Preface
The last time I wrote a baseball article was in November 2020, so this is my first article in about four years.
The Chunichi Dragons' 2024 season has ended, and so has the era under manager Tatsunami.
I've had a lot on my mind over the past three years, so I'd like to share my thoughts on the problems and positive aspects.
Please be aware that this will likely contain a lot of complaints and grievances.
Just to clarify my perspective, I will list my history of supporting them.
My history of supporting the Chunichi Dragons began in 2004 when I started watching their games regularly, and I at least check the results of every game.
I have an environment where I can watch all the matches on TV, so if there's a match on when I'm at home, I watch it almost every time.
(I often watch while doing something else.)
I've hardly ever attended a game in person since the change in manager from Ochiai.
Points I felt were problematic
As a fan, I'll be writing about various things I've wondered about and things I consider to be problems.
Of course, I understand that there are judgments and ways of thinking that can only be understood on the spot, but I will try to write as honestly as possible about what I observed and felt from an outsider's perspective.
I may sometimes write things that are off the mark, but I would appreciate it if you would be understanding as I am just an amateur with limited knowledge.
Were they able to coordinate with the second team?
It's impossible to get through the entire season with only first-string players, and without young players stepping up, there won't be any competition within the team as a whole.
It is extremely important for a team to use players who perform well in the minor leagues in the major leagues and create competition among all players.
It seemed like they weren't even able to do this basic thing.
I often saw players who performed well in the minor leagues being registered with the major league team, only to be benched and never used, and then sent back down to the minor leagues after a while.
If a player performs well in the minor leagues but the manager of the major league team doesn't give them a chance to play, it won't motivate them to perform well in the minors.
I felt this was a significant problem for the team.
For example, I often saw infielder Ishigaki, whose strong point is his hitting, being called up to the first team but never actually getting any playing time.
Even when he started the game, he was often substituted out midway through, or used to strengthen the defense from the middle of the game. It seemed like there wasn't a strong intention to use him actively.
I think the team would be considerably more energized if they simply did the obvious thing of giving opportunities to players who have performed well in the minor leagues and been promoted to the major leagues, but that kind of attitude wasn't really seen.
Common sense tells me that this wouldn't boost motivation.
Poor leadership
The next thing I found problematic was the inexplicable tactical decisions made during the matches.
I get the impression that Manager Tatsunami doesn't often employ strategies that follow established theories, but rather relies more on his own intuition and judgment.
Therefore, while successes are exciting, it's not based on any established theory, so I get the impression that there were far more failures than successes.
For example, I felt that they often had the batter bunt when there was a runner on first base.
While bunting can be important in certain situations, many players aren't good at it in the first place, and the team's bunting success rate is among the lowest.
Because they are a team that struggles with scoring, I wish they had adopted a strategy that wouldn't make things easy for the opponent, rather than easily giving away outs.
I've always felt that the bench is a bit restless, as there seem to be a lot of hit-and-run signals.
(Perhaps they believe it's more effective to direct the tactics from the bench, given that there are many young players with little experience...)
next,I felt there were a lot of wasted player substitutions.
It's fine to use pinch hitters for pitchers, but they were also using pinch hitters for players other than pitchers quite often.
In those situations, there wouldn't be a problem if a player from the same defensive position was brought in as a pinch hitter, but that wasn't often the case.
As a result, after a pinch hitter, another player had to be used in a defensive substitution, reducing the number of reserves, and it felt like they couldn't use the players as they wanted in extra innings.
Frankly, it's questionable to send in a pinch hitter just because there's a chance, especially when the opposing pitcher hasn't even changed.
Furthermore, I question the wisdom of putting players in the starting lineup who are unable to capitalize on scoring opportunities.
(If the opposing team's starting pitcher has changed, then it's understandable to send in a pinch hitter in a scoring opportunity.)
I get the feeling that, for some reason, they think it's a waste not to use as many of the reserve players on the bench as possible.
Another problem was the "machine gun" approach to using relief pitchers.
In a game that was likely to go into extra innings, they made three pitching changes in a single inning, which I thought was really strange.
In 2024, perhaps thanks to the pitching coach, it seems that a rule was put in place to prevent pitchers from being used too frequently in consecutive games, but before that, I feel it was quite a lawless zone.
Since this team doesn't score many runs, I think it's a valid strategy to not keep the starting pitcher in too long and to switch to a reliable relief pitcher early on.
However, this inevitably leads to excessive pitching appearances, so it's important to distribute the fatigue of relief pitchers by creating "throwaway games" (games that can be lost without consequence).
However, even when trailing, they often refused to give up on the game and would bring in their winning pitchers.
I felt that the relationship between a coach and manager who cannot reprimand such decisions is not healthy.
