Ed’s College Balls – 2015 Tokyo Collegiate Circuit Primer (Part 1)
Week of Jan. 18th (Ed. 1, Vol. 2)
Welcome again to Ed’s College Balls. As the show is now being produced on a part-time basis, it will concentrate from now on the Tokyo Collegiate Circuit (TCC). We will also try to bring you the best from the Nihon Koyaren (NH).
To that end, here’s a brief (p)review of the 10 Universities that make up the TCC. I expect the scouts of the LRS will have their eyes firmly trained here this year, as there’s a few exciting seniors looking forward to the 2015 draft. Who knows what this year’s crop of freshmen will bring? In part one, we will profile the Tokyo Roku.
One of the premier universities of the TCC, Meiji has claimed the Tokyo Collegiate Baseball Championship the last three years and have a 179-101 record since TCC play began. A 42-14 record clinched the Roku in 2014 and they went on to defeat the Aoyama Gakuin Mighty Missionaries 5-4 in the Championship series. Out of the eight seniors that were eligible for the 2014 draft, six were drafted and one has since been picked up by the Kure Arsenal. The star draftee was Juro Kawakami, whom the Shin Seiki Evas picked 13th overall.
GM Mitsuo Inagaki has signed a three-year contract extension and the university has recruited nine freshmen for 2015. The best looking is Kazuo “The Dominator” Ishihara. With seven of the incoming class being pitchers, they’ll have to hit the ground running if Meiji wants to four-peat.
The TCC’s top batter, RF Tsutomu Murakami, and the fourth-rated pitcher, CL Jo Kichida, are both seniors this year and are sure-fire 2015 first rounders. Seniors Ieyoshi Maeda and Naruhiko Fujimoto will be much in demand, too.
Hosei was the inaugural TCC champion back in 2010, but success has eluded them since. Their 29-27 record in 2014 was their first finish over .500 since then, and that was still 13 back of the all-conquering Troika. Ten of their 11 2014 seniors were drafted. The highest was pitcher Yoshiaki Rin, who was drafted sixth in the second round by the Naha Shisa.
Manager Gen Takaki has himself a two-year extension. Nine freshmen are joining the team. Their biggest challenge will be to remold the outfield, which lost its three stars to the draft
Closer Yakamochi Nakano will be their most sought after senior, but expect some interest in Shingen Maruyama. Hosei will be much more scouted for their freshmen, with Isei Makino, Okakura Ishikawa and Arinori Mochizuki already having scouts drooling over their potential.
UTO’s only season above .500 was 2013 when they finished 31-25, eight back of the Troika. Apart from that, it is a history of futility for the Imperials. They own a 122-158 record in the TCC. They had just five seniors in the draft, but all five were selected, with Kosho Hayashi going fifth overall to the Fushigi Yugi Celestial Warriors.
Manager Art Avery was granted a one-year extension to his Imperials career. The university has recruited four freshmen. Expect much of the same from UTO in 2015.
It’ll be a busy year for scouts to visit UTO with 10 seniors in the draft. Iwane Sato will be the most sought after, though, and his willingness to work and learn may well lead to him being a first round pick. Kiminobu Noda was drafted In 2014 out of Osaka Toin high school by the Niihama-shi Ghosts but failed to sign and will play 2015 in the Imperials colors.
The Bishops have never made the TCC playoffs but have managed three winning records. Their best season was 2012, when their 35-21 record left them just one game behind the Troika. Their overall TCC record is 144-136. Seven out of their nine seniors were drafted, with Daniel Bourgeois going 11th overall to the Arsenal. The other two undrafted seniors were picked up by PEBA organizations, but one has been cut already.
GM Kisho Shimatani was fired after the Bishops slumped to fourth place and a 25-31 record. Gary Marshall has been hired to lead them back to winning ways. Eight freshmen will join Rikkyo, including four pitchers as the Bishops seek to improve their starting rotation.
The bleachers will be packed to see three highly touted prospects hit their senior years. Orinosuke Yokoyama, Taheiji Kiyomizu and Takeji Matsumoto will take the scouts attention, but they’d be wise to keep an eye on Toshiro Naito and Yasujiro Tanaka, the pick of the litter amongst newly arrived freshmen.
After finishing two games out of first in the opening TCC season, the Unicorns won it all in 2011 with a 38-18 Roku record, but they’ve yet to reach those heights again. They touched bottom in 2013 with a 14-42 record and their overall mark is 132-148. Only one of their nine seniors went undrafted. Tadashi Kato, drafted by the Neo-Tokyo Akira with the first pick of the third round, was their highest pick. He went on to win the 2014 Ruukii KyuugiDokaben with the Nagano Olympians
Manager Kikaku Noda paid the price for two years of mediocrity in Keio and Otojiro Maeda is the new man tasked with restoring the glory days to the Unicorns. Seven freshmen join the Unicorns as the team sets about restructuring an offense that ranked sixth in most categories. The pitching staff was second ranked.
Eight more seniors will be eligible for the 2015 draft but really only closer Shohei Sanu and will really drag the scouts along to Keio. Freshman Motoki Ando might be a sideshow, as insiders claim he has shown flashes of talent. Takao Sato was a third round pick of Kawaguchi out of Osaka Toin high school but failed to cut a deal.
The Bear’s highest finish was fourth in the Tokyo Roku in 2013. Their 30-26 record that year was their only winning season to date. Their overall record stands at 122-158. Three of the Bear’s 13 players went undrafted in 2014. Yosuke Kono was taken highest, drafted 8th overall by the Akira. Nobuhisa Kanda, also chosen by Neo-Tokyo, was a second round (16th overall) selection. They both went on to play a major role in Nagano’s 2014 Ruukii Kyuugi Dokaben win.
New manager Magohachi Kokawa and scouting director Toshiyuki Ichihara will try to plot the Bear’s path forward. With their 13 freshmen, it will be a case of wait and see how the new boys take to the TCC. Taizo Ine is the pick of the crop of seniors headed for the 2015 draft, but scouts will be streaming in to watch Hirotsugu Suzuki and Nobuhito Ohayashi, two freshmen that are expected to be the toast of the class of 2015.
Part two will look at the Tokyo Metropolitan and the Nihon Koyaren.