Nippon Ham Manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo Is “Extremely Anxious”… The “Kohei Arihara Issue” Plagues the Team, Raising Questions About “Why We Struggle Against SoftBank”

An unusual situation where the team leads in batting average and home runs but still trails the leader by a wide margin

“This year, we’ll win 96 games and clinch the championship by a landslide!”

Nippon-Ham manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo (54) made this bold declaration before the season began.

However—the team has now played 99 games, with a record of 56 wins and 43 losses. Trailing the leader by 6.5 games, they are languishing in third place in the league, a situation far removed from the “runaway” championship he envisioned (figures as of August 3; same applies below).

In 2022, his first year on the job, Manager Shinjo stated, “I’m not aiming for a championship,” and set out to rebuild a team that had languished in the B Class for three consecutive years, taking a long-term perspective.His ability to awaken young players who had been unable to seize their breakthrough—and to propel the Nippon Ham Fighters to second place for two consecutive years in ’24 and ’25—was hailed as “Shinjo Magic.”

“Mr. Shinjo has no intention of continuing into next season; regardless of whether we win or lose, he plans to step down at the end of this year.That’s precisely why he’s so committed to this season; even before the season began, he had a clear vision of running away with the Pacific League, led by a lineup spearheaded by Kotaro Kiyomiya (27) and Nakamasa Manami (26), and backed by a rock-solid starting rotation featuring last year’s Sawamura Award-winning pitcher, Taikai Ito (28).”(Sports newspaper reporter covering the Nippon-Ham Fighters)

However, Manager Shinjo’s “runaway plan” went awry. Regarding the reason for this, Tsutomu Iwamoto, a former team player and baseball analyst, had this to say.

“The team’s batting average is .254, leading the Pacific League, and with 125 home runs, they’re by far number one—the lineup’s offensive firepower is tremendous. But they just don’t match up well against the first-place SoftBank. In 14 games against them, they’re 2-12. It’s as if they’re giving back the lead they built up against other teams whenever they face SoftBank.”

Why exactly doesn’t “Shinjo Magic” work against SoftBank?

The biggest reason is the Nippon-Ham Fighters’—and especially Manager Shinjo’s—almost excessive rivalry with the SoftBank Hawks this year.

“Mr. Shinjo is on good terms with SoftBank manager Yuki Kokubo (54), and before the season started, he often made the media laugh by saying, ‘We’re going to take down Kokubo, aren’t we?’ He also kept telling his players, ‘We absolutely have to beat SoftBank,’ but they were swept in the opening series, and their losing streak subsequently stretched to eight games.

The players’ anxiety has grown steadily, and Mr. Shinjo has stopped talking about SoftBank altogether. By focusing too much on ‘defeating SoftBank,’ they’ve fallen into a vicious cycle where the players are freezing up,” said a sports newspaper editor.

Player A, a Nippon-Ham outfielder, confided:

“On the surface, Mr. Shinjo is friendly—he calls players by their first names, like ‘XX-kun’—but when we’re on a losing streak or there’s a string of careless plays, he’ll sometimes drop the honorific and his tone becomes harsh. This tendency is especially strong during games against SoftBank; when he looks in a bad mood, we’re too scared to even approach him.

He’s usually cheerful and easy to get along with, though… When that state of mind persists, we can’t help but be conscious of SoftBank, and we start thinking, ‘Even if we’re in the lead, aren’t they going to come back and win?’”

What Arihara’s Slump—Acquired from SoftBank—Reveals

The slump of right-hander Kohei Arihara (33), acquired from SoftBank, was also a “miscalculation” by Manager Shinjo.

“The front office, led by CBO Hideki Kuriyama (65) and others, spearheaded the acquisition. Although there were initial rumors that a deal was already in place with the Giants, and Manager Shinjo wasn’t particularly eager to sign him, he seemed in high spirits, calling it a ‘pleasant surprise.’This was not only a boost to the team’s roster—adding a right-hander who had won the most wins title two years in a row—but also a way to weaken a rival’s lineup.

However, SoftBank didn’t care at all about Arihara’s transfer. His ERA, which was 2.36 in ’24, had deteriorated sharply to 3.03 last season, and they believed there was little chance of improvement given his age.“Furthermore, Arihara is a ‘king’ type who marches to the beat of his own drum; he doesn’t try to blend into the team’s culture and is a difficult pitcher to manage. That’s precisely why they took the ‘do as you please’ approach,” said a Pacific League team scout.

