Ask for help What is the name of this ball belonging to the athlete? Thank you. (Tiger team)

Since there's no post game threads to do the news dumps, here's some happenings from the past week:

• The Yokohama DeNA Baystars are planning on picking up the option on Tyler Austin's contract to bring him back for the 2025 season. Tyler signed a 3 year contract from 2022, with a club option for a 4th year
• The Softbank Hawks will be sending pitcher Haru Matsumoto to play in the Puerto Rico Winter League from Nov 6 to Dec 17
• More than 6,000 people showed up to the Hanshin Tigers Autumn Camp in Kochi prefecture to see their new skipper Kyuji Fujikawa, the most in recent club history. The stadium had to open up the outfield seats to accomodate all the fans
• The Softbank Hawks plan to strengthen their batting department with AI-driven R&D for performance improvement. The team will use advanced technology, including motion analysis, to boost performance
• The Yokohama DeNA Baystars will be bringing on Shuichi Murata as a coach next year. Murata played for the Baystars from 2003-2011, racking up 360 HR over his playing career, along with the HR crown twice
• The Yakult Swallows won't be bringing back pitcher Miguel Yajure next year. He finished the 2024 season with 23 mound appearances going 5-10 3.34 ERA
• Game 6 of the Nippon Series drew an average TV rating of 14.4% in the greater Kanto area (Tokyo) according to video research
• The Hanshin Tigers announced they signed development team P Jose Betances & Anthony Martinez to contracts for the 2025 season. The two players were originally signed during the Tigers first ever tryouts held in the Dominican Republic in Jan this year
• Starting Nov 6 NPB will be selling tickets to their annual "NPB Awards" ceremony to be held on Nov 26. There will be "High Five" seats for 15,000JPY where fans will be able to high five players being awarded
• Es Con Field Hokkaido will be hosting 2 B-League basketball games, Dec 28 and 29
• The Central League announced the 2025 Opening Day games for Mar 28, 2025: Giants-Swallows (Tokyo Dome), Carp-Tigers (Mazda Stadium) and Baystars-Dragons (Yokohama Stadium). Interleague play will start from Jun 3 at Pacific League parks
• Yomiuri Giants pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano officially applied to use his International Free Agency rights yesterday
• The Yakult Swallows made pitchers Cy Sneed and Miguel Yajure free agents. Cy Sneed played for the Swallows for 4 years, being the Swallows Opening Day pitcher this season. He went 2-8 5.03 ERA this season
• The Rakuten Eagles announced that they will hold regular season games in all 6 prefectures of the Tohoku area. Iwate: May 20 vs Seibu, Fukushima: Jun 5 vs Baystars, Yamagata: Jun 10 vs Dragons, Aomori: Aug 26 vs Hawks and Akita: Aug 27 vs Hawks
• The Pacific League announced the 2025 Opening Day games for Mar 28, 2025: Hawks-Marines (PayPay Dome), Lions-Fighters (Belluna Dome) and Buffaloes-Eagles (Kyocera Dome)
• The Yakult Swallows will be sending 5 players to the 2024 Asian Winter Baseball League in Taiwan: Pitchers Hikaru Yamashita and Yuki Ishihara, Catcher Takuma Nakagawa, IF Ruito Nishimura and IF Ryui Ito
• Former MLB, Japan (Hiroshima Carp, Nankai Hawks) outfielder Jim Lyttle gets Indiana Hall of Fame call for basketball and now baseball https://takeoutyourscorecards.wordpress.com/2024/11/06/former-mlb-japan-outfielder-lyttle-gets-hall-of-fame-call-for-basketball-and-now-baseball/
• The Yakult Swallows made pitcher José Espada a free agent today. He's the 3rd non-Japanese player from the 2024 season they've made a free agent. He made 24 mound appearances this season going 0-2 5.00 ERA with 5 Holds
• Softbank Hawks pitcher Shuta Ishikawa announced that he would exercise his domestic Free Agent rights he acquired this season. "I don't often get the chance to hear how I'm evaluated in the baseball world."
• The Hiroshima Carp announced they have renewed the contract for pitcher Taylor Hearn for the 2025 season. He appeared in 35 games with a 1.29 ERA, and had a streak of 16 consecutive mound appearances without giving up a run from his NPB debut
• The Hiroshima Carp announced that they will not be giving a contract to pitcher Thomas Hatch for the 2025 season. In his 5 starts he went 0-3 with a 7.36 ERA
• The Hiroshima Carp have acquired former Colorado Rockies IF Elehuris Montero. He hit 21 HR in MLB and 106 HR in the minors. He'll wear uniform #95
• Yu Darvish made a surprise visit to Es Con Field Hokkaido and the Fighters Autumn practice camp, encouraging the players there. He warmed up a little bit with Fighters pitcher Miyanishi. He also had the Fighters shop there all to himself to shop
• Mizuno glove-making master Kosaku Kishimoto was recognized as an "Outstanding Skilled Worker" by the Ministry of Health Labor & Welfare. Kishimoto made gloves for players like Ichiro & Hideki Matsui. To celebrate, a limited-edition glove will be released
• The Yomiuri Giants have locked up pitcher Yuhei Takanashi on a multi-year deal according to reports. He acquired domestic free agency rights this year, but won't be using it now
• The Orix Buffaloes will be taking orders for this Buffaloes glove chair for a limited time, Nov 11~18. The price will be 1 million JPY (~6,549USD) and will be delivered towards the end of May 2025

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/b3e522d117c096f8cd580818d7a65abebda23616?source=sns&dv=pc&mid=other&date=20241109&ctg=spo&bt=tw_up

i’d really like to watch more of the games but don’t really know how, so when the next season rolls around i’m hoping to know a little more

I’m new to following NPB & am now becoming more interested as more players make their way to the states?

