NPB Award Winners
The Nippon Professional Baseball has issued out there awards. Below are the winners.
Central League MVP
Hayato Sakamoto SS (Giants) - .312, 40, 94 RBIs. Imagine major league teams with a shortstop who can hit 40 homeruns.
Pacific League MVP
Tomoya Mori C (Lions) - .329, 23, 105. Imagine a major league team with a catcher having the ability to drive in 100 runs.
Central League Rookie of the Year
Munetaka Murakami 1B (Swallows) - .231, 36, 96. Only 19 years old.
Pacific League Rookie of the Year
Rei Takahashi P (Hawks) - 12-6, 3.34 ERA
Sawamura Award (similar to Cy Young)
For the first time in 19 years no award was given. To be considered pitchers have to achieve minimal accomplishments. Wins, innings pitched, complete games, strikeouts, ERA, etc. The voters felt that no pitcher meant these minimums to receive an award. Since these numbers were established back in the iron man days when pitchers threw 160 pitches in a game, there has been talk of modify some of the minimums to take into account the new era.
Central League Best Nine
Pitcher - Shun Yamaguchi (Giants) - 15-4, 2.91. First time voted to the Best Nine. Will be posted for major league teams this year.
Catcher - Tsubasa Aizawa (Carp) - .277, 12, 63
First Base - Dayan Viciedo (Dragons) - .315, 18, 93. Cuban has found a home with his bat in Japan.
Second Base - Tetsuto Yamada (Swallows) - .271, 35, 98. Stole 33 bases to make him a 30/30 player.
Third Base - Shuhei Takahashi (Dragons) - .293, 7, 59. First Best Nine, but the vanilla stats shows a lack of quality at third base.
Shortstop - Hayato Sakamoto (Giants) - .312, 40, 94
Outfield - Seiya Suzuki (Carp) - .335, 28, 87. MVP of the Premier 12.
Outfield - Yoshihiro Maru (Giants) - .292, 27, 89
Outfield - Neftali Soto (Bay Stars) - .269, 43, 108
Pacific League Best Nine
Pitcher - Kodai Senga (Hawks) - 13-8, 2.79. 227 strikeouts. One of the top five pitchers in baseball. His first selection to Best Nine.
Catcher - Tomoya Mori (Lions) - .329, 23, 105
First Base - Hotaka Yamakawa (Lions) - .256, 43, 120
Second Base - Hideto Asamura (Eagles) - .263, 33, 92
Third Base - Takeya Nakamura (Lions) - .286, 30, 103. These are the stats you want to see from your third baseman.
Shortstop - Sosuke Genda (Lions) - .274, 2, 41. Stole 30 bases and scored 90 runs.
Outfield - Shogo Akiyama (Lions) - .303, 20, 62. Another player being posted for the major leagues.
Outfield - Masataka Yoshida (Buffaloes) - .322, 29, 85
Outfield - Takashi Ogino (Marines) - .315, 10, 46. Stole 28 bases.
Designated Hitter - Alfredo Despaigne (Hawks) - .259, 36, 88. One of the few Cuban stars who has not defected. The Cubans sub-contract him out to Japan and make money off his skills, instead of Alfredo making millions of dollars by defecting when he was in his prime.