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The story
The 2025 season numbers of Hiroshima Toyo Carp shortstop Kaito Kozono (.309 average, 161 hits in 521 at-bats, 2 home runs, 61 RBI, .753 OPS) became a hot topic on 5ch. Posters pointed out that despite the high batting average, his OPS was low — a sign of weak power — and the discussion spread into comparisons with past greats like Ichiro, Kazuyoshi Tatsunami, and Hiroyuki Nakajima, factoring in his position and how he’s been used. Others pushed back, arguing the numbers “aren’t bad considering how low-scoring the game is these days,” splitting opinion right down the middle.
What people said
I mean, it's a low-offense era.
Ten years ago this would translate to an OPS over .800.
An OPS of .750 obviously puts you among the better hitters.
Kozono's actually a similar type to Ichiro, isn't he —
the kind whose stat line looks better than his actual contribution to the team.
Huh?
Ichiro could single-handedly swing or control a game.
He's basically a souped-up Kinmoto.
Guess it's all in how you spin it, lol
Feels like Hiroshima might end up scooping up Nene once he gets released.
Nah, Nene was a first-round pick, so that won't happen.
Depending on the manager, he might get moved to a new position again next year,
though that kind of conversion would probably only happen if someone like Kuwata became manager.
if you're only looking at single-season hitting, yeah, he's in that range.
Same logic as saying if Uehara or Matsuzaka pitched in today's game, they'd post an ERA in the low 1's.
Nakajima and Tatsunami weren't great defenders either, though.
Just let Kozono play whichever position is easiest for him defensively and he'd be plenty usable.
But the Carp keep shuffling him around on defense instead of committing to developing him properly, so it ends up a half-baked arrangement.
Where's that supposed to be?
If we're talking Chunichi's Muramatsu, it's not even close — Muramatsu, hands down.
Have you never looked at Ichiro's OPS from his NPB days?
The gap in class is just too huge.
Look at wRC+ — Yoshida's comfortably higher.
That's overhyping him a bit.
As an all-around player Ichiro might be a tier above, but purely as a hitter, Yoshida's clearly better.
FYI the Central League's average OPS in 2018 was .754.
And that includes pitchers' at-bats, of course.
He's an elite player, and style-wise he's basically what Tatsunami used to be.
Tatsunami was quietly an on-base machine, so the style's actually pretty different.
Kozono led the league in OBP too, though.
The eras are different, and it's a bit unfair to compare someone who should still be heading toward his peak with someone who completed a long career, but—
career numbers:
Kozono: .282 avg / .319 OBP
Tatsunami: .285 avg / .366 OBP
Tatsunami's career-long OBP is still higher than Kozono's number from his own best-ever, league-leading season.
That's because the league OPS is off by about .100 between the two eras.
The league OPS is off by about .100 between the two eras.
Just looking at last year alone, he's in Tatsunami/Nakajima territory.
Background and Key Points of the Debate
OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage) is a stat used to gauge a hitter’s overall offensive value, and .753 is considered slightly below league average. As noted in the thread, the Central League’s average OPS in 2018 was around .754 — and in today’s ongoing low-offense environment, the crux of the debate was that “the same number gets judged differently depending on the era.” Shortstop, Kozono’s primary position, also carries a heavy defensive workload, which complicates measuring his value by batting stats alone. Ichiro and Kazuyoshi Tatsunami are typically discussed in terms of career totals, and the thread doesn’t spell out that comparing them to a single season involves differences in era and years played. Note that later in the thread, unverified claims about Kozono’s personal conduct and legal matters came up; since the facts couldn’t be confirmed, this article omits that exchange.
※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “Kaito Kozono (2025): “.309 average (161-for-521), 2 HR, 61 RBI, .753 OPS” ← this wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww (lolololololololololol).”
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