2011 in Japanese Baseball

The 2011 Nippon Pro Baseball season got off to a late start. On March 11, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake hit Japan, with Sendai, Miyagi (home of the Rakuten Golden Eagles) among the worst-hit areas. The earthquake triggered a tsunami that wreaked further devastation. Takanori Hoshi, a backup catcher for the Yomiuri Giants, lost both of his grandparents. Both the Central League and Pacific League seasons were delayed for several weeks as a result. More games were moved to a daylight schedule to conserve electricity.

On April 15, Tomoaki Kanemoto did not officially appear in a game, ending a run of 1,766 consecutive games played, a NPB record. Oddly, Kanemoto was summoned as a pinch-hitter, but a baserunner was caught stealing to end the inning before he could register a plate appearance.

On June 16, Hitoki Iwase of the Chunichi Dragons saved his 287th game to break Shingo Takatsu's career record in NPB.

A uniform baseball was put into place for NPB competition this year and it proved to be a pitcher-friendly one with offensive statistics dropping drastically across the board. Four teams had OBPs under .300, six pitchers had ERAs under 2 (two under 1.50) and only two Pacific Leaguers had 20-homer seasons (nine did so in 2010 and ten in 2009). No team slugged even .390 when over half slugged over .400 last year, including one over .450.

A couple players still managed to set offensive records. Hanshin Tigers outfielder Matt Murton had a 30-game hitting streak, tying him for 4th longest in NPB history and breaking Glenn Braggs' record for a foreigner. Also, Seibu Lions slugger Takeya Nakamura belted 48 home runs, more than the entire Chiba Lotte Marines team; it had been 57 years since anyone had done that in NPB.

Standings

Bold indicates league champion; Italics indicate Nippon Series winner; * indicates playoff team

Central League

Team	G	W	L	T	WPCT	GB	RS	RA	AVG	OBP	SLG	ERA	Manager(s)
Chunichi Dragons*	144	75	59	10	.560	--	419	410	.228	.298	.330	2.46	Hiromitsu Ochiai
Tokyo Yakult Swallows*	144	70	59	15	.543	2.5	484	504	.244	.312	.343	3.86	Junji Ogawa
Yomiuri Giants*	144	71	62	11	.534	3.5	471	417	.243	.298	.354	2.61	Tatsunori Hara
Hanshin Tigers	144	68	70	6	.483	9	482	443	.255	.307	.354	2.83	Akinobu Mayumi
Hiroshima Toyo Carp	144	60	76	8	.441	16	439	496	.245	.305	.324	3.22	Kenjiro Nomura
Yokohama BayStars	144	47	86	11	.353	37.5	423	587	.239	.296	.333	3.87	Takao Obana

Pacific League

Team	G	W	L	T	WPCT	GB	RS	RA	AVG	OBP	SLG	ERA	Manager(s)
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks*	144	88	46	10	.657	--	550	351	.267	.323	.384	2.32	Koji Akiyama
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters*	144	72	65	7	.526	17.5	482	418	.251	.304	.356	2.68	Masataka Nashida
Saitama Seibu Lions*	144	68	67	9	.504	20.5	571	522	.253	.318	.366	3.15	Hisanobu Watanabe
Orix Buffaloes	144	69	68	7	.504	20.5	478	518	.248	.307	.342	3.33	Akinobu Okada
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	144	66	71	7	.482	23.5	432	464	.245	.298	.323	2.85	Senichi Hoshino
Chiba Lotte Marines	144	54	79	11	.406	33.5	432	533	.241	.301	.316	3.40	Norifumi Nishimura

Leaders

Bold indicates league record, Italics indicate all-time record

Batting

Statistic		Central League				Pacific League
		Leader	Team	Number		Leader	Team	Number
Batting Average		Hisayoshi Chono	Yomiuri Giants	.316		Seiichi Uchikawa	Softbank Hawks	.338
Runs		Norichika Aoki	Yakult Swallows	73		Takeya Nakamura	Seibu Lions	97
Hits		Matt Murton	Hanshin Tigers	180		Tomotaka Sakaguchi	Orix Buffaloes	175
Doubles		Kenta Kurihara	Hiroshima Carp	29		Kazuo Matsui	Rakuten Golden Eagles	35
Triples		Takashi Toritani	Hanshin Tigers	7		Tomotaka Sakaguchi Yuichi Honda Nobuhiro Matsuda Munenori Kawasaki	Orix Buffaloes Softbank Hawks Softbank Hawks Softbank Hawks	7
Home Runs		Wladimir Balentien	Yakult Swallows	31		Takeya Nakamura	Seibu Lions	48
Runs Batted In		Takahiro Arai	Hanshin Tigers	93		Takeya Nakamura	Seibu Lions	116
Stolen Bases		Daisuke Fujimura	Yomiuri Giants	28		Yuichi Honda	Softbank Hawks	60
Walks		Takashi Toritani Kazuhiro Hatakeyama	Hanshin Tigers Yakult Swallows	78		Takeya Nakamura	Seibu Lions	79

