Source: Sanspo On July 19, the Hanshin Tigers announced that they have reached an agreement and signed right-handed pitcher Colten Brewer (30, from NY Yankees AAA) to a deal for the remainder of this year. He will wear number 98. He is expected to arrive in Japan in early August. Hanshin front office director Satoshi…
Source: Sanspo The Hanshin Tigers announced the death of former player Shintaro Yokota on the 18th. He was just 28 years old. Yokota was selected in the second round of the 2013 draft out of Kagoshima Jitsugyo High. He made his top-squad debut on Opening Day 2016 against the Chunichi Dragons, batting second. In 2017,…
Hosts T-Ray and Sanjay discuss team news, the last eleven games of Tigers baseball, select their players of the month for June, and evaluate the three facets of NPB managers that Akinobu Okada must fulfill, according to author and anthropologist William Kelly (see my book review here). Check out our Japanese podcast here in video…
Playing the Dragons at home was supposed to be a chance to build some momentum heading into the all-star break. However, a late-inning collapse (what else is new – three straight games attended by yours truly have all turned out the same) cost us the first game, a complete lack of hitting was the culprit…
The Tigers ended interleague on a downer, having lost four straight series to Pacific League opponents. Meanwhile, the Baystars caught fire during that stretch. The six-game lead once held by the Tigers was down to 2.5… and then they proceeded to completely give it away, as the Baystars swept them in Yokohama back in June….
From the Daily Sports Online column / デイリースポーツオンラインの連載コラムから If you take a quick look at Marty Kuehnert’s life in Japan, you’d think he was a real-life Midas. Does everything he touches turn to gold? It’s got to be fiction. Oftentimes, though, the most fantastic narratives are straight-up truth. Marty grew up in California, but had…
A mysterious decision to call Friday’s game because of rain that never came meant this series was just a two-gamer. The first one was a tight game, and the Tigers kind of blew a big chance in the bottom of the sixth inning. Having already tied the game on a Yusuke Ohyama RBI double, there…
Trips to Hiroshima have been hard for this team in the past decade, and this trip was no exception. One of our players made the trip but then left without even setting foot on the field. (No, not Yangervis Solarte – that was 4 years ago already!) Koji Chikamoto took a fastball to the ribs…
Hosts T-Ray and Sanjay discuss team news, the last nine games of Tigers baseball, select their players of the month for June, and give all the main Hanshin Tigers players their summer vacation report card grades with some explanations. You can tell that one of us is a teacher! What grades would you have given?…
The Tigers have not won back-to-back games since the start of June, believe it or not. But after last weekend’s sweep in Yokohama, even small things like series ties have to be viewed as victories. Friday night’s game featured Junya Nishi making a return to the rotation and doing quite well, only to see the…