As the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) season progresses, here is a look at the top news and notes from the past week in Japan’s highest level of professional baseball.
Former AL Cy Young Makes NPB Debut
The 2015 American League Cy Young Award winner, Dallas Keuchel, has had a rough 2024. The 36-year-old sinkerballer signed a minor league contract with the Seattle Mariners in April and joined the Milwaukee Brewers through a trade in June in exchange for cash considerations.
Keuchel is no longer the pitcher who can pitch deep into ballgames and limit hard contact, at least not against Major League Baseball hitters. The lefty signed a contract with the Chiba Lotte Marines for the rest of the season and made his NPB debut this past Saturday in a 5-2 win against the Pacific League-leading Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.
Keuchel looked comfortable on the mound, throwing five innings of two-run ball with three strikeouts. The velocity on his sinker remains lower than most, sitting between 86-88 mph. In other news related to the Marines, pitcher Roki Sasaki expects to make his next scheduled start after taking a line drive off his ankle this past Thursday.
Tyler Austin Continues to Rake for BayStars
Former New York Yankee prospect Tyler Austin is best remembered for hitting back-to-back home runs alongside Aaron Judge in their MLB debut in 2016 and throwing fists with Boston Red Sox reliever Joe Kelly in 2018 at Fenway Park.
However, Austin is putting together a phenomenal season for the Yokohama DeNA BayStars in the Central League. Through 71 games, the righty has a .962 OPS with tremendous pop in his bat, blasting 20 home runs.
On Sunday, Austin hit his 20th home run of the season in grand fashion, sending a bottom-of-the-ninth-inning fastball from Yomuir Giants reliever Ryuta Heinai over the left field fence for a 2-1 walk-off win for the BayStars. Austin received a water cooler shower from his teammates at home plate, and he continues to seem right at home in Japan.
Ryosuke Kikuchi Collects 300th Career Double
Hiroshima Toyo Carp infielder Ryosuke Kikuchi hit the 300th double of his 13-year NPB career last Wednesday in a 4-3 win against the Yokohama DeNA BayStars. The 34-year-old picked up the extra-base hit in the seventh inning against Yokohama reliever Yasuaki Yamasaki.
According to Yahoo! Japan, Kikuchi is the 78th player in NPB history to reach 300 doubles in their career. He made his NPB debut with the club in 2012 after the Central League team chose him as their second pick in the 2011 Nippon Professional Baseball draft.
Kikuchi is a seven-time NPB All-Star and won nine straight Central League Golden Glove Awards from 2013-21. In international competition, Kikuchi represented Japan in the 2014 MLB Japan All-Star Series, the 2017 World Baseball Classic, and the 2019 WBSC Premier 12, among other tournaments.
This Day in Japanese Baseball History
On August 20, 2008, former New York Yankees, Montreal Expos, and Texas Rangers Japanese pitcher Hideki Irabu was arrested for assaulting a bartender in Osaka, Japan. According to an article from the New York Post in 2008, Irabu became very angry after his credit card was declined.
Irabu’s MLB career did not go according to plan, and he was ridiculed in the media and by Yankees general manager George Steinbrenner. He drove drunk in Los Angeles in 2010 and posted $5,000 bail for driving under the influence.
Irabu won two World Series championships with the Yankees in 1998 and 1999 and finished his professional baseball career in NPB with the Hanshin Tigers from 2003-04. Sadly, Irabu died on July 27, 2011, by suicide. He was 42 years old.
NPB Standings as of Tuesday, August 20
Central League
Pacific League
You can stream all NPB games on DAZN.
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WBN NPB: https://worldbaseball.com/league/japan/
Photo Credit: Dallas Keuchel #60 of the Minnesota Twins prior to Game One of the Division Series against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park on October 07, 2023 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images)
