Friday, January 26, 2024

Two seasons later: Progress Report on 2021 Lions draft

 


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As we move to more recent draft classes, none of these grades are written in stone with the exception of two players who are no longer with the Saitama Seibu Lions.

Much of this is based on potential given many of these players are not even 25 years old. 

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First round: Chihiro Sumida (Nippon Nishi Kogyo, Fukuoka)

After much anticipation, the Lions won the draft rights to Chihiro Sumida with three other teams. They even had Mitsuo Iida, a managing director take the drawing. 

Sumida has a rough rookie season after a strong debut. However, he rebounded nicely in 2023 and can still project to be an ace of the rotation. He barely came up short of 10 wins, but nearly having one strikeout per inning gives the team hope for optimism. 

Grade: A

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Second round: Shunsuke Sato (Tsukuba University, Ibaraki)

If the Lions lost on the rights for Sumida, they would have likely nominated Sato as their fallback option. Instead, he went unclaimed in the first round and the Lions were able to snag him in Round 2. 

After getting a taste of ichi-gun action in 2022, he was a reliable setup reliever for 2023 and could easily become a closer in the future. He had the makeup of a potential first round pick, but the Lions getting him is bonus.

Grade: A-

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Third round: Yuto Koga (Chuo University, Tokyo)

Koga was seen as an insurance pick with the potential loss of Tomoya Mori in free agency. Once Mori left the team after 2022, Koga won the starting catcher position and showed great pop speed in his defense.

With Ginjiro Sumitani back with the Lions, he can only continue to elevate his game learning from one of the best.

Grade: B+ 

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Fourth round: Shinnosuke Hada (Hachioji Gakuen, Tokyo)

Hada was drafted for his potential to throw hard combined with a versatile arsenal of pitches. 

In two of years of ni-gun baseball, he has seen extended time in starts and long relief. It's possible he could be ready in 1-2 years as an ichi-gun pitcher. 

Grade: B+

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Fifth round: Masaya Kuroda (Hachinohe Kogyo, Aomori)

Like Hada, Kuroda was also drafted out of high school for his hard throwing abilities and has seen more outings in ni-gun as a starter. He enters his age 20 season in 2024 with the hopes of being a rotation candidate two years from now. 

Grade: B

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Sixth round: Seigo Nakayama (Hakuoh University, Tochigi)

Nakayama made his debut in May of 2022, but has a brutal error where he failed to catch a ball thrown by pitcher Katsunori Hirai. This led to a game losing two runs later that inning and he never recovered from it, going 0-3 in this outing.

With an ineffective ni-gun season having an OPS under .600, the Lions viewed him as expendable and put him on senryokugai after two seasons. 

Grade: F

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Ikusei Round 1: Takeru Furuichi (Tokushima Indigo Socks, Tokushima)

Furuichi earned a promotion to the 70-man roster in 2023 and appeared in 29 ichi-gun games as a reserve catcher. He recorded a paltry eight hits in 50 at bats, but earning a promotion in an age 21 season is always a plus.

Grade: C+

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Ikusei Round 2: Natsuo Takizawa (Sekine Gakuen, Niigata)

Takizawa was the first ikusei to earn a promotion from this class from the middle of 2022. One of the shorter players on the team who can still grow, Takizawa created an early spark as a base runner and the Lions won multiple games during his first week at the ichi-gun level. 

After appearing in 48 ichi-gun games in 2022, he regressed in 2023 with only 16 appearances at the top level.

Grade: B

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Ikusei Round 3: Shinya Sugai (Yamamoto Gakuen, Yamagata)

Sugai was drafted for being a finesse pitcher with good breaking balls, specifically his slider.

In 2023, he made 15 ni-gun starts with a 4-2 record and a 3.12 ERA in 66.1 innings of work. It's possible he could earn a promotion down the line.

Grade: Satisfactory

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Ikusei Round 4: Keishin Kawamura (Kokugakuin University, Tokyo)

Kawamura only appeared in 31 ni-gun games for 2022, but the strangest bizarre moment came in June after he requested his release for personal reasons. 

It was revealed later that month he and his family were the beneficiaries of improper benefits (bribery) which led to his brother being arrested. Kawamura returned any benefits and wasn't arrested, but he felt his damage was already done and chose to move forward in his career. 

Grade: Incomplete

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Overall: A

It's possible the first three players in this class could remain as ichi-gun regular for a long time if they keep this up. 

Even the ikusei and high school draft picks still have potential to do some damage down the road. If anyone else becomes an ichi-gun player, it could be one of the greatest classes in a long time to have quantity and quality. 

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Other drafts in series:







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