2013 Draft

Here is a look back at the Hanshin Tigers’ 2013 NPB Draft picks. How have their careers gone? How has the draft panned out for the team? Which other stars came out of the same draft in the same round as our guys?

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Round 1 – #17 Yuta Iwasada (LHP)

Actually the team was hoping to get Daichi Ohsera (Hiroshima) but lost the lottery. Then another guy who didn’t pan out at all, but lost that lottery too. Finally, they won a draw to get Iwasada. Though his first two years were disappointing, he came into his own in 2016, winning 10 games and making the all-star team. However, since then he has been quite up-and-down. He made the all-star game again in 2018, but in 2019, he only threw 40 innings due to illness and injury.

Round 2 – #24 / #124 Shintaro Yokota (OF)

Yokota was one of the top high school hitting prospects out of Kyushu, and the Tigers had great expectations for him, even giving him Shinjiro Hiyama’s number the year after he retired. After two years on the farm filling out and getting experience, Yokota hit .393 in spring training of 2016, earning a spot on new manager Tomoaki Kanemoto’s Opening Day roster. He electrified Hanshin fans with his hustle, but he did not fare particularly well against elite pitching. He spent most of the year on the farm. In the spring of 2017 during training, he complained of migraines. Turned out to be brain tumors. The aggressive therapy he underwent resulted in blurred vision, which never corrected itself over the next three years. Always a fan favorite, he announced his retirement at age 24 at the end of the 2019 season. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a more adored player (by fans, media and teammates alike) whose career ended due to such unfortunate circumstances.

Round 3 – #55 Naomasa Yohkawa (IF)

What Yokota was from the left side of the plate, Yohkawa was expected to be from the right. Maybe a little less speed, but a whole lot of muscle. He also did not make his top squad debut until 2016, and showed potential (but never great results) that year and the next. In fact, he won home run and RBI crowns on the farm both those years. His breakout year (if we can call it that) came in 2018 when he hit six homers, five triples and stole five bases in half a season’s work. Unfortunately, he continues to be too good for the farm, but not good enough for the big dance. He regressed in 2019 and needed until the final games of the year to bring his average over a dime.

Round 4 – #44 / #2 Ryutaro Umeno (C)

Once the cleanup hitter (and captain) of Team Japan’s university team, Umeno started strongly with Hanshin in 2014, his rookie year. He became the first catcher in ages to hit two home runs in the same game, and finished the year with seven. After improving in 2015, the team hoped he would become the catcher of the future moving forward. However, both his defense and his hitting suffered in 2016 and he played a career-low 37 games that year. From then, though, Umeno has steadily gotten better in all aspects. His hitting, baserunning, game calling, throwing and pitch blocking were top-notch in 2019, and he has clearly established himself as the team’s main catcher. Two straight Golden Gloves make him one of the elite catchers in NPB, and possibly the best fourth-round pick in the draft.

Round 5 – #47 Shoya Yamamoto (LHP)

Southpaw Yamamoto was drafted out of the industrial leagues, and was given chances in several seasons. Nearly every time he was called up, though, he got beaten up pretty badly. His lone highlights were striking out the side in mop-up duties against the Seibu Lions in 2015, and then later that year, getting his first and only start, and earning the W. After that, his playing time was limited, and at the end of the 2018 season, he was released.

Round 6 – #67 / #13 Suguru Iwazaki (LHP)

Iwazaki was the third lefty pitcher taken by the Tigers in this draft, but he might be the best. He and Umeno became the first rookie battery in 12 years during the 2014 season, and in a later start, the first rookie battery in 31 years to get a win. After showing promise in 2014 with 5 wins, Iwazaki struggled as a starter in 2015, often getting beaten up the third time through the other team’s order. He continued to show middling results as a starter in 2016, but towards the end of the year, was given a shot at relief work. From that point, he has been an integral part of the team’s success, averaging 10.37 K/9 and holding 51 games in three seasons. His 1.01 ERA and 0.76 WHIP were both team lows in 2019.

Overall Grade: B+

Yes, there are a few duds in this bunch, but overall, the team has found its best homebred catcher since the 1970s, one of the best lefty relievers in the Central League, plus a lefty starter who has shown the ability to hold down a rotation spot when healthy. If only Yokota’s career hadn’t been cut short… this could have easily been the team’s best draft class of the decade.