Livan Moinelo, Teruaki Sato Claim NPB MVPs At Annual Awards Show

Nippon Professional Baseball announced its Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player winners at its annual awards ceremony on Thursday, while also formally presenting the hardware for the previously revealed Sawamura Award, Gold Glove, and Best Nine honorees. 

The MVP awards went to Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks starter Livan Moinelo in the Pacific League and Hanshin Tigers third baseman Teruaki Sato in the Central League. 

Moinelo is the first Cuban in NPB history to take home MVP honors and the first foreigner since closer Dennis Sarfate won in 2017, also for SoftBank. In just his second season as a starter, the southpaw posted an NPB-best 1.46 ERA (210 ERA+) in 167 innings with a 26.9% strikeout rate and 6.6% walk rate. He went 12-3 and had three complete games. 

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters designated hitter Franmil Reyes finished as the runner-up, while batting title winner Taisei Makihara, Moinelo’s teammate, came in third.  

Sato becomes the first Tigers position player MVP since Tomoaki Kanemoto in 2005. He set career-highs across the board, hitting 40 home runs and driving in 102 runs over 139 games while slashing .277/.356/.579 for a .924 OPS (186 OPS+). He logged 111 games at the hot corner and 26 in right field. 

Unsurprisingly, Hanshin dominated the ballot, as reliever Daichi Ishii finished second and starter Shoki Murakami rounded out the top three. 

The PL’s top rookie award went to outfielder Misho Nishikawa of the Chiba Lotte Marines. 

Nishikawa was a first-round pick in the 2024 Draft out of Aoyama Gakuin University. He had represented Samurai Japan at the senior national team level while still in college and entered his debut season with high expectations on both sides of the ball. However, his career began with a very rough stretch, as he batted .156/.191/.178 over 47 plate appearances before being demoted to the farm.  

He dominated at the lower level, producing a 1.063 OPS in 20 games, and gradually found his rhythm after returning to the top team, batting well over .300 with an OPS approaching .900 from June through August. He finished the 2025 season with a .281/.318/.381 line (111 OPS+) in 108 games, hitting three homers and leading all of NPB with 22 Defensive Runs Saved in left field. 

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters starter Kota Tatsu and Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles shortstop Rui Muneyama placed second and third in the voting, respectively. 

Over in the CL, Tokyo Yakult Swallows reliever Kota Shoji was named Rookie of the Year. The lefty put up an impressive 1.05 ERA and 0.84 WHIP with 28 holds in 42 ⅔ frames, striking out 33.1% of the batters he faced. A relief pitcher has now claimed ROY in five of the past six seasons, a trend amplified in the current dead-ball era. 

Finishing behind Shoji were Hanshin Tigers starter Takato Ihara in second place and Chunichi Dragons catcher Yuta Ishii in third. 

The following players were selected to the Best Nine: 

Pacific League
P – Livan Moinelo
C – Kenya Wakatsuki, Orix Buffaloes
1B – Tyler Nevin, Seibu Lions
2B – Taisei Makihara, SoftBank Hawks
3B – Itsuki Murabayashi, Rakuten Golden Eagles
SS – Rui Muneyama, Rakuten Golden Eagles
OF – Tatsuru Yanagimachi, SoftBank Hawks
OF – Keita Nakagawa, Orix Buffaloes
OF – Ukyo Shuto, SoftBank Hawks
DH – Franmil Reyes (Nippon-Ham)  

Central League
P – Shoki Murakami, Hanshin Tigers
C – Seishiro Sakamoto, Hanshin Tigers
1B – Yusuke Ohyama, Hanshin Tigers
2B – Takumu Nakano, Hanshin Tigers
3B – Teruaki Sato, Hanshin Tigers
SS – Yuta Izuguchi, Yomiuri Giants
OF – Shota Morishita, Hanshin Tigers
OF – Koji Chikamoto, Hanshin Tigers
OF – Yuki Okabayashi, Chunichi Dragons

Photo: Livan Moinelo won the NPB’s Pacific League MVP Award for 2025.