Four years later: Progress report on the 2013 Lions draft class

The 2013 NPB Draft was the beginning of a new regime for the Saitama Seibu Lions. Hisanobu "Nabe-Q" Watanabe stepped away as a manager and Haruki Ihara came in. Nabe-Q moved to the front office as a senior director/adviser.

Here's what the Lions took from this class, which is still in progress. Like the 2012 class and any recent group, the grades are not written in stone and can still be evaluated as time goes on.

First round: C Tomoya Mori (Osaka Toin HS, Osaka)

Mori was viewed as an undersized catcher with a powerful bat. The battery mate of Shintaro Fujinami, Mori was a Koshien champion in 2012 during his junior year, but teams still passed on him due to character concerns and size. The Lions didn't care and took him during the first reveal.

Early on, Mori hit several home runs in 2014, his first eligible season and was the DH for most of 2015. His bat has been good and is still growing. Norio Tanabe used him in right field on occasion and has been a part time catcher with the hope he can be a starter in the future. He's capable of hitting extra base hits and can mash despite his short stature. Mori's 2017 season was shortened due to a preseason injury.  Grade: B

Hindsight: The Carp won a three-way drawing for P Daichi Osera. Yuki Matsui was taken by the Eagles after a five-way drawing. The Marines took Ayumu Ishikawa when winning a coin flip drawing for his rights. P Kazumasa Yoshida was taken by Orix and he has been a decent middle reliever. C Seiji Kobayashi was drafted by the Giants as a fallback option. P Yuta Iwasada was taken by the Hanshin Tigers.  

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Second round: IF Hotaka Yamakawa (Fuji University, Iwate)

Yamakawa saw a handful of ichi-gun games in his first two years, but played more in 2016 where he initially made the opening day roster. After being sent down to ni-gun two weeks removed from Opening Day, Yamakawa hit more than 20 HRs on the farm and was called up to spark a second half where he had 14 HRs at the ichi-gun level.

A similar season happened in 2017, where he was farmed in April, but called up for the second half and won two monthly MVP awards for August and September. His most recent slashline was .298/.420/.661 in 78 ichi-gun games while hitting 23 home runs. Yamakawa has been good in the second half, but can he do it for a full season? That's the question. Grade: B+ 

Hindsight: Yuito Mori was taken by the Softbank Hawks. Katsuki Matayoshi was drafted by the Dragons. 

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Third round: P Takuya Toyoda (TDK, Akita) 

The Lions took a shakaijin with the third round pick and Toyoda initially took some medium leverage innings in 2014, where he appeared in 34 games with a 4.54 ERA on a bad team. He only played in three games for 2015 and saw mop up duty in 2016. With Toyoda failing to play at the ichi-gun level in 2017, his time is running out. It doesn't look like he'll amount to much as he turns 31 next year. However, he is under contract for 2018. Grade: D-

Hindsight: IF Kosuke Tanaka was taken by the Carp. OF Hiromi Oka was drafted by the Fighters. P Kazuto Taguchi was drafted by the Giants. P Ryo Akiyoshi was drafted by the Swallows. 

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Fourth round: IF Kazuki Kaneko (Nichidai Fujisawa HS, Kanagawa)

Kaneko has yet to play an ichi-gun game and had a slashline of .205/.257/.252 in ni-gun for 2017. He will be 23 next season, but with the recent rise of Sosuke Genda and the team favoring Nien Ting Wu, is there any chance for Kaneko to do anything? Grade: F

Hindsight: P Hirotoshi Takanashi was taken by the Fighters. OF Seiji Uebayashi was drafted by the Hawks. C Ryutaro Umeno was taken by the Tigers.  

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Fifth round: P Takayuki Yamaguchi (Toyota East, Iwate)

Shakaijin Yamaguchi played for two industrial league teams prior to being drafted. He failed to play a single ichi-gun game for his career and was cut after the 2016 season, finishing his third year with the team. His final ni-gun season had him play nine games, pitching a combined seven innings with a 15.43 ERA.  Grade: F

Hindsight: P Yuta Nakamura was taken by the Carp. 

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Sixth round: C Masatoshi Okada (Osaka Gas, Osaka) 

Okada is remembered for being the battery teammate of Sho Nakata while at Osaka Toin, as Nakata himself was a pitcher besides a slugger. Drafted as a shakaijin, the Lions were able to play Okada immediately as a backup catcher.

His bat isn't flashy, but he serves his purpose as a decent backup when Ginjiro Sumitani needs a rest. Defense is adequate, but can't be an everyday starter. He can also come in as a pinch hitter to lay down a bunt. Grade: B

Hindsight: Akihiro Hakumura was drafted by the Fighters. Kota Futaki was drafted by the Marines and is a rotation starter. P Suguru Iwazaki was taken by the Tigers and has been a mainstay at the ichi-gun level where he recently became a middle reliever. 

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Seventh round: P Kentaro Fukukura (Daichi Kogyo University, Kagoshima) 

Fukukura had a productive 2015 season in ni-gun, but only saw one ichi-gun game that year as his reward. In 2017, he saw a handful of ichi-gun games as the Lions mop up pitcher. Not bad value for a 7th round pick. Grade: C+ 

Hindsight: P Shuta Ishikawa was taken by the Hawks as an ikusei pick. 

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Overall: 

Assuming that Mori, Yamakawa and Okada stay at the ichi-gun, this class is a success. Both Mori and Yamakawa are still growing, but it's still too early to determine what they are. Yamakawa needs to show he can be a starting 1B for an entire season to say he's great. Grade: B

Hindsight: Talent all over the board in this class, but it appears the Carp and Giants look to be the biggest winners in terms of having the best players. The Softbank Hawks quietly found good value in the later rounds. 

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Other years:

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2014

2015

2016

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