SoftBank’s assessment proved spot-on. Arihara has made eight appearances this season, posting a 4.88 ERA with a 3-6 record—a performance that doesn’t live up to his estimated annual salary of 500 million yen. On April 12, he was also involved in this “incident.”

“In the first inning, with one out and the bases loaded, Kiyomiya fumbled a ground ball hit by SoftBank’s Yuki Shuto (30). Arihara then yelled at him, ‘Catch it!’There have been cases where Shohei Ohtani (32) harshly reprimanded a young catcher for a passed ball, but that approach is effective only because a relationship of trust had already been established. When a pitcher with a “king-like” temperament yells at his teammates, it causes excessive tension to run through the team.

After the game, Arihara grumbled to those around him, “I don’t want you to use that guy in games I’m pitching,” further worsening the atmosphere. Is Kiyomiya struggling with a .241 batting average because of the pressure of becoming team captain, or is it due to Arihara’s ‘thunder’…?” (Team official)

Perhaps unable to shake off the tension that has gripped the team, the Nippon Ham Fighters have recorded 60 errors this season—the worst among the 12 teams. Even when their vaunted lineup is on fire, they often lose games due to sloppy defense.

“After the July 7 game against the Lotte Marines—a crushing defeat in which we gave up 10 runs due to three defensive errors—Mr. Shinjo snapped, ‘Aren’t we going to set a Japanese record for errors?’ While it was a humorous remark, deep down he was absolutely furious.Given that the manager has strong opinions about defense, infield defense and baserunning coach Ryota Taniuchi (35) and outfield defense and baserunning coach Kizuki Morimoto (45) are also racking their brains, saying, ‘We can’t exactly teach them to play poorly…’” (Reporter mentioned earlier)

As if in direct proportion to the cracks in their defense, the team’s ERA—which ranked second in the league last season at 2.53—has deteriorated to 3.26, placing them third.It’s not just Arihara’s underperformance; the slump among the starting pitchers who held down the rotation last year has also been a major factor. Ito, who competed in the WBC as a member of Samurai Japan, is struggling with a 3.29 ERA despite an 8-5 record.Kota Tatsu (22), who was expected to be the young ace, has struggled with a 3-6 record and a 3.21 ERA, and was temporarily moved to the bullpen.

“Amid all this, on July 15 against the SoftBank Hawks, starting catcher Yua Tamiya (26) suffered a contusion to his left middle finger.Fortunately, a long-term absence was avoided, but the number of games in which second-string catcher Yuya Shindo (24) and Yushin Shimizu (30), who was called up from the farm team, took the field behind the plate have increased.

“The fact that they’re relying on Shimizu—whose mistake in ’23, when he lost his mitt during a play and allowed a run, infuriated Manager Shinjo, is still fresh in everyone’s memory—shows that the lack of depth at catcher is another cause for concern,” (ibid.)

So, how can the Nippon-Ham Fighters defeat the SoftBank Hawks and clinch their long-awaited championship? Mr. Iwamoto, mentioned earlier, urges the pitching staff to step up.

“In 12 out of the 14 games against SoftBank, a right-handed pitcher started. It’s not something I can say definitively because it depends on the rotation, but using more left-handers is one option.

I’d love to see a passionate left-hander emerge who’s willing to directly plead with Manager Shinjo for a start.Takayuki Kato (34), who’s been on fire this season with a 10-1 record and a 2.70 ERA, could say, ‘Please let me face SoftBank!’ And if Mizuki Hori (28), who’s been consistent with a 1.59 ERA, were to volunteer, we could even start him right off the bat.”

However, even though they’re trailing SoftBank by a wide margin, there are quite a few teams that have pulled off a comeback to win the championship after the All-Star break.

“There are two keys to a comeback championship. One is the return of Kiyomiya—the left-handed power hitter the Nippon Ham lineup is lacking.His mental state may be affecting his slump, but what concerns me most is his high center of gravity at the plate. There have been numerous instances where he’s been lured into swinging at high fastballs as a decoy, only to be struck out by low breaking balls. I hope he can get his feet back on the ground and return to his tenacious style of hitting.

“The second is for Masayoshi Tanaka (32) to shine once again as the closer. As the season progresses, the pitching of the experienced Masayoshi will save the team,” (ibid.)

Since taking the helm in ’22, Manager Shinjo has spent two years “tearing down” the old system and the next two years instilling his own style of baseball into the team. Now in his fifth season—which he himself has declared his “final year”—can he achieve “Defeat SoftBank” and fill in the last piece of the “Shinjo Magic” puzzle?

From the August 7 & 14, 2026, combined issue of *FRIDAY*