There has been a lot of activity this offseason with catcher transfers! Fushimi has been transferred Hanshin Tigers, Ito Hikaru to Rakuten, and Kakinuma Yakult
Baseball King
2025.11.21(金) 23:15
There has been a lot of activity this offseason with catcher being transferred.
On November 14th, the shocking news broke of a trade involving Nippon-Ham Fighters catcher Torii Hanshin Tigers and Hanshin pitcher Hiroya Shimamoto. Fushimi joined Orix as the third pick in the 2012 draft, and after consecutive league championships with Orix, he transferred to last-place Nippon-Ham as a free agent in the offseason of 2022. During his three years with Nippon-Ham Fighters, he played in 89 games in his first year in 2023, 62 games in 2024, and 64 games this season. He never played in more than 100 games in a season, but he led the young Nippon-Ham pitcher, including his battery partner from his time with Orix, Hiromi Ito Sachiya Yamazaki Kota Tatsu. It was a surprising transfer.
On November 18th, catcher Hikaru Ito exercised his overseas free agent rights from DeNA and transferred to Rakuten. Hikaru Ito joined Orix as a third-round draft pick in 2007. He became the starting catcher in 2013 and played in over 100 games for three consecutive years. In 2014, he was named to the Best Nine and the Golden Glove Award. He was traded to DeNA in the middle of 2018 and only played in six games this season. DeNA faced fierce competition for catcher, with Yudai Yamamoto, veteran Yasutaka Togashira, and young player Shion Matsuo. However, Rakuten, where he transferred to, lacks a clear starting catcher, with Hikaru Ota playing in the most games this season with 111 games, followed by Kengo Horiuchi with 76 games and Tsuyoshi Ishihara with 31 games. In addition to the lack of an experienced veteran catcher, it seems likely that he will see more playing time in his new home.
On the same 18th, Tomoya Kakinuma catcher, who had left Lotte, moved to Yakult. Atsuki Taneichi Kakinuma joined Lotte as a second-round draft pick in the 2003 developmental draft, and in his first year with the team, he was registered as a managerial entry in the middle of 2004. In recent years, with the rise of young catcher players such as Toshiya Sato and Ryusei Terachi, he made three appearances last season and no appearances this year, and was notified at the end of the season that he was no longer a member of the team.
His new team, Yakult, has Yudai Koga and Yuhei Nakamura as starting pitchers, but the team’s catcher, Soma Uchiyama and Seiya Hashimoto, also play in positions other than catcher, so there is a shortage of catcher. He is likely to get more playing time than he did with Lotte.
All three players will be looking to shine in their new surroundings.
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