One month has passed since the opening of this season’s Central League, and the giant aiming for the first victory in two years will take the lead (this season’s results are as of May 4, the same applies below). The fastest of the 12 teams reached 20 wins, and the maximum savings was 11. He suffered four consecutive losses for the first time this season since the match against the Hanshin Tigers from April 29, but when looking at the team results, the score and home run are the highest in the league. What is the reason for the strength so far and what are the points in the future? I asked the commentator, Masahiro Yamamoto.
Naoki Yoshikawa who plays an active part as the immovable number one of the giant
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The rise of a new force that brought momentum
This year’s Central League has no teams left out, and I think it started with a “horizontal line” in terms of strength. The Giants’ bad reputation was not so high, and the pitchers were worried. It recorded a maximum savings of 11 as of April, partly because the Tigers stumbled with the opening nine consecutive losses, but after all the new force worked.
Last year, Eric Thames broke the Achilles tendon in his first appearance in the army, and Justin Smoak left the group in June because his family couldn’t come to Japan due to Korona-ka. Scott Heineman, who joined the group in August, returned to Japan at the end of September due to poor physical condition.
This year, Gregory Polanco and Adam Walker are in the starting lineup, and Matt Shoemaker, the starting pitcher, is also good.
Rookie Yuji Akahoshi also won two victories, and Iori Yamazaki, who was in his second year, also won his first professional victory against the BayStars on April 28th. Kenshin Hotta was deregistered on April 22, but Tatsunori Hara and Masumi Kuwata, the chief coach who can use new faces so far, are amazing. If those young pitchers were saying, “Isn’t it possible yet …”, they shouldn’t be in the current ranking.
The good thing about the Giants is that they have veterans, mid-career, and young people. There was a big black pillar named Hayato Sakamoto, and although he couldn’t get out in the opening round due to an injury to his left abdominal oblique muscle, he came back from the third match and sat on the top line. The ligament of his right knee was damaged during the Hanshin Tigers match on April 30, and he was deregistered …
Kazuma Okamoto has become aware of the main axis and has already recorded double-digit home runs. Yoshihiro Maru was active as a point getter, having a batting average of 10% in the latter half of April last year, but this year he recorded the second place in the team.
