightning stuff and has filled in admirably as closer. A
Suguru Iwazaki
He’s the guy that we’ll get into games in the most random situations but usually to keep us in the game. Steady guy overall. C
Hasn’t been as unhittable as last year, and I’m worried that fatigue is a factor after being leaned on so much since 2018. B-
Kosuke Baba
The passion is there, the velocity is there but he needs to work on his control. If he manages that, he will be an amazing reliever. D
When he throws his offspeed stuff for strikes, his fastball comes to life, too. Like you said, control is his biggest problem. C+
Joe Gunkel
Groundballer. I don’t really expect him to strike out anyone ‘cause his stuff will make batters hit grounders all the way which is totally fine. Showed us that he’s super reliable. B+
Hoping he gets another shot in the rotation, if not this year then next – his game seems to fit NPB well, and I like what I have seen out of him! B+
Atsushi Nohmi
Just like Iwazaki, he’s gonna be there in any given situation. Good old Nohmi can eat innings like no other and still very reliable. C
His K rate is still outstanding but he has given up a bunch of untimely home runs (they’re pretty much all untimely at the end of games, I know…) D+
Yuta Iwasada
Needs to do better. He was moved to the bullpen for a reason. Expect him to eat a lotta innings when starters can’t get out of early innings. D
He’s now thrown in relief 8 times this year, and never gone over 1.1 innings… I honestly do not enjoy watching him work because he’s really slow and lacks the control to get out of innings quickly. Yawn. D
Kyuji Fujikawa
Hasn’t found his groove at all this season which was a big let down being demoted twice. Love the guy and is sad to see him struggling so much. D
I cannot believe he is retiring — I honestly expected him to continue to defy father time. His performance this year has been awful, but if he comes back, I think he’ll knock that ERA down a few notches. D-
Bullpen (The Remainder)
They really need to step up and show some work. High expectations on Ogawa after a good preseason but overall, all the guys need to do better. Don’t even get me started on Tanigawa. F
Agreed. There’s a reason I bunched them together like this… but actually, Mochizuki showed promise until his implosion against the Carp a few weeks back. F
OK, on to the fielders/hitters!
Ryutaro Umeno
Umeno is still our number 1 catcher for a reason. Still massive on defense, throwing guys at 2B and a pretty consistent batting on offense. A
He is our team MVP in my opinion – he’s done everything well, including leading our starters to the best ERA in the CL, plus his bat has played well again this year. A+
Justin Bour
Lots of ups and downs. He’s a power hitter, I get it but he needs to find a better rhythm. At some point he was batting over .300 and now he’s down to .245. B+
I don’t mind that average, but I’d like to see him explode in the second half and bring his home run total up to 30 total (12 now). B
Kento Itohara
I miss this guy and our offense most definitely felt that by the time he had to leave the lineup. Our run production got ice cold and struggled to find a solution. Great defense and still batting .310. A+
He’s so crucial in so many ways – fits in the lineup nicely in that #2 slot, plays sound defense, leads the troops well. Glad he’s already playing on the farm. A
Seiya Kinami
When it comes to SS, he’s our go-to guy. Defensively he’s huge but needs to show more on offense. B-
Agreed. So much more reliable at short in 2020 than he was in 2019… but yeah, could use a little more at the plate. B-
Yusuke Ohyama
Has to live up to the hype. We all know that he can hit but he needs to be more clutch. He needs to bring his game up when it matters and it’s all about being able to work under pressure which right now he’s under performing. Can’t complain on defense. B-
He is so much more than he was last year, and yet you’re right — we all want him to be even better. He’s not a superstar yet, so we fans gotta keep hoping! Also needs consistency… B
Other Infielders (Ueda, Hojoh, Obata, Kumagai, Yohkawa, Uemoto, Marte)
Yohkawa has been a surprise. He’s been way more clutch than Ohyama and it’s cool to see. Don’t see Hojoh having any playing time soon. He has a lot to prove and unless Kinami gets hurt (knock on wood), he’ll be a forever pinch-hitter. Ueda and Kumagai are our official pinch-runners and even though getting some time on the field, don’t really see them taking any starting roles. Same thing to Uemoto. He will have to do way better than the youngsters to be able to be out there which I really don’t see happening. Huge expectations on Obata and so far, he’s filling Itohara’s role defensively just fine. Needs to find his thing on the batter’s box but that will come. Hope Marte gets better soon ‘cause I can’t wait to see him crushing those balls. D
Surprises: Obata. As expected: Yohkawa, Ueda, Kumagai. Disappointments: Hojoh, Uemoto. Get Well Soon: Marte. D+
Koji Chikamoto
A little disappointed at first but he’s getting there. He’s seeing the ball better and he’s way more confident which we’re glad all to see. The last thing we wanted was to see another Takayama-one-year-wonder-like bust. B+
Extrapolate his numbers into a 143-game season and he is mostly what he was last year, but with two exceptions: much better K:BB ratio and improved range and ability on defense. A-
Jerry Sands
I’m loving to see this guy play. He started pretty cold but now he’s delivering like no other. He has fully adjusted to the NPB and that due to something that we’ve been preaching all along for the past 4 years. Be patient and give the gaijins some time to adjust. Boom! A+
Pobody’s nerfect but next to Umeno, this guy’s our MVP. Would like to see him hit better with the bases empty, but outside of that, love his game, including defense and base running for a man of his size. A
Yoshio Itoi
Huuuuge disappointment. This is definitely not his year. Don’t even know how he still manages to stay in the lineup. C-
No more power, no more speed, awful defense, not clutch. All he’s got going for him is selectivity at the plate. D-
Other Outfielders (Fukudome, Takayama, Egoshi, Nakatani)
Fukudome is also not having a good year. He started kinda hot with his ni-gun-ichi-gun routine but then it went downhill pretty fast. Can’t tell if he’s gonna last longer. Takayama, Egoshi and Nakatani all need playing time to deliver. There’s no way otherwise. I have faith in all of them but they need to be out there playing. D
No one is good enough to bump Itoi out of the starting lineup. ‘Nuff said. I think these guys have all been given enough chances over the past 3 years. I will say, Takayama didn’t get enough starts this year, but other than that, this group is a shaky D-
Akihiro Yano
I think Yano is doing a good job overall. He knows the players more than anyone in the organization due to his time with the ni-gun team so he knows what everyone can bring to the table. I still think he needs to know better when to pull pitchers out of games but I understand that he’s probably trying to give pitchers the chance to make up for their own mess which we all know that it can be very problematic. A-
I’m a lousy evaluator of talent, and I don’t always agree with Yano’s decision-making, but I’m a scrub. What I DO like is how he treats his players, how he addresses the media, and how he cares about the happiness of the fans as well. To me, that makes him a huge asset at the helm of this organization. A
Man, I never get tired of talking about the Tigers. I hope people enjoy reading our thoughts, and either nod their heads or palm their foreheads as they go through our lineup with us. This was fun!
Me neither. To be able to dissect each player’s performance and analyse how the team is faulting and improving is for sure one of the funnest parts of talking Tigers baseball.
Definitely. I hope the team can take advantage of the fact that it has a lot more home games left than road games. We need to push forward and make the second half stronger than the first half, if we want any chance at sipping champagne in November.
Don’t look now but Itohara and Edwards are set to come back for the second half and I fully believe that we can be as strong as ever pushing for 1st place. Champagne bottles popping are already on mind already lol.
Well everyone, hope you enjoyed! Stay tuned because we’ll be back in a few weeks’ time with Episode 007 of Two Talkin’ Torakichi!