Composting Coaches in Shin Seiki

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Evas
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Composting Coaches in Shin Seiki

#1 Post by Evas »

Gary Trundleburry, Shin Seiki Post

06/02/2031: Nagoya, Japan

Time marches on in Shin Seiki like any place else. Games are played, stats are compiled, careers and made and ended. It’s the ending that has been in vogue lately for a handful of Eva personnel. Retirements of coaches that 98% of fans reading this article have never heard of opened up some room – for names that Eva fans certainly know: Chris “Trapper” Holmes, Gonçalo ‘Streamline’ Doroteia, and Shunsen ‘Ogre’ Ueda.

That makes a whopping 8 former SS players out of 21 total coaches in the organization. I’m sensing a trend. GM Kevin Vail had the follow to say on the subject:

“We’ve been fortunate to have had many great talents spend big portions of their careers in the SS organization – both on and off the field. What better build on the legacies of the coaches than to bring back the players who learned from those great coaches. These are players who learned not just how to excel on the field, but how to lead. The success of Shinsui Hoshino, rising up to be the hitting coach on our PEBA squad after cutting his teeth in the minors, shows the promise of the approach. We’ve been calling it ‘composting’ internally. Tongue-in-cheek, of course.”

These will make an excellent bench coach.

Comparing the future leaders of your organization to rotting banana peels and egg shells wouldn’t be my approach. But what do I know? I’ve been doing this for 35 years and all I have to show for it is a hemorrhoid the size of a tater tot. I call it Sheila.

The careers of these former Eva stars were anything but hemorrhoidal.

Chris “Trapper” Holmes is a borderline Hall of Fame (we have one of those now!) candidate. His career spanned 2010 through 2026. Most of it was spent in Crystal Lake. How did he end up in SS? In a word, recidivism. He had stints on the Evas in 2019, back in the LRS days, 2025, and 2026. His new coaching position marks his fourth tenure in SS. He played for 6 different organizations in his last six PEBA seasons. The ability to thrive in changing environments and still provide leadership were his hallmarks. He will start his coaching journey as the Hitting Coach for the A ball Marduk Nerv, who lack any major hitting prospects at the moment. 2031 will be more about developing him as a coach, that him developing any players.

While “Trapper” was more of a visitor in SS, Gonçalo ‘Streamline’ Doroteia spent almost his entire career in the Eva system. Streamline was the top pitching prospect in the Eva system when Vail took the reins in 2010. A stalwart of the LRS era Evas (192 GS, 1,241 IP, 22.9 WAR), he made only a brief 2 game cameo in PEBA, during the 2022 season. He was a proud and loyal player, soldiering in AAA Kyoto even though it was made clear to him that he didn’t have a great chance of making the big league club. He felt at home with the Evas and wanted to contribute, even if that meant being depth and mentoring young players. That span was clearly a turning point for him. His mentorship helped young arms like Takahiro Takaki and Ricardo (CURSE THE RULE 5 DRAFT FOREVER) Pérez blossom. Clearly the Evas are hoping he can do more of that from here on out.

Last, and certainly not least to long-time Eva fans, is Shunsen ‘Ogre’ Ueda. He is another potential Hall of Famer who had an amazing LRS and PEBA spanning career from 2012 to 2029. He is the all-time Eva leader in Game Pitched (746) and saves (254). He was so prolific over his 11 years in SS that he even ranks 4th in K’s (1,065) and 7th in WAR (22.5), which is amazing considering the other pitchers at that level were all long-time starters. He doesn’t bring the same natural leadership that Holmes does or the brilliant insight that Streamline does. What he brings to the table is how to set one’s self up for success through consistent routines and relentless hard work. Not all players have top shelf talent. But all players can benefit from pushing themselves to their limit. We’ll see if Ogre can make that happen.

Might we see more former Evas make the switch to the bench after the 2031 season? There are a couple coaches in the minors with contracts that expire after this season. The Hitting Coach position in Seoul looks pretty ripe to me. But who knows? Not Sheila. And certainly not me.
Kevin V. - GM of the Shin Seiki Evas.
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Leones
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Re: Composting Coaches in Shin Seiki

#2 Post by Leones »

Great to see a storied club with such a wealth of players reach back and 'compost' some of them. Great article!

p.s. "CURSE THE RULE 5 DRAFT FOREVER" really is a bit too long for a nickname methinks :wink:
Patrick Hildreth
- La leña roja tarde pero llega

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