What is a depth chart?
In professional baseball, a depth chart is like a table that shows the depth of a team's strength at a glance.
Having a depth chart makes it easier to see the general roles of players, even for fans of other teams, so it's useful when you want to introduce your favorite team.
However, these kinds of depth charts can be influenced by the creator's subjective opinions and impressions.
Therefore, I believe that by looking at depth charts created by various people, I can find commonalities and bring my subjective perspective closer to objectivity.
However, even after searching online, I couldn't find this kind of depth chart anywhere.
It seems to have been a trend on Twitter right before the interleague games.
It's time-consuming to create, and I understand why it's not possible, but this time I tried making a depth chart in Excel myself.
The current state of the Chunichi Dragons
The 2018 professional baseball season is drawing to a close.
My favorite team, the Chunichi Dragons, has finally started to solidify its starting lineup around this time of year.
Until the middle of the season, the starting lineup was often inconsistent, with changes being made depending on whether the opposing starting pitcher was left-handed or right-handed.
I think that teams that can truly compete for the championship usually have a fairly fixed lineup from the beginning of the season, with only changes made when someone gets injured or their performance declines.
We now have enough starting pitchers, and our relief pitchers are finally starting to take shape, so I think we're finally able to compete.
If this marks the end of the preseason, then I think it's been a season that gives us reason to be optimistic.
Going forward, I plan to create these at key points in the season to regularly share updates on the Dragons' current situation.
In the next section, we will introduce PDF, Excel, image, and WordPress versions.
If anyone wants to create their own template, it's nothing special, but I hope you'll feel free to use it.
Depth Chart
Depth chart (image)
Depth chart (Excel file pasted directly into WordPress)
| Chunichi Dragons 2018 Season Final Stage (as of September 11, 2018) First Team Registered Players | |||
| Starting pitcher | 左 | Garcia | [Ace] The team's leading pitcher in wins. He tends to give up a lot of walks and throw a lot of pitches, but he's a spirited player who can strike out batters when it matters most. |
| Starting pitcher | 右 | Kazuki Yoshimi | His strengths lie in his tenacious pitching style, relying on control and resilience to keep batters in check. He rarely falters and is generally reliable. |
| Starting pitcher | 左 | Shotaro Kasahara | The second-year left-hander made a comeback in the second half of the season. With his sharp fastball and changeup, he even pitched a complete game shutout against Hiroshima. |
| Starting pitcher | 右 | Kento Fujishima | He was promoted from relief pitcher to starter. He uses a compact form and makes effective use of splitters and curves. His strong will is reflected in his pitching. |
| Starting pitcher | 右 | Ryosuke Oguma | He joined the starting rotation in the second half of the season. His pitching power and control have improved, making him a highly polished player. He's a cool player who rarely shows a smile. |
| Relief | 右 | Daisuke Sobue | [Set-up Man] A reliable relief pitcher throughout the season. He is mainly entrusted with the 8th inning, and his weapons are his accurate slider and his intense facial expression. |
| Relief | 左 | Hitoshi Iwase | A reliable, legendary left-handed pitcher who inspires confidence even in tense situations. He never throws a timid pitch, but he does get hit sometimes. |
| Relief | 右 | Yu Sato | [Guardian Spirit] A closer candidate who has shown remarkable improvement midway through this season. He can strike out batters with his powerful fastball that he keeps low in the strike zone. His mental game is a weakness. |
| Relief | 右 | Koji Fukutani | A hard-throwing pitcher who has even been entrusted with the closer role. His weapon is his fastball, which approaches 150 km/h, but he has some issues with control and mental strength. |
| Relief | 左 | Rodriguez | His fastball, approaching 150 km/h, is his main appeal. While his breaking balls lack precision, his ability to overpower batters with his fastball when he's not feeling pressured is a strong point. |
| Relief | 右 | Takumi Yamamoto | A high school graduate rookie in his first year. Despite his small stature, his strong point is his low fastball thrown with a solid arm motion. Keep an eye on his first appearance on the first-team mound. |
| Relief | 右 | Katsuki Matayoshi | This season, he's lacked consistency, and he's prone to allowing the leadoff batter to reach base. He doesn't seem to have a pitch he can use to shut down batters once he's ahead in the count, which is why he's not getting results. |
| Relief | 右 | Takuya Asao | [Mop-up duty] Often used in tie games or when trailing. He often pitches well and remains a popular player. |
| catcher | 左 | Masato Matsui | [Catcher] He has practically secured the starting catcher position and is the linchpin of the defense. His batting, which was previously a weakness, has also improved, and his unpredictable hitting is a major draw. |
| catcher | 右 | Shota Ohno | Although he joined the team as a free agent, he hasn't performed as well as expected. However, he has developed a good competitive relationship with Masato Matsui. |
| catcher | 右 | Shingo Takeyama | He's the third catcher. He has good chemistry with many pitchers and leads the catching staff in terms of game calling. His weaknesses are minor mistakes and his batting. |
| infield | 左 | Yota Kyoda | [Shortstop] A struggling second-year Rookie of the Year. His batting has improved since the beginning of the season, and his toughness in continuing to play shortstop is appealing. |
| infield | 右 | Vicedo | [First Baseman] A first baseman with a chance to win the batting title. With a slightly contact-oriented batting style, he's a reliable cleanup hitter who can reliably bring runners home in clutch situations. |
| infield | 右 | Nagamasa Fukuda | [Third Baseman] A powerful hitter with strong hitting ability and solid third base defense. He often swings and misses at off-speed pitches outside the strike zone, so his mental game needs work. |
| infield | 左 | Shuhei Takahashi | [Second Baseman] A promising second baseman showing remarkable growth. Despite being converted to a different position, he displays above-average defensive skills. His batting has also improved, especially in clutch situations. |
| infield | 左 | Kyohei Kamezawa | [The pinch-hitting ace] The leadoff hitter for pinch-hitting. He has a high on-base percentage as the leadoff batter and is a mood-maker who often becomes the starting point of the offense in the later innings. |
| infield | 右 | Naomichi Dojo | [Defensive Replacement] He's on the bench as a defensive replacement in the later innings. As a right-handed pinch hitter, he's not quite up to par and needs a few more weapons. |
| infield | 右 | Masahiro Araki | A veteran who can be used as a pinch hitter on the right side or as a defensive substitute at second base. His running speed shows no signs of decline, and he has a strong presence as a pinch runner. |
| outfield | 左 | Yohei Oshima | [Center Fielder] A center fielder known for his wide defensive range and speed. He can function anywhere in the upper part of the batting order. His performance improved in the second half of the season. |
| outfield | 右 | Ryosuke Hirata | [Right Fielder] A leading candidate for the batting title, he was promoted to the leadoff spot and has started hitting well. Although his home run count is low, his batting, fielding, and base running are all at a high level. |
| outfield | 両 | Almonte | [Left Fielder] After hitting exceptionally well at the start of the season, his performance declined but he has recovered. A key hitter who maintains a batting average of over .300. |
| outfield | 両 | Junji Fujii | He's a versatile fourth outfielder, useful as a pinch hitter, pinch runner, defensive substitute, and substitute starter. His batting could use a bit more consistency, though. |
| outfield | 左 | Takato Kudo | [Defensive Replacement] He often comes in during the second half to replace Almonte defensively or as a pinch runner. He's not much of a hitter, but he's a reliable and reliable worker. |