There will be three teams under new field management in 2026. The Chiba Lotte Marines will be managed by Saburo*, the Tokyo Yakult Swallows will be under the leadership of Takahiro Ikeyama and the Yokohama DeNA Baystars will be run by Ryoji Aikawa. All three are first time managers which is somewhat surprising in Ikeyama's case as he just turned 60 last week which is a little old to be making your managerial debut. All three spent most if not all of their careers with the team they're taking over which is pretty standard for an NPB manager - of the 12 current NPB managers, only Hajime Miki of the Eagles didn't play for the team that they're running.
* Saburo's full name is Saburo Ohmura but, as there was another player with the family name "Ohmura" (Iwao Ohmura) when he joined the Marines in 1995, he decided to go with "Saburo" as his registered name. He continued to do this even after the other Ohmura left the team after 2003. He went by his full name during his brief tenure with the Yomiuri Giants in 2011. I think he will continue to be "Saburo" as manager since that's the name he was using as farm team manager the past two seasons.
Here are cards of all three new managers:
 |
| 2007 Marines Team Set #3 |
 |
| 1994 Kanebo #018 |
 |
| 2000 Future Bee Baystars #Yb-018 |
No comments:
Post a Comment