Upcoming Milestones

With Opening Day 2025 arriving in less than a day and a half, I thought I'd roll out my now-traditional post about which players are approaching the career milestones that will ensure them admission to the Meikyukai or "Golden Players Club".  The requirements are that the player has to have been born in the Showa Era (1926-89) or later and accumulated more than 2000 hits, 200 wins or 250 saves.  Statistics from MLB count but only if the NPB stats came first - which is why Alfonso Soriano is eligible but Larry Parrish isn't.

There are five members of the Meikyukai active in NPB right now - Norichika Aoki, Hayato Sakamoto, Takumi Kuriyama, Yohei Ohshima and Yoshihisa Hirano - and one in MLB - Yu Darvish.  Darvish joined last year when he got his 200th victory between NPB and MLB.

I'm going to start by listing the active hitters who have less than 2000 hits but more than 1500:

1. Hideto Asamura,  1964 hits

2024 Epoch/Eagles Team Set 1st Version #36

2. Yoshihiro Maru, 1842 hits

2024 BBM 1st Version #101

3. Takeya Nakamura, 1807 hits

2024 Lions Bento

4. Shogo Akiyama, 1794 hits (1723 NPB, 71 MLB)

2024 Calbee Series One #C-03

5. Ryosuke Kikuchi, 1700 hits

2024 Topps Stadium Club NPB #92

6. Yuki Yanagita, 1595 hits

2024 BBM Hawks - Fly Again #25

7. Sho Nakata, 1569 hits

2024 BBM 2nd Version #475

8. Daichi Suzuki, 1567 hits

2024 Topps Stadium Club NPB #195

9. Tetsuto Yamada, 1565 hits

2024 BBM Fusion #78

10. Hisayoshi Chono, 1509 hits

2024 Topps NPB #41

I should mention that Hiroyuki Nakajima has not officially retired yet but he's not signed with a team since being released by the Dragons at the end of last season.  Should he sign with someone, he'd be second on the list with 1928 hits.

Of this group, I think it's pretty much a lock that Asamura will reach 2000 hits this season (and become the first player born AFTER the Showa Era to join the Meikyukai).  If Maru stays healthy, he's got a shot at it although he hasn't gotten 158 or more hits in a season since 2017.

Next up are pitchers with more than 150 wins and less than 200:

1. Masahiro Tanaka 197 wins (119 NPB, 78 MLB)

2024 Topps NPB #59-8

2. Masanori Ishikawa, 186 wins

2024 Bushiroad DreamOrder Central League Booster Pack Vol. 1 #CBP01-S07

3. Kenta Maeda, 165 wins (97 NPB, 68 MLB)

2020 BBM Carp History 1950-2020 #74

4. Takayuki Kishi, 164 wins

2024 Epoch NPB #254

5. Hideaki Wakui, 162 wins

2024 Calbee Series Two #C-09

I hope Tanaka finally gets the three wins he needs this year - I just wish he'd gotten them last year when he was still with the Eagles.  I don't think anyone else on this list is going to make it to 200 wins this year (or ever, frankly).

Last but not least, here's all the pitchers with more than 200 hundred saves and less than 250:

1. Naoya Masuda,  243 saves

2024 BBM Marines #M28

2. Yuki Matsui, 236 saves (236 NPB, 0 MLB)

2024 BBM Eagles #E099

3. Yasuaki Yamazaki, 231 saves

2024 Topps NPB #201

I feel like Masuda came out of nowhere to jump to the top of this list, considering he wasn't on it two years ago.  He could potentially beat Asamura to be the first Heisei-born Meikyukai member.  Yamazaki could possibly reach 250 saves if he's the closer again (I'm not sure if he's regained that role or not for this season).