The Critical Difference between Tomohiro Anraku, former Rakuten player who left the team due to power harassment, Hotaka Yamakawa, and Sho Nakata

Makayuki Morii, 49, president of the Tohoku Rakuten Eagles, held a press conference on November 30 to explain the power harassment allegations against Tomohiro Anraku, 27.

He announced that the team would remove Yasura from the roster of players with pending contracts, which was due on that day .

Various power harassment scandals were reported about Yasura. There was testimony that he was slapped during camp and suffered whiplash symptoms, and that he was forced to pay money as a “fine,” and there are records of this exchange on line and in other media.

NEWS POST SEVEN further reported, based on a woman’s testimony, that “Anraku’s habit of picking up women was well known, and whenever he went on an expedition, he would often get into trouble by approaching women near his lodgings,” and that he allegedly stalked women who ran away because they did not like him.

Before the power harassment allegations came to light, a young player, troubled by Yasuraku’s harassment, consulted a baseball team official. The official called Yasura to warn him, but he replied on the spot, “I didn’t do it.

Rakuten also conducted its own survey of as many as 100 people involved with the team. In the survey, “I heard that there were almost no voices defending Yasuraku, or saying that the news reports were clearly wrong,” according to a team official. President Morii, after making a comprehensive judgment based on such internal investigations, admitted that “it is true that he made a junior player stand on his head and strip naked in the locker room,” and removed him from the roster for the next season. In effect, he was dismissed.

In a similar example to Anraku, Sho Nakata, 34, then of Nippon Ham, assaulted a fellow player during a game two years ago. He was ordered to leave the stadium and suspended from home during the game, and for the time being, Nippon Ham suspended him from all first- and second-team games. Subsequently, Nichi-Ham manager Hideki Kuriyama consulted with Giants manager Tatsunori Hara by phone. Criticism focused on the fact that the transfer was accomplished through a free trade, and that he also played for the Giants’ first team just nine days after his suspension.

Furthermore, in May of this year, Hotaka Yamakawa, 32, of Seibu, was sent to prosecutors on suspicion of forcible sexual intercourse with a female acquaintance. Yamakawa, who was not charged, exercised his domestic FA rights that he acquired this year. Regardless of which team he joins, there is a way for him to continue playing baseball in Japan. However, this is not the case with Anraku. A source from an NPB team who has experience coaching in an independent league said, “Nakata and Yamakawa will be able to continue playing baseball in Japan.

Nakata and Yamakawa were able to return to Japan, but it will be tough for Yasura. The other 11 teams, as well as the independent leagues, will have a hard time acquiring him. The independent leagues are largely supported by sponsors, so compliance is tough. If I want to find a way to continue playing next season, I will have to go overseas.

Nakata was assaulted, Yamakawa committed adultery, and Anraku committed power harassment ……. All of these acts are highly contrary to morals, but they have not led to criminal cases. Even so, according to the aforementioned official, it is unlikely that Yasuraku will be able to play in Japan next season.

Nakata, Yamakawa, and Anraku have different problems, so we can’t make a simple comparison. But what they all have in common is that there is still a concern that there may be something new about all three that has not yet been made public. If a team wants to acquire a player, it must be prepared to take the risk of dealing with the “concerns” of the three players. Nakata, who has won the batting title three times, and Yamakawa, who has won three home run titles and one batting title, have the track record and ability to make a team want to acquire them even if they have to take that risk.

For three seasons in a row, Yasura has pitched in more than 50 games for Rakuten. Although he does not have the same track record as Nakata and Yamakawa, teams suffering from a shortage of relievers may consider acquiring him. However, whether or not he will be able to survive when he gets into trouble and finds himself in a tight spot in his baseball career is a matter of numbers and titles in a world where the law of the jungle is the law of the jungle. An active coach for a professional baseball team speaks for himself.

But in close games where the score is close and you don’t want to see him get hit by a pitch, I have the impression that he gets hit pretty often. I was wondering if he was a player with surprisingly weak feelings, unlike his outward appearance, when the power harassment allegations came out, and in a sense I understood. After all, a person who takes a coercive attitude toward a person in a weak position is a “weak” person by nature,” he said.

It is sad that Yasura, who should have secured his position through his achievements, could not maintain his composure unless he had to act in a coercive manner toward younger players. Now that the power harassment scandal has revealed his deep-seated humanity, one wonders how he is feeling at his home in Sendai City.