Last week the news broke that the Lions would be selecting pitcher Tsuyoshi Wada from the Hawks as compensation for Softbank signing free agent Hotoka Yamakawa. This was met with a lot of disbelief in the Twitter-based NPB fan community for several reasons. One of those was that Wada had been a member of the Hawks since being drafted out of Waseda University back in 2003 (with the exception of the four seasons he spent in North Ameica from 2012-2015 with the Orioles and Cubs) so it seemed inconceivable that he'd go to another team at this point in his career. The other was why on Earth would the Lions select someone who'll be 43 years old in a few weeks?
As it turned out, the story about Wada's selection turned out to not be true. The Lions instead have selected pitcher Hiroshi Kaino, which makes a lot more sense. Kaino is 27 and was a much heralded prospect after his collegiate career at Toyo University but his pro career hasn't clicked yet. He missed most of the 2020 season with elbow issues. He's pitched relatively well in middle relief the last two seasons though and a change of scenery might do him some good.
Both Wada and Kaino were the top picks of the Hawks in the 2002 and 2018 drafts respectively. Here's each of their BBM Rookie Edition cards:
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| 2003 BBM Rookie Edition #63 |
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| 2019 BBM Rookie Edition #011 |
2 comments:
One of the best moments of 2023 was seeing Tsuyoshi Wada and Masahiro Tanaka face off (on the same night Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki were scheduled to face off) and sent everyone back to like 2009.
I remember that game! Although I had to go look up the details. Tanaka went five innings and struck out seven while Wada only went four. Eagles won 3-0. This was on April 14th when Sasaki stuck out 11 and Yamamoto struck out 9 and the Marines beat Orix 2-0.
Tanaka and Wada also faced off on June 26th with the Eagles winning 3-1. Wada lasted five innings and Tanaka lasted seven this time although he only struck out three.
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