Other than that,There was a problem with the batting order changing too often.
Even in games where the batting lineup had connected and performed well the day before, the next day the batting order and defensive positions were often changed without hesitation, resulting in a constant stream of altered players.
A skilled hitter can approach the plate while considering the connections between their at-bat and the batters before and after them.
However, since there are many inexperienced players who are not like that, I imagine it must have been difficult for them to have the players before and after them change in each match.
Furthermore, having players suddenly play defensive positions they haven't even practiced during training camp shows a disregard for the importance of defense.
This is just my opinion, but I think that since Manager Tatsunami himself won the Golden Glove Award as a shortstop in his first year and was able to play excellent defense at any position, including second base and third base, he might have thought that others could easily do the same.
He's already struggling to hit, so having his mental capacity diverted to an unfamiliar defensive position isn't good.
Biased draft
I think the fact that the draft has been heavily biased towards position players in recent years is a problem.
It's questionable why they would release key infielders like Kyoda and Abe, only to then acquire a lot of middle infielders.
Now, in their third year, it's a positive sign that we've finally found players who seem poised to become regular starters, but the reality is that the depth of our starting pitching staff is in a critical state because most of our top draft picks were position players.
I'm not very familiar with amateur players, but I've heard that in years when pitchers are said to be good and fielders are said to be bad, they deliberately draft a lot of fielders, so that makes me uneasy.
It seems like they're managing to get by with some good relief pitchers, but I feel that the lack of starting pitchers will be a major problem going forward.
In recent years, the pitchers drafted in the first round haven't performed well, so I'm interested to see how they'll approach that aspect in this year's draft.
It's unclear what kind of team they're aiming to be.
Ultimately, over these past three years, it's never become clear what kind of team Manager Tatsunami wants to create.
Is there anyone who can demonstrate, "This is the kind of baseball that Manager Tatsunami was aiming for!"?
For example, if you decide to build a team that relies on pitching and defense rather than hitting, then the way you use players will naturally reflect that strategy.
Conversely, if they were to overlook defensive shortcomings to some extent and prioritize hitting, I think that would also be a valid approach. (Although, I doubt that this style of baseball would be feasible in the spacious Vantelin Dome…)
While the team seemed to be saying, "We'll figure something out with the hitting," I don't particularly feel that they made good use of players who had produced results at the plate.
There was a period when players like Fukunaga and Ishikawa, who had produced results with their hitting, were inexplicably not used.
Furthermore, there was the inexplicable situation of keeping Nakajima, who hadn't produced any results in the minor leagues, on the major league team for an extended period.
However, because he was a good hitter, they took the bold step of using Kaliste in center field, so in some ways, you could sense that their player selection was focused on batting.
(Personally, if they were going to do it, I think they could have gone all-in on the fire formation.)
However, if you ask if they are a team that prioritizes defense, I wouldn't say I felt that they were particularly strong in that regard.
If the focus is on defense, then using Caliste as a center fielder is out of the question, and constantly changing his defensive position is also questionable.
If you were wondering whether he focused on base running to compensate for his poor hitting, the answer is no; in fact, I think it was quite bad.
When a batter gets a hit, their advancement to the bases is often very slow, and there seem to be a lot of pickoffs and runners being caught out.
Of course, some mistakes may be due to the players' lack of experience, but I got the impression that the team didn't place much importance on base running, and even seemed to disregard it.
If a player is already bad at hitting, and also has few stolen bases and isn't good at base running, there's no way their scoring will increase.
In short, their approach was not to create a team that was easily understood by specializing in one area, but rather to focus on a balanced approach to hitting, fielding, and baserunning.
However, if that is the case, then communication between the manager/coaching staff and the players is crucial regarding what aspects will be evaluated.
Players are in a position where they must consider what the manager and coaching staff want from them and play accordingly, so I was curious to see if the leadership had effectively communicated that message.
If the management demands defensive skills, the players will work on improving them. If the team's selection is based on personal preference, then the players should behave in a way that pleases them.
If I may be so bold, I've tried to come up with my own ideas on what the Dragons should do to become a stronger team.
If we want to make the most of our strength in having deep bullpen and closers, I think the only option is to play a style of baseball where we only need to protect one run.
I think the team's strategy of using players who are better at defense than hitting, and focusing on reliably protecting a one-run lead, was a good fit.
Furthermore, if the team's scoring ability through hitting was low, I believe it was necessary to focus on practicing base running and stealing, as well as practicing sign plays, in order to compensate for the lack of hitting ability.
Either way, since the team plays at the large Vantelin Dome, the number of home runs won't increase unless the player is an exceptional home run hitter.
Therefore, it seems natural to aim for small ball, prioritizing pitching and defense while not relying on home runs.
