It is that time of year again. After welcoming in 9 new guys via the draft, the team has to part ways with roughly the same number of men. At present, only one will be retiring, while the rest are likely to be looking for work elsewhere. And for a couple of these, that “elsewhere” might be outside the land of the rising sun. Here is a chart (which will be updated as news stories develop) of the men who were Tigers in 2020 but will be no more:
| Name | Age | Position | Announced on | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kyuji Fujikawa | 40 | RHP | 8/31 | Will retire, join front office as Special Assistant |
| Kosuke Fukudome | 43 | OF | 11/6 | Signed with Chunichi |
| Atsushi Nohmi | 41 | LHP | 11/6 | Signed with Orix (player/coach) |
| Hiroki Uemoto | 34 | 2B | 11/6 | Announced retirement 12/21 |
| Hayata Itoh | 31 | OF | 11/4 | Will try out for other teams |
| Taichi Okazaki | 37 | C | 11/4 | Future undecided |
| Yuya Yokoyama | 26 | LHP | 11/4 | Announced retirement 11/27 |
| Keisuke Takano | 28 | RHP | 11/4 | Will try out for other teams |
| Shungo Fukunaga | 26 | RHP | 11/4 | Will try out for other teams |
| Onelki Garcia | 31 | LHP | Unofficial | Left Japan on November 8 |
| Justin Bour | 32 | 1B | 11/20 | Left Japan on November 7 |
| Hiroya Shimamoto | 27 | LHP | Unofficial | Tommy John surgery; development contract |
| Hiroto Saiki | 22 | RHP | Unofficial | Elbow surgery; development contract |
| Yen-Ching Lu | 24 | LHP | Unofficial | Future undecided |
Kyuji Fujikawa
There is not much to say about this man, except that which you already know. He is the greatest closer in team history, and will end his career with the second-lowest ERA in club history, plus he will finish in 7th in strikeouts – not bad for someone who only started 19 games his entire career. You can forget about his bad stint in the majors and his rough return to Hanshin in 2016. The man was lights-out from 2005-13 and 2017-19. Somehow, father time caught up with him this year. Injuries piled up. And so, one of the game’s greats (and an outstanding human being, from what I gather) is joining the H-TEN Legendary Players section.
Kosuke Fukudome
You may remember him best for his dominance with the Chunichi Dragons at the start of the century. Or perhaps his presence on Samurai Japan during the first two World Baseball Classics. Or his outstanding start with the Chicago Cubs. But we Tigers fans know a good captain, a clutch individual, an outstanding outfielder, and frowner at umps. He started and ended a little meekly with Hanshin, but if you look at 2015-18, he was about as dependable as anyone else on the team during that stretch. He is looking to keep playing somewhere, and rumor has it the Dragons are interested, but we will simply enshrine him in the MLB + Hanshin section of our site.
Atsushi Nohmi
Most teams would have been happy to have this man as their ace last decade. He was essentially that for Hanshin, though the team was also blessed with Randy Messenger, who took on that responsibility for most of Nohmi’s best years. Still, his years in the rotation are what kept him around in the bullpen the last three seasons. He is a solid 9th in all-time wins, 4th in strikeouts, and will always be welcomed home after he retires… but he is hoping to extend his career elsewhere. He could, in fact, still provide solid depth in some other team’s bullpen for another year or two, but his penchant for giving up home runs (6 in 23.2 IP in 2020 after just 10 in 100+ IP in 2018-19) meant that too many games were given away in later innings. Nohmi will also have a place on H-TEN (Legendary Players) as long as the site remains up.
Hiroki Uemoto
Oh, oh, Hiroki. We will miss your pint-sized body. We will always remember Messenger holding you like his bride on the hero’s podium. We will miss the pop in your bat. We will forever wonder “what if” after your unbelievable start to the 2018 season. But we will also, unfortunately, remember your injuries and occasional defensive blunders. Still, 522 career hits is pretty impressive, and your 94 career stolen bases brings you close to the top 10 in team history. Hope you find employment elsewhere in NPB and have a couple more exciting years left in you. Just go easy on us when we come to town.