Pitching

Statistic		Central League				Pacific League
		Leader	Team	Number		Leader	Team	Number
ERA		Kazuki Yoshimi	Chunichi Dragons	1.65		Masahiro Tanaka	Rakuten Golden Eagles	1.27
Wins		Kazuki Yoshimi Tetsuya Utsumi	Chunichi Dragons Yomiuri Giants	18		Masahiro Tanaka D.J. Houlton	Rakuten Golden Eagles SoftBank Hawks	19
Losses		Kentaro Takasaki	Yokohama BayStars	15		Masaru Takeda Yoshihisa Naruse Hideaki Wakui	Nippon Ham Fighters Chiba Lotte Marines Seibu Lions	12
Saves		Kyuji Fujikawa	Hanshin Tigers	41		Hisashi Takeda	Nippon Ham Fighters	37
Save Points		Kyuji Fujikawa	Hanshin Tigers	44		Hisashi Takeda	Nippon Ham Fighters	39
Innings Pitched		Kenta Maeda	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	216		Yu Darvish	Nippon Ham Fighters	232
Appearances		Takuya Asao	Chunichi Dragons	79		Yoshihisa Hirano	Orix Buffaloes	72
Hits Allowed		Bryan Bullington	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	183		Yoshihisa Naruse	Chiba Lotte Marines	188
Home Runs Allowed		Masanori Ishikawa	Yakult Swallows	18		Yoshihisa Naruse	Chiba Lotte Marines	15
Strikeouts		Kenta Maeda	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	192		Yu Darvish	Nippon Ham Fighters	276
Base-on-Balls		Yuya Fukui	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	68		Shinya Nakayama	Orix Buffaloes	69

Award Winners

The winner of the 2011 Sawamura Award was Masahiro Tanaka of the Rakuten Golden Eagles. He had a 19-5 win-loss record, 241 strikeouts, and a 1.27 ERA in 226.3 innings, leading the Pacific League in ERA, wins (tied), shutouts (6) and complete games (14).

Award	League	Player	Team	Position	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG	W - L	SV	IP	HA	HRA	BB	SO	ERA
Most Valuable Player	CL	Takuya Asao	Chunichi Dragons	P	Did not bat									7 - 2	10	87 1/3	57	0	15	100	0.41
	PL	Seiichi Uchikawa	Softbank Hawks	OF	429	48	125	12	74	4	.338	.371	.485	Did not pitch
Rookie of the Year	CL	Hirokazu Sawamura	Yomiuri Giants	P	52	2	4	0	2	0	.077	.127	.096	11 - 11	0	200	149	14	45	174	2.03
	PL	Kazuhisa Makita	Seibu Lions	P	6	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	5 - 7	22	127 1/3	105	5	19	86	2.61

Best Nine

The following players were part of the 2011 Best Nine teams.

Central League			Position		Pacific League
Player	Team				Player	Team
Kazuki Yoshimi	Chunichi Dragons		P		Masahiro Tanaka	Rakuten Golden Eagles
Shinnosuke Abe	Yomiuri Giants		C		Toru Hosokawa	Softbank Hawks
Kenta Kurihara	Hiroshima Carp		1B		Hiroki Kokubo	Softbank Hawks
Keiichi Hirano	Hanshin Tigers		2B		Yuichi Honda	Softbank Hawks
Shinya Miyamoto	Yakult Swallows		3B		Takeya Nakamura	Seibu Lions
Takashi Toritani	Hanshin Tigers		SS		Hiroyuki Nakajima	Seibu Lions
Hisayoshi Chono	Yomiuri Giants		OF		Yoshio Itoi	Nippon Ham Fighters
Norichika Aoki	Yakult Swallows				Seiichi Uchikawa	Softbank Hawks
Matt Murton	Hanshin Tigers				Takumi Kuriyama	Seibu Lions
			DH		Jose Fernandez	Seibu Lions

Gold Gloves

The following players were the recipients of the Gold Glove Award in 2011.

Central League			Position		Pacific League
Player	Team				Player	Team
Takuya Asao	Chunichi Dragons		P		Masahiro Tanaka	Rakuten Golden Eagles
Motonobu Tanishige	Chunichi Dragons		C		Toru Hosokawa	Softbank Hawks
Kenta Kurihara	Hiroshima Carp		1B		Hiroki Kokubo	Softbank Hawks
Keiichi Hirano	Hanshin Tigers		2B		Yuichi Honda	Softbank Hawks
Shinya Miyamoto	Tokyo Yakult Swallows		3B		Nobuhiro Matsuda	Softbank Hawks
Takashi Toritani	Hanshin Tigers		SS		Hiroyuki Nakajima	Seibu Lions
Hisayoshi Chono	Yomiuri Giants		OF		Yoshifumi Okada	Chiba Lotte Marines
Norichika Aoki	Yakult Swallows				Yoshio Itoi	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
Yohei Oshima	Chunichi Dragons				Tomotaka Sakaguchi	Orix Buffaloes

High School Baseball

The 83rd National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament featured 32 schools competing in the tournament at Koshien. In the championship game Tokaidai Sagami High School (Kanagawa) defeated Kyushu Kokusaidai Fuzoku High School (Fukuoka) by a score of 6 - 1.

Hall of Fame

The following people were elected to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame:

• Hiromitsu Ochiai, by Sportswriters Committee
• Mutsuo Minagawa