The Saitama Seibu Lions went 3-3 against the Rakuten Eagles and Softbank Hawks in a split homestand. They sit in third place, 1.5 games out of a postseason spot behind the Chiba Lotte Marines with seven games to go.
They also had draft take place and made a decision for 2021 and beyond.
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Lions take large class, future infielder
The Saitama Seibu Lions drafted a total of seven roster players and five ikusei for 12 total at the 2020 NPB Draft on Monday. They attempted to go for top pitcher Takahisa Hayakawa out of Waseda University, but ended up losing a four-team drawing. The Rakuten Eagles landed his rights as Kazuhisa Ishii drew the winning ticket before Hatsuhiko Tsuji had a chance to put his hand in the box.
Instead of going to another drawing, the Lions plan B pick was IF Kento Watanabe out of Toin University in Kanagawa. It's likely he'll be a new Okawari-kun as he can play 3B and 1B.
Below is the full list of players taken by the Lions:
Regular Draft:
1. IF Kento Watanabe 渡部健人 (Toin University, Kanagawa)
2. LHP Takeru Sasaki 佐々木健 (NTT East, Tokyo)
3. IF Takayoshi Yamamura 山村崇嘉 (Tokaidai Sagami HS, Kanagawa)
4. OF Gakuto Wakabayashi 若林楽人 (Komazawa University, Tokyo)
5. RHP Ren Omagari 大曲錬 (Fukuoka University, Fukuoka)
6. IF Brandon Taiga Tysinger タイシンガー ブランドン 大河 (Nogai Okhotsk University, Hokkaido)
7. OF Yuta Nakamigawa 仲三河優太 (Osaka Toin HS, Osaka)
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Ikusei Draft:
1. RHP Yuto Akagami 赤上優人 (Tohoku Koeki University, Yamagata)
2. OF Shinya Hasegawa 長谷川信哉 (Tsuruga Kehi HS, Fukui)
3. OF Joseph Ken Miyamoto 宮本ジョセフ拳 (Nagoya Gakuin University, Aichi)
4. RHP Taishi Mameda 豆田泰志 (Urawa Jitsugo Gakuen HS, Saitama)
5. RHP Yoshinobu Mizukami 水上由伸 (Shikoku Gakuin University, Kagawa)
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A full writeup with more details will likely come when the Lions season ends. Further research required to have a better grasp of this class.
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Rakuten Eagles
The Lions won a pair of one-run games by a score of 4-3. A three-run HR by Tomoya Mori was a game winner off Takahiro Norimoto while Fumikazu Kimura hit a two-run HR the next day. Both games involved strong starts by Kona Takahashi and Shota Hamaya. Hatsuhiko Tsuji also earned his 300th career win as Lions manager on Tuesday.
They weren't able to pull off a sweep when Zach Neal gave up five runs in two innings.
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Softbank Hawks
Nao Higashihama shut down the Lions again and the bats stayed cold. A two-run HR from Takeya Nakamura made it a one run game in the 9th inning, but it wasn't enough as Katsunori Hirai gave up three runs early on. Ken Togame also laid an egg in the second game where Cory Spangenberg misread a fly ball leading to a bases-clearing hit. The Lions had no chance off Shunta Ishikawa in a blowout to lose the series, but salvaged one game with good pitching by Wataru Matsumoto.
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Utsumi staying through 2021
The Lions renewed the contract of veteran Tetsuya Utsumi citing they like his veteran presence in the clubhouse. He had one ichi-gun win in 2020, his first in 743 days after skipping the entire 2019 season due to injury. While things on the field didn't go as planned, the Lions feel he will be a role model for all the young pitchers and decided to retain him through the 2021 season.
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With seven games to go, the expectations are high given how close the Lions are to a postseason spot. However, try not to think about it with only half the pitching being good, the others not delivering when needed. Offense is still a mess as we know. If anything, Matsumoto, Hamaya and Kona Takahashi are all positive steps towards 2021.
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