NPB Rates & Ranks Report #3 - Week Ending 5/18/2025

I rated & ranked over 150 KBO players and here are the results...

Chris Boz

May 19, 2025

Document : NPB Rates & Ranks Report #3

Level : Professional - International

Source : https://www.fangraphs.com/

Offensive Date Data pulled : Sunday, May 18, 2025 10:54 AM ET

Pitchers Date Data pulled:

Overview : From an offensive perspective, I rated & ranked 136 KBO position players using stats for the follow dates 2025 Season Start - 5/18/2025. Players were assessed using a neutralized Run Value system to measure their overall offensive production, broken down into two core components:

“The Run Tool”— Captures the value generated from non-hit plate appearances (walks, stolen bases, etc.)
“The Hit Tool”— Measures a player’s offensive impact via hitting.
“Overall” — A sum of the Run Tool and the Hit Tool, representing overall offensive contribution.

Each player is rated & ranked in these three categories: Run Tool, Hit Tool , and Overall

When I look at players I look at them in terms of production amongst their league and MLB standards. Here is where most player fall in terms of Run Value / PA or Overall Rate using a NPB scale.

Average Overall Rate 0.117 & Standard Deviation of 0.027

That said, I like to compare these players to a MLB standard scale for production to see if they could make the transition. If I were looking to acquire a player from another league with lower competition, then I need this player to be producing at an above average production or better.

I used the MLB Overall Rate scale to color code the spreadsheet to easily identify players measure up against MLB Standards when viewing by Age. To view the spreadsheet by Age click the little calculator looking thing, then select ‘Group by Age’.

With that in mind, let’s use that structure to breakdown our report to help identify top talent in the NPB by Age for Great & Elite Production…

Age 19

Age 20

Age 21

Age 22

Age 23

Age 24

Age 25

Yuki Nomura Fighters (NPB) - Great Production
Chusei Mannami Fighters (NPB) - Great Production
Riku Masuda Giants (NPB) - Great Production

Age 26

Teruaki Sato Tigers (NPB) - Elite Production …L/R | 3B/OF| 6’1” 210 … 5th year in the NPB, is posting elite production with an Overall Rate of 0.177, ranking #3. An Overall Rate of 0.177 is 50.62% better than the average NPB player 0.117. A hit base approach, his rate is coming from his Hit Tool ranked #2 and his Run Tool ranked #58. He has an XBH rate of 16.22% and a HR rate of 7.43% in 160 PA. He is striking out 30.00% of the time and below average BB rate 8.75%.

Age 27

Age 28

Isami Nomura Hawks (NPB) - Elite Production … R/R | 3B | 5’7” 180… 4th year in the NPB, is posting elite production with an Overall Rate of 0.181, ranking #2. An Overall Rate of 0.181 is 54.57% better than the average NPB player 0.117. A balanced approach, his rate is coming from his Hit Tool ranked #4 and his Run Tool ranked #9. He has an XBH rate of 13.11% and a HR rate of 4.92% in 71 PA. He is striking out 25.71% of the time and average BB rate 10.00%.
Tatsuru Yanagimachi Hawks (NPB) - Elite Production … L/R | OF | 5’9” 171… 6th year in the NPB, is posting elite production with an Overall Rate of 0.170, ranking #4. An Overall Rate of 0.170 is 45.22% better than the average NPB player 0.117. A balanced approach to the run tool side, his rate is coming from his Hit Tool ranked #12 and his Run Tool ranked #4. He has an XBH rate of 7.95% and a HR rate of 2.27% in 114 PA. He is striking out 20.18% of the time and elite BB rate 18.35%.
Taishi Hirooka Buffaloes (NPB) - Great Production

Age 29

Kazuma Okamoto Giants (NPB) - Elite Production … R/R | OF | 6’1” 220… 8th year in the NPB, is posting elite production with an Overall Rate of 0.185, ranking #1 An Overall Rate of 0.185 is 57.28% better than the average NPB player 0.117. A hit heavy approach, his rate is coming from his Hit Tool ranked #1 and his Run Tool ranked #29. He has an XBH rate of 14.53% and a HR rate of 6.84% in 134 PA. He is striking out 11.94% of the time and average BB rate 10.45%.
Ukyo Shuto Hawks (NPB) - Great Production
Franmil Reyes Fighters (NPB) - Great Production
Shota Suekane Carp (NPB) - Great Production

Age 30

Age 31

Kazunari Ishii Fighters (NPB) - Great Production
Eigoro Mogi Swallows (NPB) - Great Production

Age 32

Domingo Santana Swallows (NPB) - Great Production

Age 33

Age 34

Age 35

Toshiki Abe Golden Eagles (NPB) - Great Production

Age 41

Takeya Nakamura Lions (NPB) - Great Production

Pitching : There is limited data on pitchers in NPB, so I had to use implied probabilities numbers for some XBH values to understand run value, which is why I use the *. From the pitching perspective, I rated & ranked 164 NPB pitchers for 2025 Season Start - 5/18/2025 with a minimum requirement of 10 IP. I will increase the minimum innings requirement as the season goes on. The pitchers are rated the same way in terms of run value but instead of Plate appearance or At Bat, I use Batter Faced.

Top Pitchers by RV/TBF :

That’s all for this week, come back in 2 weeks for more NPB blogs. I do a bi-weekly professional baseball report and alternate between MiLB & International Leagues. Here is my blogging schedule moving forward…