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The Saitama Seibu Lions offseason continued with an announcement of their 2020 coaching staff. Next year, the Lions plan to invest in a san-gun, or a third team unit with extra coaches on staff. Former manager Norio Tanabe will oversee this operation with Hayato Aoki as an assistant.
Hatsuhiko Tsuji will return for the fourth straight year while the Lions added three new names to their staff as a whole besides Aoki.
Kiyoshi Toyoda, 48, will be a pitching coach at the ichi-gun level for the Lions alongside Fumiya Nishiguchi. He last coached with the Yomiuri Giants from 2012-2018 and was at the ichi-gun level from 2015 and onward. Toyoda also played for the Lions from 1993-2005.
Aoki, 42, will be a pitching coach for the ikusei (san-gun). He last coached with the Hiroshima Carp from 2011-2019. Aoki played for the Lions from 2000-2006.
Tatsuya Ozeki, 43, will be the Lions base-running and outfield defense coach at the ichi-gun level. Alongside It's likely he'll be the first base coach on the field as Satoshi Kuroda was the third base coach. Previously, Ozeki worked at the ni-gun coaching level with the Giants from 2011-2018. He also played for the Lions from 1995-2005.
Here is the full list of coaches announced for 2020:
Ichi-gun:
Manager: Hatsuhiko Tsuji
Head Coach and Defense: Toshifumi Baba
Pitching coach: Fumiya Nishiguchi
Pitching coach: Kiyoshi Toyoda*
Battery coach: Kosaku Akimoto
Hitting coach: Masahiro Abe
Hitting coach: Shogo Akada
Infield Defense and Base Running (3rd base): Satoshi Kuroda
Outfield Defense and Base Running (1st base): Tatsuya Ozeki*
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Ni-gun:
Manager: Kazuo Matsui
Roving pitcher/Head coach: Eiji Kiyokawa
Pitching coach: Kento Sugiyama
Pitching coach: Ming-Chieh Hsu
Battery coach: Kosuke Noda
Hitting coach: Shigenobu Shima
Hitting coach: Hiroshi Hirao
Infield Defense and Base Running: Hiroyuki Takagi
Outfield Defense and Base Running: Tomosaki Sato
Training coach: Tatsuyuki Uemoto
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San-gun
Head coach: Norio Tanabe
Pitching coach: Hayato Aoki*
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Among notable changes from last year is Tomoaki Sato being relocated to ni-gun as a base running and defensive coach when he had this role at the ichi-gun last year. Hirao's coaching title only has hitting while he did defense and base running last season.
Kiyokawa also has a higher priority on the hierarchy compared to just being an instructor down in ni-gun last year. Uemoto moves up to being a ni-gun coach. Last year, he was just a bullpen catcher.
As earlier mentioned, Norio Tanabe will be working on the field once again for the first time since 2016, when he was the ichi-gun manager. He has silently been working in the front office while also helping KBO's Hanwha Eagles in spring training.
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