2020 NPB Japanese Baseball Set

I'm new here! My name is Kevin. I found this blog a few months back and that's what got me back into Showdown, so I feel honored to be posting on here. I used to work overnights for a sports data company, and some of my responsibilities were recording NPB (Nippon Professional Baseball) games, monitoring data feeds, etc. So I've always had an interest in the league and the players. Obviously, with Ohtani's runaway success this year it's made me think a bit about the next big star who could make the jump. 

I also still watch the occassional NPB game for that same company, tracking pitches. Seeing young stars like Munetaka Murakami and Masato Morishita is really what drove me to make this set. In 2020, Murakami was 20 years old and put up very similar numbers to Alex Bregman and Christian Yelich in 2019. So I set off to make a card for him. Then I figured why not just do the Best 9 (an official award given out, similar to an All-pro team) of the Pacific and Central Leagues. But once you've gotten that far, you may as well finish off the whole set. 

Due to Covid the NPB had a shortened season just like the MLB in 2020. However, it wasn’t shortened to the same extremes as the MLB, so there were 120 games played for each team which allowed for cards to be mostly "true".

Shout out and thanks to all the card designers out there (especially those on this blog, Peter, Matt, and Bob) who have shared their secrets, advice, and design input. The Showdown community is truly welcoming and wonderful. 

I welcome any and all feedback or constructive criticism. If something looks off, you see a blatant error, or want to share design tips/input please feel free to comment below or reach out on the Showdown Discord. 

Methodology:

I tried to capture the top 3 starters in IP for each team. Occasionally adding a 4th. I used the most played position player for each team, occasionally bending that rule, as there are quite a few players with multiple position availability. I did my best to line up with players from the MLB 2020 set so that it could play along side that set (or hopefully any set) reasonably well. For example, Jeimer Candelario had a .369 OBP in 2020 and was given 9 OB with 5 outs for his card. Hiroyuki Nakajima had a .369 OBP for the Yomiuri Giants in 2020. So he gets a 9 OB with 5 outs. I would also use the Showdown Bot as a check for points, or OB, HR rate, etc. 

Used the Tier system that Peter and his college buddies pioneered back in 2014 for pitching. I won’t go into detail on that as it’s been covered before. I will say again I tried though that I tried to match the 2020 set to some extent. There are Bieber and Bauer (the top 2 pitchers by points in the 2020 set) “clones,” and I tried to have some bad pitchers even if some other guys may have thrown more innings for their respective teams. 

Fielding...was a unique challenge. Especially since many players played several different positions. I couldn’t find defensive runs saved. But there were some other advanced fielding statistics I was able to track down from a Japanese site. Mostly UZR (Ultimate Zone Rating), but they had a couple of other metrics to supplement that. On this website you could only see qualifying players (unless you paid for a subscription) so if they didn’t qualify in 2020 I would check 2019, 2018, or 2021 and see how they were and try to make my best guess.

For catchers I couldn’t find caught stealing %, however, I did know each catcher’s SB allowed and their innings caught. So Stolen bases allowed per inning took the place of SB% essentially. 

Special note on the ground ball ranges. Simply put...they are huge. Less strikeouts overall than the MLB, and some of these guys have ridiculous ground ball rates. The average ground ball rate for pitchers represented in the set was 60.63%. (Koyo Aoyogi of the Hanshin Tigers had an absurd 78.90% ground ball rate in 120 ⅔ IP). I was initially thinking I may adjust everyone down a ground ball by 1 or 2, but decided to embrace the high ground ball rates to highlight the differences in the NPB and MLB games. I guess we’ll all find out how much infield defense really matters!

Enough about this. Let's get to the cards!

Softbank Hawks: The Hawks have won 4 straight Japan Series titles. Sweeping the Giants in both 2019 and 2020. Looking at their pitching it's not hard to figure out why. Three Tier 2 starters, three Tier 2 relievers, and a Tier 1 reliever to boot. Koudai Senga won the Best 9 award for pitcher in the Pacific League. Their offense overall isn’t that amazing, but it’s buoyed by superstar Yuki Yanagita. He’s basically the Japanese equivalent to Mike Trout.
Foils: Yanagita, Kai, Moinelo, Senga, Higashihama, Ishikawa

Yomiuri Giants: Japan Series runners up for the second straight year. They have an incredibly well-balanced team. Great starters, bullpen arms, and hitting. The left side of the infield is especially stacked with defense and power. Hayato Sakamoto is a star SS and Kazuma Okamoto moved from 1B in 2019 to 3B in 2020 and continued to hit, but has seemingly found the glove there too. Yoshihiro Maru is another one of my favorite cards in the set. Tomoyuki Sugano won the Best 9 award for pitching in the Central League and was one of two Tier 1 starters in the set. Kota Nakagawa is an amazing Tier 0 arm out of the pen. 

