The Saitama Seibu Lions and Melbourne Aces partnership will be continuing for another season. On Tuesday, the Aces announced that Hiromasa Saito and Hayato Takagi would be joining the team for the 2018-2019 season.
Saito, 23, was the team's first round draft pick in 2017 and appeared mostly out of the bullpen with one spot start at the end of the regular season. At the ichi-gun level, he went 1-3 in 16 games with 16.2 innings of work and a 7.02 ERA. He had his share of inconsistency, but was a spark in middle relief for the short term.
The Lions are hoping he can contribute next year as he competes with Shota Takekuma and Shogo Noda among left handed relievers. He is a 3/4 arm slot pitcher who is athletic and can field well, but his control was up and down.
Takagi, 29, was the compensation selection from the Yomiuri Giants when the Lions lost Ryoma Nogami in free agency. Despite having a decent track record in the Central League, he struggled in 2018 for the first time playing in the Pacific League. Takagi didn't do well out of the bullpen and had only one quality start, which was good for his only win of the season. In eight games, he went 1-2 in 19.2 innings of work in 16 games with a 8.69 ERA.
With the Giants, he was a rotation starter, but injured his throwing hand when trying to execute a sacrifice bunt in 2017. He finished that year out of the bullpen and hasn't recovered. The Lions hope he can crack the ichi-gun in some way, shape or form as he was as disappointment for the team and fans alike.
The Lions will also send an interpreter and undisclosed coaches who will work with the players while they're in Australia. The first game for the Aces will be on November 16 and they'll leave the team when the calendar year of 2018 ends after the All-Star break.
In Australia, the ownership of all teams has changed and the Aces are under a new regime. The ABL League has also expanded with Geelong-Korea, which will feature several KBO players out of Korea's top league. Across the ditch is another expansion team in the Auckland Tuatara.
The Lions are not the only team to partner with an ABL team this year. The Canberra Calvary are linked with the Yokohama DeNA Baystars which features Shota Imanaga among the group. In Auckland, there will be three Chiba Lotte Marines players including Tomohito Sakai and Taiga Hirasawa participating.
This is the eighth consecutive year the Lions have partnered with the Aces. Previous players who have spent time down under include Yusei Kikuchi, Fumikazu Kimura (as a pitcher), Shogo Noda, Yasuo Sano, Makoto Aiuchi, Hirotaka Koishi, Shota Nakata, Keisuke Honda, Hitoto Komazuki, Tomoya Mori, Shunta Nakatsuka and Kona Takahashi.
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Other transaction note:
-The Lions have designated P Kaito Yoza, C Komei Fujisawa and P Tomomi Takahashi as senryokugai players. Yoza was a 5th round draft pick in 2017 while Fujisawa was a former ikusei. T. Takahashi was an all-star in 2014 and 2015, but failed to make an impact at the ichi-gun and didn't do well after having Tommy John surgery in 2017-2018.
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