온라인바카라After two years with the Chiba Lotte Marines, Lee moved to the Yomiuri Giants, where he batted .302 in 2006 and finished second in the Central League in batting. He hit 41 home runs and drove in 108 RBIs that year, finishing second in home runs and fourth in RBIs. Tyrone Woods of the Junichi Dragons won the home run (47) and RBI (144) titles that year.
After moving to Japan with the Doosan Bears, Woods won two home run titles with the Yokohama BayStars and one with Junichi.
Alex Cabrera tied for the Pacific League lead in RBIs (100) in 2006. A key contributor for the Seibu Lions, Cabrera was second in slugging percentage (3.01%). Rick Short of the Rakuten Eagles was third (3 for 1, 4).
Cabrera, a Venezuelan, was the 2002 home run leader (55), while Short, an American, led the league in batting in 2008.
In 2014, foreign batters led the Central League in batting average, home runs, and RBIs. Hanshin Tigers’ Matt Marten was 3-for-33 with eight RBIs, his teammate Mauro Gomes had 109 RBIs and Hiroshima Carp’s Bradley Eldred hit 37 home runs. Marten led the league in hits three times, in 2010, 2011 and 2013.
Like the KBO, Nippon Professional Baseball relies heavily on foreign bats. Powerful foreign hitters in the centre of each team’s batting order were at the top of the batting leaderboards.
However, this has changed in recent years, and it’s hard to find foreign batters on the leaderboards. Their presence has definitely diminished.
As of today, there are no foreign players in the top five in the Pacific League in batting average, home runs, or RBIs. They’re not even in the top 10 in batting average. Seibu’s David McKinnon is 12th at 2.051, the highest ranked foreign player.
The Central League is similar. There is only one foreign player in the top five in the major categories of batting average, home runs, and RBIs. Jose Osuna of the Yakult Swallows is tied for second in that category with 13 home runs. He is five behind Kazuma Okamoto, Yomiuri’s No. 4 hitter, who leads the way.
Osuna is sixth in RBIs (40). He is the only foreign hitter in the top 10 in this category.
Last year, there was only one foreign player in the Central League’s batting top 10. In the Pacific League, all 10 were Japanese.
The primary reason for the decline of foreign players is strong pitching.
Like last year, it’s a “two-hitter” season in both leagues. As of the third day, the Central League has six batters with three triples, while the Pacific League has only two. Last season, there were four in the Central League and two in the Pacific League.
The quality of the Japanese league is higher than before, especially the pitching. This makes it harder for hitters to make it between the minor and major leagues.
Mel Rojas Jr. was the best hitter in the KBO when he was with the KT Wiz, but he spent most of his time with Hanshin bouncing between the first and second teams. In two years, he batted .222 (82-for-372) with 17 home runs and 48 RBIs.
Japan is no longer an attractive league for quality hitters with long balls. While the average salary in Major League Baseball continues to rise, Nippon Professional Baseball has stagnated. There is a shortage of quality hitters in the major leagues, and they are in high demand. There is no reason to fly to Japan to play in an unfamiliar league.
Recently, foreign player representatives from KBO clubs have also complained about the difficulty of finding good players.