According to Yahoo! Japan, Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) development players Fuga Ohtake and Junpei Azuma will play in the Liga de Béisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente this winter.
Ohtake, 25, made one appearance on the mound for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks Western League team during the 2024 season. The righty will pitch for the Gigantes de Carolina from the start of the LBPRC regular season on November 7 to December 17. One of his teammates will be Japanese right-handed pitcher Shintaro Fujinami, who will also play for the Gigantes this winter, as announced by the club on October 19.
Ohtake allowed one earned run on six hits in six innings during his only start for the Hawks’ farm team on September 27. He struck out five of the 21 batters he faced. The Hawks selected Ohtake out of Tohoku Fukushi University in the 2021 NPB Draft, but he has yet to make his Pacific League debut.
There are no reports regarding what LBPRC team Yokohama DeNA BayStars outfielder and first baseman Junpei Azuma will play for. The 23-year-old made his Central League debut in 2024, picking up his first career hit and RBI on a double in a 9-6 win against the Hanshin Tigers on September 20.
Azuma hit .194 with five home runs and 16 RBI in 77 games for the BayStars’ Eastern League team in 2024 and spent the 2023-24 Australian Baseball League season with the Canberra Cavalry. With the Cavalry, Azuma hit a career-best .267 with two home runs and 22 RBI, striking out just 23 times in 139 plate appearances.
Azuma played 18 games at first base with the Cavalry but made 67 appearances in the outfield for the BayStars farm team in 2024. He also has catching experience, playing four games behind the plate last season.
Playing experience in a competitive winter league like the LBPRC could help Ohtake and Azuma develop their games and prepare them to contribute to their respective teams in the Central League and Pacific League during the 2025 NPB season.
The Hawks hold a two-game to-none advantage over the BayStars in the 2024 Japan Series. Game three is tomorrow, Tuesday, October 29, at Mizuho PayPay Dome Fukuoka, the Hawks’ home stadium.
The 2024-25 LBPRC season kicks off on Thursday, November 7, with a matchup between the Gigantes de Carolina and the Criollos de Caguas at 7 p.m. EST at Estadio Yldefonso Solá Morales in Caguas, Puerto Rico.
