2022 in Japanese Baseball

The 2022 Japanese season featured numerous highlights. Early in the year, Chiba Lotte Marines prodigy Roki Sasaki shattered the NPB record for consecutive strikeouts (13; the old record of 9 had stood for 65 years), becoming the first NPB pitcher to throw a regular season perfect game in 28 years and becoming the youngest to throw a perfect game. He then added 8 perfect innings in his next game to set a record for consecutive batters retired. It was the first of a record four no-hitters; Nao Higashihama, Shota Imanaga and Yoshinobu Yamamoto all threw no-hitters as well. For all of Sasaki's dominance, Yamamoto had an even better season, repeating as a pitching Triple Crown winner, something no one else had ever done in NPB annals.

Also setting a record, on the offensive side, was Yakult Swallows slugger Munetaka Murakami, who went deep 56 times. This broke Sadaharu Oh's 58-year-old record for home runs by a Japanese native (and was the second-highest total in NPB history, following Wladimir Balentien's 60). Murakami also was the first NPB player to homer in five straight at-bats. In the 2022 Japan Series, Yamamoto's Buffaloes met Murakami's Swallows. Yamamoto was roughed up in Game 1 and was injured, sidelining him the rest of the Series, but Orix came back to avenge their 2021 Japan Series loss as their pitchers kept Murakami and Yakult's strong offense in check for the last few games.

Standings

Bold indicates league champion; Italics indicate Nippon Series winner; * indicates playoff team

Central League

Team	G	W	L	T	WPCT	GB	RS	RA	AVG	OBP	SLG	ERA	Manager(s)
Yakult Swallows	142	80	59	4	.576	--	619	566	.250	.318	.410	3.52	Shingo Takatsu
Yokohama DeNA BayStars*	143	73	68	2	.518	8	497	534	.251	.308	.378	3.48	Daisuke Miura
Hanshin Tigers*	143	68	71	4	.489	12	489	428	.243	.301	.337	2.67	Akihiro Yano
Yomiuri Giants	143	68	72	3	.486	12.5	548	589	.243	.309	.392	3.69	Tatsunori Hara
Hiroshima Toyo Carp	142	66	74	3	.471	14.5	552	544	.257	.309	.364	3.54	Shinji Sasaoka
Chunichi Dragons	142	66	75	2	.468	15	414	495	.247	.301	.341	3.28	Kazuyoshi Tatsunami

Pacific League

Team	G	W	L	T	WPCT	GB	RS	RA	AVG	OBP	SLG	ERA	Manager(s)
Orix Buffaloes*	143	76	65	2	.539	--	490	458	.247	.317	.361	2.84	Satoshi Nakajima
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks*	143	76	65	2	.539	--	555	471	.255	.320	.377	3.07	Hiroshi Fujimoto
Saitama Seibu Lions	143	72	68	3	.514	3.5	464	448	.229	.298	.358	2.75	Hatsuhiko Tsuji
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	143	69	71	3	.493	6.5	533	522	.243	.325	.357	3.47	Kazuhisa Ishii
Chiba Lotte Marines	143	69	73	1	.476	7.5	501	536	.231	.303	.342	3.39	Tadahito Iguchi
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	143	59	81	3	.421	16.5	463	534	.234	.292	.356	3.46	Tsuyoshi Shinjo

Leaders

Bold indicates league record, Italics indicate all-time record

Batting

Statistic		Central League				Pacific League
		Leader	Team	Number		Leader	Team	Number
Batting Average		Munetaka Murakami	Yakult Swallows	.318		Go Matsumoto	Nippon Ham Fighters	.347
Runs		Munetaka Murakami	Yakult Swallows	114		Hideto Asamura	Rakuten Golden Eagles	73
Hits		Yuki Okabayashi Keita Sano	Chunichi Dragons Yokohama BayStars	161		Hiroaki Shimauchi	Rakuten Golden Eagles	161
Doubles		Shugo Maki	Yokohama BayStars	36		Hiroaki Shimauchi	Rakuten Golden Eagles	36
Triples		Yuki Okabayashi	Yokohama BayStars	10		Keita Nakagawa	Orix Buffaloes	9
Home Runs		Munetaka Murakami	Yakult Swallows	56		Hotaka Yamakawa	Seibu Lions	41
Runs Batted In		Munetaka Murakami	Yakult Swallows	134		Hotaka Yamakawa	Seibu Lions	90
Stolen Bases		Koji Chikamoto	Hanshin Tigers	30		Akito Takabe	Chiba Lotte Marines	44
Walks		Munetaka Murakami	Yakult Swallows	118		Hideto Asamura	Rakuten Golden Eagles	92

