The baton entrusted to '243SV' Legend...Bullpens catcher → battery coach appointed, Hanshin without head coach
The baton entrusted to '243SV' Legend...Bullpens catcher → battery coach appointed, Hanshin without head coach
Blog Article
Everything from the head coach to the coaching staff is the Hanshin Tigers, which is a series of "breakdowns." Fujikawa Kyuji, who took his first step in his leadership career as a head coach, will be launched.
Japan's "Daily Sports" and other local media reported on the 21st (Korea time) that the Hanshin Tigers, led by new coach Fujikawa Kuji, announced their coaching staff for the 2025 season.
Last year, Hanshin lifted the team's second Japanese Series (JS) trophy in 38 years under Akinobu Okada. Osaka had a festive day, with police deployed for fear of a possible safety accident in Dotonbori, Japan, at Hanshin's historic victory.
"Defending champion" Hanshin ranked second in the Central League after a fierce battle with the Yomiuri Giants and Yokohama DeNA BayStars until the end of the regular season with 74 wins, six draws and 63 losses and a winning rate of 0.540 again this year. However, he was "upset" by Yokohama at the first stage of the Climax Series, and Okada, who put Hanshin at the top of Japan, gave up the baton himself.
With Okada announcing his retirement early on, multiple Japanese media outlets have expressed the prospect of Fujikawa Kyuji becoming the new manager, and he took the choice to give Fujikawa the baton on the 15th. Fujikawa is already well known to domestic baseball fans, and in Japanese professional baseball, he is one of the "legendary" ranks.
Fujikawa entered the professional stage after being drafted by the Hanshin Tigers in the first round of the 1998 rookie draft, and pitched in 782 games in Japan alone, recording 60-38 with 163 saves and a 2.08 ERA, and 1-1 with 1-1 with 2 saves and a 5.74 ERA in three seasons with the Chicago Cubs and Texas Rangers. His 243 saves rank fifth in NPB history.
In particular, he had many experiences in international competitions with Korea. Despite being called a Japanese legend, Lee Jong-beom had a two-run double at the World Baseball Classic in 2006 and Lee Jin-young had a tying hit in the semifinals of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. When he returned to Hanshin after finishing his career in the Major League, Oh took over the finishing position from "finalist" Oh Seung-hwan.
The Japanese media expected Fujikawa to be the next head coach, but it was actually an unconventional move to give Fujikawa the baton, who did not take the leadership path after retiring from active duty after the 2020 season. As a result, Japanese media reported that Hanshin, who surprisingly appointed Fujikawa as the head coach, was having difficulty in selecting the coaching staff, and on the 21st, a week after he took office as the head coach, he concluded the formation of a coaching staff to lead the team in the 2025 season. 메이저사이트
However, the coaching staff, including the appointment of the head coach, also seems to have exceeded everyone's expectations. The appointment clearly revealed that he had difficulties in selecting the coaching staff. The most representative figure was Daiki Takayama, who served as a bullpen catcher for a whopping 24 years from 2001 to this year after retiring from active duty in 2000 after wearing the Hanshin uniform in the fourth round of the rookie draft in 1992. According to Japan's Sponichi Annex, Takayama will serve as both a bullpen catcher and battery coach.