While all eyes are on the postseason, a few Nippon Professional Baseball clubs whose seasons have already ended are wasting no time preparing for next year.
The Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles have re-signed Luke Voit for the 2026 season, while the Chiba Lotte Marines have inked Neftali Soto to a new deal.
Voit, who led Major League Baseball with 22 home runs during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, spent 2024 and the early part of 2025 in the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol with the Olmecas de Tabasco, where he crushed 35 homers in 122 games. His performance caught the attention of Rakuten, who signed him in early June, along with Oscar Gonzalez, in hopes of addressing the team’s shortage of power.
The 34-year-old proved to be a perfect fit for the Eagles, leading the team with 13 round-trippers and ranking second with 39 RBI in just 67 games. Overall, he slashed a strong .300/.384/.498 while splitting time between first base and DH, placing among the top four in OPS+ (178) among all NPB hitters with at least 200 plate appearances.
“I am truly honored and excited to continue playing for the Eagles,” Voit said in the club’s press release. “My family and I are looking forward to the 2026 season and hope to bring a championship back to Tohoku.”
Rakuten led NPB with 110 stolen bases this season but finished dead last with only 70 home runs. After four straight fourth-place finishes in the Pacific League, the team will be counting on Voit to anchor the middle of the lineup next season alongside Hideto Asamura and Fumiya Kurokawa.
Meanwhile, Lotte locked up their 36-year-old first baseman Neftali Soto. He batted .230/.302/.391 in 102 games this season while leading the club in both home runs (13) and RBI (44). “I’m getting along well with everyone, and I’m having fun playing baseball,” he stated.
However, Soto still believes he has more to offer. “I may have led the team in these stats, but we finished in last place, and I feel like I have not contributed enough,” he commented.
The Puerto Rican slugger has built an impressive NPB resume, tallying 195 home runs over 945 career games between the Yokohama DeNA BayStars and Marines. Though his OPS+ dipped from 137 to 108 this year, he remains a key piece for a Marines squad that missed the postseason for the first time since 2022.
Most notably, Soto will enter his third year in Chiba and his ninth season overall in Japan, making him eligible to no longer be counted as a foreign player starting in 2026. That change will free up a roster spot to potentially add another import.
In other news, the Chunichi Dragons announced that utilityman Orlando Calixte will be back next year, marking his fourth season in NPB and the last of his current two-year contract.
Calixte appeared in just 61 games in 2025, slashing a paltry .227/.272/.307 before suffering a season-ending left knee injury in August. The 33-year-old, who played in the Dominican Winter League last offseason, stated that he will skip winter ball this year to focus on getting fully healthy for the 2026 NPB campaign.
Photo: Luke Voit Zona Sur at the bat during the annual batting competition ‘Home Run Derby’ of the LMB at Beto Avila Stadium in Veracruz. (Photo by Carlos Santiago/Eyepix Group/LightRocket via Getty Images)