Hayata Itoh
Not a ton to say about a former #1 draft pick who has not been called up to the top squad in 2 years, whose defense was legendarily bad, whose few moments of excitement were blips on the radar when compared to all the black holes in his career. Keio University hoped for more from him, and so did Hanshin. There is no telling what he will do next — at least, no one knows just yet.
Taichi Okazaki
Forever a back-up catcher, except for that one season (2016) in which he was Opening Day catcher for Messenger. And then there were a couple of magical games in 2017, which included his first (and only) home run, plus a walk-off hit against the Fighters. That is all. Wishing him well in his next endeavor.
Yuya Yokoyama
Another first-rounder who did not pan out. His few starts in 2015-17 looked good, but tended to be followed by lengthy spells of injury or else a mediocre start or two that scared him back to the farm. After two years on a developmental contract, he finally got back to double-digits in late 2020, but squandered his one top-squad chance. His numbers looked good on the farm, but the team simply ran out of patience. He will likely aim to continue his career elsewhere, although he has not publicly declared this anywhere.
Keisuke Takano
Hanshin and Chiba Lotte tried to revive the careers of a couple of young relievers at the start of 2019 when they swapped parts (we sent Tsuyoshi Ishizaki to them and got Takano). Neither has lived up to his potential, and after 4 top-squad games last season and none this year, the Tigers have decided to part ways with Takano. He will try to resume his career elsewhere as he attends the league tryouts this offseason.
Shungo Fukunaga
Fukunaga was a low draft pick in 2016 and has struggled to make it up to the top squad and stay there. He’s gotten a cup-o-coffee every season, but only stuck around for 3 games at most, and his 17.00 career ERA during these 4 years make him expendable. I will forever remember being at his pro debut on May 6, 2017. If you were there, so will you. If you weren’t, you missed a doozy. (He’s not in the video clip because he’s responsible for much of the mess you see on the left side of the scoreboard.)
Onelki Garcia
One of the most energetic, joyful players I have ever seen on the Hanshin Tigers. Love his presence on the bench. On the mound, he has failed to impress. After putting up 13 wins and a 2.99 ERA with the Dragons in 2018, he has gone just 8-14 with an ERA around 4.50 with Hanshin in the last two seasons. The team has not made his dismissal official, but nearly every media outlet has reported it as though it’s happened. You’ll be able to read more about him when we release his profile this offseason in the Imports Year by Year section of the site.
Justin Bour
You will also be able to read more about Bour in that same section… which is to my dismay that his profile will have to be moved over so soon. Bour came to the team with much fanfare, as the media continually talked about his 92 MLB home runs and how he will surely be the second coming of Randy Bass. Bour carried that cross all season long, and though he started the year 0-18, he came into his own and really started adjusting well. His 17 home runs and 45 RBIs could not justify his 275-million yen salary, though, especially in a pandemic-ruining season. Most fans want to see him back for another season, and we can only hope that somehow it happens, but right now, all signs point to his premature removal from the roster.
Only a brief blurb alerted me to the fact that Shimamoto underwent Tommy John surgery in recent days, and will likely spend all of 2021 rehabbing. It is highly possible that the soon-to-be-28-year-old will have his contract restructured to a developmental one — which he also was under from 2012-14. His 2019 season was outstanding, but perhaps the burden was too much for his small frame and left arm to handle. He had just one farm mound appearance in all of 2020 after offseason cleaning surgery last year.
While not TJ, apparently Saiki also had surgery on his elbow. The kid has “poor-man’s good-version-of-Fujinami” written all over him, and the team will patiently wait out the 2021 season while he recovers, so that we can see if he will in fact shoulder a big workload throughout the upcoming decade. He is also rumored to become a developmental player next year. At 22 years old, the future is still bright, but he’ll have to navigate through some dark hours before the sun rises on his career once again.
Yen-Ching Lu
Came to the Tigers as a kid (21) back in 2018. In his three years on the farm, he appeared to be getting better, putting up a 3.15 ERA and recording 36 strikeouts in 40 innings this season. He is still plenty young and should still have a decent career ahead of him in baseball. It may not be in the NPB, but CPBL will probably benefit from his experience with the Tigers over the last 3 seasons. A fuller profile on Lu will be saved for posterity in the Imports Year by Year section of our site.