Toyama Welcomes Back Ishikawa in Minor League Coaching Role

[Wind Dancers]

Toyama Welcomes Back Ishikawa in Minor League Coaching Role
March 7, 2033
Toyama Wind Dancers

While Spring Training has arrived, today’s news comes from Toyama’s SS-A affiliate, the Osakasayama Swamp Dragons where longtime Wind Dancer Okakura Ishikawa has been hired. Taking over as the hitting coach for the Swamp Dragons, Ishikawa spent 12 seasons within the Toyama organization before his retirement in 2031. Ishikawa was never flashy but regularly hit for contact, a trait which has carried over in how he coaches hitters. Across his career, Ishikawa hit .271 and only hit above 15 HRs in a season, twice. He did earn an all-star appearance and Gurabukin award in 2020 while playing in the LRS and was a calm locker room presence.

Growing up in Kawasaki within Tokyo, Ishikawa was a talented HS ballplayer. In the hyper-competitive Greater Tokyo Area, Ishikawa did not make any of the elite PEBA-affiliated HS teams, but was a local favorite dominated from early on. Originally a CF, Ishikawa adapted to a corner OF role, despite his plus speed and arm, and excelled. He would eventually attend the prestigious Hosei University and their famed baseball team. In college, Ishikawa was a .325 hitter and 2-time All-star who won the Circuit Tokyo Collegiate Baseball Championship in 2017. Ishikawa would spend time in Toyama with two of his former Hosei teammates, Isei Makino and Tsuginori Honma. Toyama’s current RP Takahiro Takaki was also a year below Ishikawa at Hosei as well as current Fargo 1B Koshiro Nakashima.

He would go on to get drafted 3rd overall by Neo-Tokyo the next year and won two rookie of the month awards in 2019. The following season, he would be a part of the Lupin Cliffhangers team that won the Neo-Tokyo Cup in 2020, the only championship in Toyama/Lupin history. In 2021, Lupin made their way over to the PEBA where Ishikawa established himself as a regular starter in RF. His best season would come in 2024 hitting .298 with 16 HRs and 82 RBI’s. Following the hiring of GM Krupilis, Ishikawasaw the bench a bit more with the emergence of a few talented, young outfielders coming through the system. Ishikawa stayed with the WinD’s until 2030 when he spent half of the season in Okinawa. His final season of pro baseball came the year after signing a 1 year minor league contract with Toyama’s AAA affiliate, Yokohama before retiring at the end of the season. After retiring, spent much of 2032 with his family and coaching youth baseball back home in the Tokyo area. Ishikawa ended his career on many of Toyama’s batting career leaderboards including WAR (7th), Games (4th), Runs (4th), Hits (3rd), and singles (2nd).

Ishikawa will get his coaching start in Osaka where his easygoing attitude will mesh well with the younger players in the system. His contact focus will be a huge boon to young players before they’ve developed their power and baseball IQ.

Toyama welcomes back Ishikawa and looks forward to seeing his coaching career advance in the future.