Who are the next big names for me to watch now, before they come over to the MLB potentially?

I’ve read a lot about Rui Muneyama & Sasaki here at Stanford. Anyone else?

Happy birthday to our own トップバッター! His batting stance and swing is always a spectacle. 👏

https://preview.redd.it/jg6wulr3wnzd1.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0d0643c442284abd57df8e5c861458eea6793084

As I prepare for a possible extended stay in Japan I've recently been getting invested in NPB! I started lurking this sub around the start of the Japan Series (congrats Baystars!) but I've decided to become a Giants fan which I know may be controversial for this sub haha but I had an absolute incredible experience when I saw them play at the Tokyo Dome last summer. I have a basic grasp of teams and their history at this point but I'm still pretty clueless on current players and the stars of each team so some help identifying this towel(scarf?) would be great. Thanks!

I’m in Fukuoka for the day is there any chance to get a Nankei Hawks cap? Where?

This is mainly to keep track of the non-Japanese players, but we should also probably keep track of the free agents that might move.

##NEW ADDITIONS

##DEPARTURES

I know I've seen reports that certain players aren't likely to be back, but I can't remember them all. Please comment if there are new signings or players I've missed (with source if you can), and I'll add them to the list when I get time.

Yes, the big name Japanese free agent moves are welcome too.

##MOVES TO MLB POSTING/FA

hi, so me & my friends managed to get P12 tickets at the Taiwan leg. Gonna cheer for Japan obviously 🤭 Just wondering if there are dos & don'ts we need to note. We're used to watching NPB games live where anyone can bring bulky cameras and no one bats an eye etc (not that I would bring one) but ofc I'd want to take some snaps & videos during the game using my phone.

Also since this is an international event, can I still bring my NPB jerseys/cheering towel specific to a certain NPB team? Or only national team jerseys are allowed? Do you guys know if they would have pop up stores for merch there?

Anything else I should be mindful about at the stadium?

I apologize if this has been brought up or talked about before. I’m curious if In any interviews has Roki said which team he grew up watching or as a fan of? The closest team to where he grew up would’ve presumably been Rakuten Golden Eagles? Is there a slim chance he was a fan of Masahiro Tanaka at all growing up before he was posted? I understand Sasaki did not have a normal childhood but I’m sure baseball has always been an outlet for him and Just curious if he has ever spoken about what his favorite team or favorite players were growing up.

Hi all, the 2025 schedule has been released and it looks like the Carps have a game against the Giants on Tuesday 13 May 2025. We'll be in Hiroshima that day (visiting from Australia).

I've read a lot of information that tickets are near impossible to get, although there was an update on the Reddit wiki in 2023 that it's not so bad anymore - wondering if that's still the case?

The Carps website says they won't post tickets overseas, but it's there a way to get an online only ticket, or pickup only ticket? I would really love to take my family to a Carps home game, but worried if I wait until we're in Japan to purchase tickets the game will be sold out.

Any advice would be appreciated. I wish Japan Ball Tickets were still allowed to operate

Hey is the 2025 player tracker up yet? Quite a bit of movement already with teams announcing who won’t be returning next year that I’m aware of so far

Gonna try to go to the April 1,2,3 games versus the Swallows. Morning of March 28th I’ll head to Mazda stadium ticket office and see what I can wrangle. Anyone else plan to be there? By the way I found out you can’t book tickets through the Grand Prince Hotel. EDIT - Turns out a lot of hotels can't sell you tickets. The website opens up for registration on January 5th 2025 to buy tickets online. Worst case scenario I will head to the stadium March 28th 11 AM. Second EDIT - I read the NPB info wrong. The home team is on the left, not the right. So Carp is hosting the Tigers the 28th, 29th, 30th They go to Tokyo to play the Swallows the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. So if I can't get the home game tickets I should definetly be able to get the Swallows tickets

https://www.sponichi.co.jp/baseball/news/2024/11/06/kiji/20241105s00001173347000c.html

The article says that the Baystars management and the city of Yokohama are in the process of finalising arrangements for the team's victory parade, and that they're both looking at holding it on November 30th (a Saturday). The parade will go from the Minatomirai area to Yokohama Stadium, passing through the Akarenga area. The coach, players and staff will be riding open top busses.

Very excited for this!

I've noticed that we have different teams winning the Nippon Series so far. We have:

• 2020: Fukuoka Softbank Hawks
• 2021: Tokyo Yakult Swallows
• 2022: Orix Buffaloes
• 2023: Hanshin Tigers
• 2024: Yokohama DeNA Baystars

While the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks remained the best team in the NPB so far despite losing to the Yokohama DeNA Baystars, I wonder if we're gonna see one team dominating the rest of the decade or we'll see different teams winning the Nippon Series until 2029?

I saw something come out from the NPB Twitter page with what I was thinking is the 2025 schedule, does anyone know how to read it, I am going to Japan from April 9th to April 18th and I am focused on seeing either a giants game or Swallows game, can anyone explain the schedule release?

I’ve been thinking about this for a little while. Why couldn’t Sasaki sign as an international free agent after skipping the draft? Carter Stewart didn’t sign out of the MLB draft and ended up signing with the Hawks for 6 years. Why can’t Sasaki do the same thing and sign with a major league team?

I don't know why I'm having such a hard time finding this!