Kazuma Okamoto (27),스포츠토토 the fourth hitter of the Yomiuri Giants, hit 9 home runs in 6 games from last week to early this week. It is a record that even the world’s home run king Oh Sadaharu (Wang Jeong-chi, current Softbank Hawks president) could not achieve. On the 6th, in the match against the Hiroshima Carp, he hit his 28th, 29th, and 30th home runs of the season. He passed 30 home runs for the sixth straight year. As of the 12th, he has 31 home runs, which is the first in the Central League.
Munetaka Murakami (23), the “monster” of the Yakult Swallows, started the pursuit with a home run in three consecutive games, but only 22. Okamoto leads comfortably by nine points.
Okamoto won the home run and RBI title for two consecutive years from 2020 to 2021. He had 31 home runs -97 RBI in 2020 and 39 home runs -113 RBI in 2021. Last season, he was overwhelmed by the momentum of Murakami, the three-time hitter, but this year is a different atmosphere. He is aiming for a comeback with two home runs and RBIs for the first time in two years.
However, Okamoto, who is the overwhelming No. 1 in home runs, is not No. 1 in RBI. If you are the leader in home runs with about 10 points ahead of the 2nd and 3rd places, you should definitely be the 1st in RBI, but there is a ‘dark horse’. This is Shugo Maki (25), the fourth hitter of the Yokohama Baystars.
Maki played as 4th and 2nd baseman against Yomiuri held at Tokyo Dome on the 12th. In the first two at-bats, Yomiuri left-hander starting pitcher Iori Yamasaki was overwhelmed. He struck out two consecutive at-bats as the leadoff batter in the second and fourth innings.
The third at-bat in the 7th inning was different. In a situation where there was no one runner, I went in aiming for the first pitch. He pulled a 138km/h forkball that was falling into the strike zone to his side and flew it to the left side of the Tokyo Dome. It was the 20th home run of the season, which was 0-3. Yokohama, which only had 3 hits, lost 1-5. Thanks to Maki’s home run, he escaped the loss.
Maki scored his 73rd RBI of the season with this home run. He overtook Okamoto, who was recording 72, and became the top scorer in RBI. In the match against Yomiuri the previous day (11th), he also attacked the first ball and connected it with a 2-run home run, the 19th of the season.
Maki led the RBI before Okamoto hit a home run. He has 11 fewer home runs than Okamoto, but has 1 more RBI. He was strong in scoring chances enough to offset the small number of home runs.
Maki went 34-for-96 with runners in scoring position this season, going .354. More than 6 puns higher than his season’s batting average of 2.9 2. On the other hand, Okamoto went 21 hits in 93 at-bats and went 2/26.
He consistently created scoring opportunities. Since the match against the Hanshin Tigers on August 6, he has been recording RBIs in six consecutive games. In this span, he picked up 11 RBIs.
Maki, a right-winger, graduated from Chuo University and debuted in 2021 after entering the draft as the second pick. 22 in 2021
Home runs, hit 24 home runs in 2022. He became the 6th player in Japanese professional baseball history to exceed 20 homers for 3 consecutive years since his debut season. He deserves to hit 30 home runs this year.
Maki played an active part as the main second baseman of the WBC (World Baseball Classic) Japan national team. Tetsito Yamada (31), a veteran Yakult second baseman with extensive experience in international competitions, naturally became the starting pitcher as he showed extreme sluggish batting.