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The story
After Hanshin’s 4-1 victory over the Giants at Koshien on August 29, Manager Kyuji Fujikawa addressed the recent rise in hit-by-pitches at the post-game press conference, attributing it to “mounds getting harder” and the fact that, “unlike in America, mound shape differs from stadium to stadium,” stating “it’s not the players’ fault.” On the 5channel Geinou/Sports Sokuho+ board, opinions split over whether that explanation held up. Some pointed to the structural issue of harder mounds, while others brought up the incident where pitcher Kirishiki broke the bone of Chunichi’s Tsuchida with a hit-by-pitch — after which Manager Fujikawa reportedly settled things with Chunichi’s Manager Inoue with just a bow — prompting repeated criticism along the lines of “he’s awfully sensitive when it’s his own team getting hit.”
◆ JERA Central League: Hanshin 4-1 Giants (Aug. 29, Koshien)
Hanshin manager Kyuji Fujikawa laid out his views on the current hit-by-pitch crisis at the post-game press conference.
“The mounds have really gotten harder in recent years. And unlike in America, the shape of the mound differs from ballpark to ballpark. So when pitchers come out of the bullpen and start throwing, it’s hard to get a feel for it — that’s true across NPB as a whole, and especially in the Central League, where a lot of stadiums are built that way. Pitchers experience this hard mound for the first time once they turn pro, so their control inevitably suffers. That’s bound to happen when there isn’t consistency all the way from the amateur level up to the pros. So this isn’t on the players.”
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
[Hit Batsmen Allowed (by team)]
(2020) 1st: Giants 59 2nd: DeNA 38 3rd: Chunichi 36
(2021) 1st: Giants 56 2nd: DeNA 51 3rd: Yakult 50
(2022) 1st: Giants 65 2nd: Yakult 59 3rd: DeNA 58
(2023) 1st: Giants 64 2nd: Yakult 63 3rd: Chunichi 51
(2024) 1st: DeNA 51 2nd: Hiroshima 46 3rd: Giants 44
(2025) 1st: Chunichi 51 2nd: Yakult 49 3rd: Giants 47
(2026) 1st: Giants 47 2nd: Yakult 44 3rd: DeNA 39
Yamada-kun, take away all his cushions! (a catchphrase from the variety show 'Shōten' used to mock a lousy comment)
Just ignore the nutjobs who keep dragging the Chunichi incident back into it.
Chunichi actually has the fewest hit batsmen allowed in the whole Central League, even though they've played the most games.
In the Hiroshima game though, their catcher set up behind Kozono and beaned him on purpose.
Kakefu's even gone as far as demanding elbow guards be banned.
Chunichi fans furious: "Manager Fujikawa protests hard when it's his own team getting hit, but…" — Kirishiki, who broke Chunichi's Tsuchida's bone with a pitch, apologized to Manager Inoue, who responded with only a bow [Reporter Fuyutsuki★]
https://hayabusa9.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/mnewsplus/1787885621/
Chunichi fans should be mad at their own Manager Inoue, not Fujikawa.
Bwahaha, posting with a burner ID again? (a 'single-post ID' — used once and never seen again, a sign of sockpuppeting)
coaches who still teach 'throw it like you mean to hit the batter' —
of course hit-by-pitches are going up.
Nippon-Ham's Kato is in the running for the wins title despite a slow fastball,
and he's got zero hit batsmen so far.
Honestly, pitchers in the wins race tend to hit fewer batters overall.
https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/2078448711966085120/vid/avc1/1280×720/bWGYAoLnu8G-zJ_8.mp4
It's beyond creepy for the manager who ordered this to be the one saying that.
If he's a zombie, he'll be fine.
If it were Sato or Oyama getting hit, that'd just be an unlucky accident.
It's meaningless to lump hit-by-pitches together for a guy crowding the plate and a guy standing way off it.
That just proves he's weak on the inside pitch.
This isn't even baseball anymore at this point.
Of course people are put off when they see stuff like this.
I went back and watched the live-commentary thread from when they broke that Chunichi player's bone — seeing him smirking, a good chunk of people (basically the whole thread) were stunned and angry.
Like, 'what the hell did you just do, apologize already.'
Broke a Chunichi Dragons player's bone, so now he's spinning it as 'everyone's problem'? Ha.
This guy is beyond gross.
Same with Shinjo and Okada — for some reason Hanshin alumni always act like they speak for the whole league whenever something happens.
A ball like that shouldn't even be allowed in sports.
I thought it felt basically like a rock. Way too hard. As a kid I touched a softball and thought 'what's "soft" about this, it's hard!' — but after touching a real hardball later, I finally got it.
Just pound the inside corner against them relentlessly.
If anything, other teams seem to have cooled off because they don't even want to deal with them anymore.
Even the Giants, after beating Hanshin twice in a row on July 25, had Ohshiro plunked twice straight after and have lost every game against them since.
Hashigami's only the interim manager too, so he doesn't seem willing to push back against their intimidation-ball.
Background and Key Points of This Story
The rise in hit-by-pitches has repeatedly become a hot topic in NPB in recent years. Unlike in the US, mound shape and hardness aren’t standardized across stadiums, so pitchers have to adjust to the feel of harder mounds after turning pro — Manager Fujikawa’s explanation touches on that structural backdrop. At the same time, commenters on the thread brought up the incident where pitcher Kirishiki broke the bone of Chunichi’s Tsuchida with a hit-by-pitch, after which Manager Fujikawa reportedly settled things with Chunichi’s Manager Inoue with just a bow — drawing repeated criticism along the lines of “he’s awfully sensitive when it’s his own team getting hit.” According to a stat rundown posted in the thread, the Giants led the league in hit batsmen allowed in most years between 2020-2023, and again in 2026, suggesting that which team is the “offender” shifts year to year — a sign that the hit-by-pitch problem isn’t unique to any single team.
*This article is compiled as an excerpt and summary from the 5channel (Geinou/Sports Sokuho+) thread ‘[Baseball] Hanshin Manager Kyuji Fujikawa on the Hit-Batsman Crisis: “I want to protect Hanshin’s players, and I want to protect every player on every other team too”‘.
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