A thread on 5ch heated up over a hypothetical: if you picked NPB’s all-time “Best Nine” based purely on defense, who makes the cut? It started with the observation that the Golden Glove Award tends to be swayed by batting stats, and while familiar names like Atsuya Furuta, Ryosuke Kikuchi, and Yoshio Yoshida were treated as locks, opinions split over whether active shortstop Sosuke Genda’s glove would actually hold up in MLB. Third base and center field also drew multiple candidates, and the thread never quite settled on a final lineup.
What people said
1AnonymousSep 26, 2026 10:56
This is actually pretty tough.
For pitcher, is it Kuwata or Matsuzaka?
3AnonymousSep 26, 2026 10:59
Furuta and Kikuchi are locks, right?
4AnonymousSep 26, 2026 11:00
Just rank them by most Golden Gloves won — this'd settle itself real easy.
13AnonymousSep 26, 2026 11:08
Re: #4
The Golden Glove's basically decided by batting stats anyway.
5AnonymousSep 26, 2026 11:01
Kikuchi's a lock, no contest.
6AnonymousSep 26, 2026 11:01
At least stick to active players lol
7AnonymousSep 26, 2026 11:02
Yamamori — inducted into a Hall of Fame in America.
8AnonymousSep 26, 2026 11:02
Center's gotta be Shinjo, right, and right field's Ichiro?
No idea about left — maybe Maeda or someone.
9AnonymousSep 26, 2026 11:03
If anecdotes count, it's Yoshio Yoshida — legend has it he'd never fully secure a grounder in his glove before firing it (he'd scoop and throw for speed over a clean catch).
16AnonymousSep 26, 2026 11:11
Re: #9
My late grandpa, a diehard Giants fan, used to go on about this all the time too:
"Shortstop is Yoshida! Not Hirooka — Yoshio Yoshida!"
12AnonymousSep 26, 2026 11:07
Center field's gotta be Shuto.
15AnonymousSep 26, 2026 11:08
Center field: Yutaka Fukumoto, who won 12 straight Golden Gloves.
17AnonymousSep 26, 2026 11:16
A lot of people put Morimichi Takagi on there
even though I've never actually seen him play.
Re: #23
Tsuji's Golden Gloves were earned with his bat, not his glove.
29AnonymousSep 26, 2026 11:31
The three outfielders: Ichiro, Taguchi, Fukumoto.
37AnonymousSep 26, 2026 11:49
Re: #29
If you're picking from Hankyu/Orix, it's gotta be Motonishi.
30AnonymousSep 26, 2026 11:35
Genda's defense alone is said to be MLB-caliber.
31AnonymousSep 26, 2026 11:36
No way
MLB shortstops are on a whole different level when it comes to arm strength.
32AnonymousSep 26, 2026 11:38
Even MLB reporters rate Genda's shortstop defense as world-class.
36AnonymousSep 26, 2026 11:49
In MLB the exit velocity off the bat is so high that shortstops have to play deeper or the ball gets through
which is why a cannon arm is non-negotiable there.
38AnonymousSep 26, 2026 11:56
When it comes to handling a short-hop throw, among active players Hanshin's Ohyama is a cut above.
Guess some people can't even read the thread title.
41AnonymousSep 26, 2026 12:08
Second base is obviously Kikuchi, no question
every former pro who's weighed in says he's the best defender ever at the position.
42AnonymousSep 26, 2026 12:16
What are we doing about third base though
Can't really count Miyamoto as a third baseman
Is Bansuro fine?
43AnonymousSep 26, 2026 12:18
Are there even any players who are great on defense but can't hit at all?
46AnonymousSep 26, 2026 12:23
Iron-clad defense paired with so-so hitting — that'd be the late Yano of the Carp.
49AnonymousSep 26, 2026 12:26
A "good" third baseman is really only good compared to other teams' third basemen
honestly most of them are bad lol
50AnonymousSep 26, 2026 12:31
Nishimoto
Ito
Oh
Tsuji
Nagashima
Kawai
Minoda
Fukumoto
Ichiro
51AnonymousSep 26, 2026 12:36
Shinjo and Ichiro are locks in the outfield, so there's only one spot left to argue over.
54AnonymousSep 26, 2026 12:41
Third base is definitely Okamoto
I hate the Giants but I'll give him that.
56AnonymousSep 26, 2026 12:45
Why is everyone still picking based on batting
Read the thread title.
57AnonymousSep 26, 2026 12:49
I'll also vote Okamoto for third
even leaving batting out of it, it's Okamoto.
58AnonymousSep 26, 2026 12:55
As a combo, Genda and Shiozaki's defense is a work of art.
59AnonymousSep 26, 2026 12:55
Kanetori went from the Giants, where Cromartie held center field,
to the Lions, where Koji Akiyama held center field.
He said that even on balls he gave up thinking "that's extra bases…",
Akiyama would run it down with ease and bail him out.
60AnonymousSep 26, 2026 13:00
Right field: Haniuda — even when he drops a fly ball, his cannon arm gets it back in so fast everyone ends up blaming the catcher instead.
Background and Key Points of This Debate
The Golden Glove Award is chosen by votes from managers, coaches, and reporters, but in practice it tends to favor players with strong batting numbers — NPB has no official metric that directly measures range or throwing accuracy. So every name floated in the thread rests on individual memory or highlight-reel impressions rather than any statistical backing. As for the contested question of Sosuke Genda’s defense, MLB shortstops play deeper and need a stronger arm to cope with higher batted-ball speeds — a structural difference that’s easy to overlook if you take “his defense is great, so it would translate” at face value.
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