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The Saitama Seibu Lions announced their organizational restructuring prior to the 2024 NPB Draft as these changes will take effect on January 1, 2025.
From front office to coaching staff, we will show all the changes and listings from as shown on the website.
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Front office:
Mitsuo Iida keeps his role as "Managing Director" while having responsibilities of being the head of team headquarters and organization manager removed. He's remembered as the executive who drew the winning ticket for Chihiro Sumida during the 2021 NPB Draft.
Koji Hiroike will have the title of Team General Manager. Previously he was the deputy chief and programming manager. While he may not have the final say on all baseball operation decisions, he will be the one to answer all the questions and take the hits.
Kosaku Akimoto will be the right hand man as the "Deputy General Manager". He was the director of scouting previously.
Coaching staff changes:
Outside additions:
Yusuke Torigoe (Usuki) will be the head coach. He last worked for the Chiba Lotte Marines from 2018-2022 where he was a head coach and even farm manager. He has done baseball commentator in media since 2023.
Toshihisa Nishi will be the chief fielding and batting coach. His last baseball job was being the farm manager of the Yokohama DeNA Baystars from 2021-2023.
Keiji Obiki will be the infield defense and base running coach. He has never been a coach in NPB, but served as an ambassador for the Fighters when partnered with the Texas Rangers in 2020 for sharing information. He also studied in graduate school for coaching studies. He's mostly remembered as a journeyman player who played for 13 years as an infielder for the Orix Buffaloes, Fighters and Yakult Swallows.
Ryutaro Tsuji will be the ni-gun fielding coach. He had been a coach within the Orix Buffaloes since 2015 at both the Ichi-gun and ni-gun tiers in various roles. His last role was being a hitting coach.
Fumiya Nishiguchi is now the manager after Kazuo Matsui was let go in the middle of last season. He was previously the ni-gun manager.
This was a full new era for Lions baseball as during the 2024 draft, the Lions representatives were Nishiguchi, Hiroike, Akimoto, Team President Tsuyoshi Okumura, Chief Scout Toshio Maeda and Scout Director Tetsuya Shiozaki. Hisanobu "Nabe-Q" Watanabe resigned from his position.
Full coaching staff list:
Ichi-gun:
Manager: #74 Fumiya Nishiguchi
Head coach: #91 Yusuke Torigoe
Chief pitching coach: #81 Kiyoshi Toyota
Pitching coach: #95 Tatsuya Oishi
Battery coach: #96 Shota Nakata
Chief Fielding and Batting coach: #78 Toshihisa Nishi
Batting coach: #83 Yoshiie Tachibana
Infield defense and Baserunning coach: #84 Keiji Obiki
Outfield defense and base running coach: #84 Masato Kumashiro
Ni-gun staff:
Manager: #79 Tatsuya Ozeki
Chief Pitching coach: #72 Yoshihiro Doi
Pitching coach: #98 Tomio Watanabe
Pitching coach: #93 Hayato Aoki
Pitching coach: #85 Daiki Enokida
Battery coach: #82 Kosuke Noda
Fielding coach: #87 Satoshi Kuroda
Fielding coach: #77 Ryutaro Tsuji
Fielding coach: #86 Shogo Akada
Fielding coach: #88 Hiroyuki Oshima
Ikusei staff
General coach: #97 Tomoshi Aoki
Fielding coach: #76 Norio Tanabe
Fielding coach: #94 Yuji Onizaki
Fielding coach: #89 Fumikazu Kimura
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Several names have gone up and down from ni-gun and ichi-gun, most notably Oishi at the latter tier. If anything, there is some new blood beyond the normal promotions from within.
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Players let go
The early senryokugai (戦力外) list of players being cut and not offered a contract for 2025 was put out prior to the final game of the 2024 season.
By default, every player on Ikusei has to be listed if they've been in the league for three years or more. They are free to re-sign year by year to another Ikusei contract at the team's discretion.
However, the first wave of cuts with player statements indicates this group isn't returning.
LHP Shota Hayama
RHP Ren Omagari
IF Naomasa Yohkawa
IF Brandon Taiga Tysinger
OF Wataru Takagi
OF Shohei Suzuki
C Kaito Noda
RHP Taisei Miyazawa
RHP Kaito Awatsu*
RHP Sho Ito*
RHP Yuto Akagami*
OF Joseph Ken Miyamoto*
There should be more senryokugai given the draft concluded. We wish these players the best of luck moving forward.
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