Current advantages
I've written mostly about the negative aspects so far, but I'd like to write about the positive points as well.
First of all, I think it was ultimately a good thing that we were able to bring in younger players for the starting lineup.
The fact that players like Fukunaga, Ishikawa, Hosokawa, and Okabayashi are solidifying the regular lineup is a positive development.
Furthermore, the relief pitching staff has become quite deep, so we can rest assured for now.
The team boasts a stable lineup, including set-up pitchers like Matsuyama, Shimizu, and Martinez, the utility player Fujishima, the valuable left-handed pitchers Fuku and Saito, and the reliable long-range hitter Hashimoto.
I think they've been pretty overworked over the past three years, so I'd like to try and rebuild our starting rotation while they're still in good shape.
The content is simpler compared to the negative points, but that's because there were so few positive aspects.
Challenges going forward
Now, I'd like to write about what I think are the challenges for the team going forward.
Most of this will likely be the opposite of what I've written in the previous sections.
Preparation of the starting pitchers
First, we need to improve our starting pitching staff.
This is an eternal challenge for any team, and probably will continue to be a challenge indefinitely, but I think it's a relatively urgent issue.
高橋宏人というエースはいるものの、その他に100イニング以上投げた投手は小笠原だけです。
And if Ogasawara also goes to the majors through the posting system, the team will be even more short on starting pitchers.
Considering how veterans like Yanagi and Ohno didn't perform as expected this season, we'll have to keep drafting more starting pitcher candidates to make ends meet.
While there are starting pitcher candidates such as Fukutani, Umezu, Matsukihira, Matsuba, and Wakui, there are serious concerns about whether they can maintain a spot in the rotation for an entire year.
I think it's important to continue acquiring pitchers who are college graduates or higher and can contribute immediately.
Outfielder development
The next important thing is developing outfielders.
Okabayashi and Hosokawa are pretty much guaranteed regular positions, but there's one position open.
Of course, Calliste could fill the role, but I think it's more practical to keep him on the bench as a utility player who can play all positions, infield and outfield.
Currently, I think the top candidates for regular outfield positions are Kenta Bright and Ukai.
Given their age, it's probably about time for both of them to become regular players.
Ukai's appeal lies in his ability to hit home runs, so placing him around the 7th or 8th spot in the lineup would be attractive, but since he's consistently getting beaten by curveballs in the same way, I feel it might be a bit difficult to use him effectively.
In contrast, Kenta Bright's batting average is .239, but his pinch-hitting record is 8 hits in 25 at-bats, at .320, showing signs of a breakout season.
If he can establish himself as an outfielder in the first team, I think the starting lineup will become much more fixed.
However, the lack of depth in every position is a problem.
A team can't be considered strong if, when someone gets injured, the players who step in to replace them are significantly weaker.
Even players who have secured a regular spot on the team will continue to grow and improve when they have competitors to compete against.
Regarding the acquisition of reinforcement players
Strong teams everywhere strengthen their rosters through effective reinforcements.
One of the Chunichi Dragons' weaknesses is their lack of power hitters, so they need a foreign player or free agent who can hit home runs.
Unfortunately, the foreign players we've acquired in recent years haven't been very successful.
I think Calliste is a good backup player, but he's not the home run hitter we're looking for most.
I think we need to invest some reinforcement funds here to acquire a home run hitter.
If Hosokawa is the only player who can be expected to hit a home run, then it means that you only need to avoid pitching to him.
However, the more home run hitters you have lined up, the harder it becomes to get away with a walk, and the less attention you'll be keeping on them.
I think acquiring just one more home run hitter is a very important task.
Sho Nakata was a disappointment among the players expected to hit home runs.
Considering his recent performance, I think it was a mistake to pay a player who I don't think can work a full year to a salary of 300 million yen.
I can't help but feel that if they were going to spend this much money, they could have done something else.
Since Sho Nakata's contract extends into 2025, if he can have an explosive performance then, fans will likely feel that acquiring him was worthwhile.
Regarding reinforcements, this involves the actions of the team itself, so it's unlikely to change easily.
Will the day ever come when fans notice that you've changed?
Afterword
Tatsunami's three years as manager of the Chunichi Dragons have come to an end.
Lately, I've been watching fewer matches in their entirety, and to put it simply, there are more boring matches.
Since they have a losing record, watching them play means the probability of them losing is higher.
If watching the game stresses you out, then don't watch it.
However, the reason I still watch it is probably because I'm a fan and I have an attachment to the players.
Because you like them, you can't remain indifferent, and you often end up complaining.
However, I intend to watch over them while making sure to always remember to show respect to the players who are playing.
Thank you for reading this lengthy message.