Foils: Okamoto, Sakamoto, Maru, Sugano, Nakagawa 

Orix Buffaloes: Masataka Yoshida is an ideal lead-off or 2-hole hitter. Adam Jones is still around! Yoshinobu Yamamato is a bonafide ace already at 20 years old in 2019 he was the only Tier 1 starter (2019 set in progress) and followed it up with a Tier 2 card in 2020. He's dominating again in 2021, and you can catch him pitching in the Olympics.

Foils: Yoshida, Yamamato, fun alt included!

Chiba Lotte Marines: Pink cards! I was excited to make these cards just for the look alone. And then you add in the Floral jerseys and you have a real treat for the eyes. It’s a shame they didn’t have better players though. They managed to finish 3 games over .500. I’m not really sure how when looking at their team in Showdown terms. Former MLB player Leonys Martín is quality. Starting pitching is decent, but a great bullpen.

Foils: Martín

Hanshin Tigers: Yusuke Ohyama has great pop and Koji Chikamoto is one of my favorite cards in the set. Sands and Bour supply some American power. Suguru Iwazaki is a great reliever. Everything else is okay. Takumi Akiyama is an intriguing tier 2 starter for 390 due to his HR.

Foils: Ohyama, Umeno, Nishi

Yokohama DeNA Baystars: Keita Sano is an anchor. Some interesting power guys in Neftali Soto and Tyler Austin. Kentaro Taira is a strong Tier 2 starter, and they have a handful of very usable arms out of the pen.

Foils: Sano, Austin, Taira 

Hiroshima Carp: Seiya Suzuki is maybe the best all around player in the set. Solid 8s throughout the line up. Masato Morishita was a rookie in 2020 and already established himself as a star (winning RoY in the Central League). He’s having another great year in 2021 and is pitching for Japan in the Olympics.

Foils: Suzuki, Aizawa, Morishita 

Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles: Hideto Asamura mashes, especially for a second baseman. Stefen Romero is a good power bat. Hideaki Wakui is a tier 3 starter with 7 IP and a home run for 330. 

Foils: Asamura, Mogi, Romero

Chunichi Dragons: Suheu Takahashi and Yohei Ohshima are a couple intriguing low powered 9s. Zoilo Almonte is a nice player. Former White Sox not-so-great, Dayán Viciedo, actually had a slightly down year for him with the bat, however, he won his first gold glove. I thought maybe it was a reputation award, but was surprised to see the metrics suggested he was elite, so he earned the +2 at first base. Yudai Ohno is an ace (the other Tier 1 starter in the set) and workhorse. Raidel Martínez is a tier 0 beast with Tier 1 Daisuke Sobue setting him up.  
Foils: Almonte, Martínez, Ohno

Nippon Ham Fighters: Ohtani's old team...and they could use his help. Kensuke Kondoh is an elite hitter. Sho Nakata has elite pop. Haruki Nishikawa is a cheaper 10 with his bad defense on low power. Two solid Tier 3s to lead off the rotation. Kohei Arihara was serviceable in 2020 (great in 2019 though), went to the Texas Rangers in 2021, and has struggled with the adjustment so far. 

Foils: Kondoh, Nakata

Saitama Seibu Lions: Left side of the infield defense is insane. Sosuke Genda and Shuta Tonosaki combine for +13. Hotaka Yamakawa is past his prime, but put up good power numbers. Cory Spangenberg is a fun card. Kaima Taira was insanely good as a rookie, winning RoY in the Pacific League. He only surrendered an incredibly stingy 3.7 hits per 9 innings in 2020. And his card could possibly get better in 2021 as he set a record for consecutive scoreless outings. He has only given up 1 run as of the Olympic/All-Star Break. Note: I made a special alt, throwback uni card which I think looks so nice, however, I could get enough photos of the players wearing those uniforms to make a full team with them. Foils: Kuriyama, Genda Taira

Tokyo Yakult Swallows: As I mentioned way at the beginning, Munetaka Murakami is who inspired me to make the set. He’s 6’2” 213 pounds with a sweet lefty swing. He made his NPB debut at 18 years old. Hit 36 bombs as a 19 year old in 2019. As a 20 year old in 2020 he slashed .307/.427/.585 in 515 PAs. He should be a top prospect to come over to America if he desires (and his team is willing to post him ever). He’s mashing again in 2021 and representing Japan in the Olympics. Former MLBer Nori Aoki had a big offensive season with elite defense. Tetsuto Yamada has 4 different 30-30 seasons under his belt, but had a bit of a down year in 2020, however, is still a solid second base option. Really bad pitching overall and you can see why they finished in last place. Yasuhiro Ogawa threw a no-hitter in 2020, which given his card for the year would require some very hot rolling to achieve in Showdown. Foils: Murakami, Aoki