Pitching

Statistic		Central League				Pacific League
		Leader	Team	Number		Leader	Team	Number
ERA		Koyo Aoyagi	Hanshin Tigers	2.05		Yoshinobu Yamamoto	Orix Buffaloes	1.68
Wins		Koyo Aoyagi	Hanshin Tigers	13		Yoshinobu Yamamoto	Orix Buffaloes	15
Losses		Yuya Yanagi	Chunichi Dragons	11		Masahiro Tanaka	Rakuten Golden Eagles	12
Saves		Raidel Martínez	Chunichi Dragons	39		Yuki Matsui	Rakuten Golden Eagles	32
Innings Pitched		Masato Morishita	Hiroshima Carp	178 2/3		Yoshinobu Yamamoto	Orix Buffaloes	193
Appearances		Hiromu Ise	Yokohama Bay Stars	71		Naoto Nishiguchi Kaima Taira	Rakuten Golden Eagles Seibu Lions	61
Hits Allowed		Masato Morishita	Hiroshima Carp	195		Masahiro Tanaka	Rakuten Golden Eagles	160
Home Runs Allowed		Daichi Ohsera	Hiroshima Carp	18		Takahisa Hayakawa	Rakuten Golden Eagles	19
Strikeouts		Shosei Togo	Yomiuri Giants	154		Yoshinobu Yamamoto	Orix Buffaloes	205
Base-on-Balls		Aren Kuri	Hiroshima Carp	53		Shuta Ishikawa	Softbank Hawks	57

Award Winners

The winner of the 2022 Sawamura Award was Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Orix Buffaloes. He had a 15-5 win-loss record, 205 strikeouts, and a 1.68 ERA in 193 innings, leading the PL in ERA, wins, innings, strikeouts, complete games (4) and shutouts (2).

Award	League	Player	Team	Position	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG	W - L	SV	IP	HA	HRA	BB	SO	ERA
Most Valuable Player	CL	Munetaka Murakami	Yakult Swallows	3B	487	114	155	56	134	12	.318	.458	.711	Did not pitch
	PL	Yoshinobu Yamamoto	Orix Buffaloes	P	2	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	15-5	0	193	137	6	42	205	1.68
Rookie of the Year	CL	Taisei Ota	Yomiuri Giants	P	Did not bat									1-3	37	57	38	7	13	60	2.05
	PL	Yoshinobu Mizukami	Seibu Lions	P	Did not bat									4-4	1	56	34	1	17	40	1.77

Best Nine

The following players were part of the 2022 Best Nine teams.

Central League			Position		Pacific League
Player	Team				Player	Team
Koyo Aoyagi	Hanshin Tigers		P		Yoshinobu Yamamoto	Orix Buffaloes
Yuhei Nakamura	Yakult Swallows		C		Takuya Kai	Softbank Hawks
José Osuna	Yakult Swallows		1B		Hotaka Yamakawa	Seibu Lions
Shugo Maki	Yokohama BayStars		2B		Hideto Asamura	Rakuten Golden Eagles
Munetaka Murakami	Yakult Swallows		3B		Yuma Mune	Orix Buffaloes
Takumu Nakano	Hanshin Tigers		SS		Kenta Imamiya	Softbank Hawks
Koji Chikamoto	Hanshin Tigers		OF		Yuki Yanagita	Softbank Hawks
Keita Sano	Yokohama BayStars				Go Matsumoto	Nippon Ham Fighters
Yuki Okabayashi	Chunichi Dragons				Hiroaki Shimauchi	Rakuten Golden Eagles
			DH		Masataka Yoshida	Orix Buffaloes

Gold Gloves

The following players were the recipients of the Gold Glove Award in 2022.

Central League			Position		Pacific League
Player	Team				Player	Team
Masato Morishita	Hiroshima Carp|		P		Yoshinobu Yamamoto	Orix Buffaloes
Yuhei Nakamura	Yakult Swallows		C		Takuya Kai	Softbank Hawks
Sho Nakata	Yomiuri Giants		1B		Akira Nakamura	Softbank Hawks
Ryosuke Kikuchi	Hiroshima Carp		2B		Shuta Tonosaki	Seibu Lions
Kazuma Okamoto	Yomiuri Giants		3B		Yuma Mune	Orix Buffaloes
Hideki Nagaoka	Yakult Swallows		SS		Sosuke Genda	Seibu Lions
Yuki Okabayashi	Chunichi Dragons		OF		Shuhei Fukuda	Orix Buffaloes
Koji Chikamoto	Hanshin Tigers				Akito Takabe	Chiba Lotte Marines
Yasutaka Shiomi	Yakult Swallows				Ryosuke Tatsumi	Rakuten Golden Eagles

Hall of Fame

The following people were elected to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame:

• Masahiro Yamamoto, by the Players Division
• Shingo Takatsu, by the Players Division
• Shigeyoshi Matsumae, by the Special Committee