NPB Rates & Ranks Report #4 - Week Ending 6/2/25

I rated & ranked over 146 NPB players and here are the results...

Chris James

Jun 03, 2025

Document : NPB Rates & Ranks Report #4

Level : Professional - International

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

Offensive Date Data pulled : Sunday, June 1, 2025 10:55 AM ET

Pitchers Date Data pulled: Sunday, June 1, 2025 10:55 AM ET

Overview : From an offensive perspective, I rated & ranked 146 NPB position players using stats for the follow dates 2025 Season Start - 6/2/2025. 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.

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’.

Link to Spreadsheet

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 20

Shion Matsuo BayStars (NPB) - Great Production

Age 25

Yuki Nomura Fighters (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 #2. An Overall Rate of 0.177 is 50.00% better than the average NPB player 0.118. A hit base approach, his rate is coming from his Hit Tool ranked #2 and his Run Tool ranked #54. He has an XBH rate of 16.00% and a HR rate of 6.50% in 216 PA. He is striking out 26.85% of the time and average BB rate 9.26%… .981 Fielding % at 3B

Age 27

Shugo Maki BayStars (NPB) - Great Production

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 0.172, ranking #3. An Overall Rate of 0.172 is 45.95% better than the average NPB player 0.118. A balanced approach, his rate is coming from his Hit Tool ranked #9 and his Run Tool ranked #4. He has an XBH rate of 11.39% and a HR rate of 5.06% in 93 PA. He is striking out 26.88% of the time and slightly above average BB rate 10.75%.

Taishi Hirooka Buffaloes (NPB) - Great Production
Tatsuru Yanagimachi Hawks (NPB) - Great Production
Trey Cabbage Giants (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 56.72% better than the average NPB player 0.118. A hit heavy approach, his rate is coming from his Hit Tool ranked #1 and his Run Tool ranked #26. 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%.

I did not catch this during my last report, but Giants star Kazuma Okamoto expected to miss extended period with elbow injury after suffering a left elbow injury in a collision with the Hanshin Tigers’ Takumu Nakano during Tuesday night’s game at Tokyo Dome.

Takumi Kitamura Swallows (NPB) - Great Production
Seiji Uebayashi Dragons (NPB) - Great Production
Ukyo Shuto Hawks (NPB) - Great Production
Franmil Reyes Fighters (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 88 NPB pitchers for 2025 Season Start - 6/2/2025 with a minimum requirement of 20 IP. 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 :

Daichi Ishii Tigers (NPB) 27
Raidel Martinez Giants (NPB) 28
Takato Ihara Tigers (NPB) 24
Foster Griffin Giants (NPB) 29
Tatsuya Imai Lions (NPB) 27
Yuya Yanagi Dragons (NPB) 31
Ryoji Kuribayashi Carp (NPB) 28
Hiroki Tokoda Carp (NPB) 30
Shoki Murakami Tigers (NPB) 27
Chihiro Sumida Lions (NPB) 25

SO% Leaders

Kazuki Sugiyama Hawks (NPB) 27 | 35.71%
Shinya Matsuyama Dragons (NPB) 25 | 34.78%
Kota Nakagawa Giants (NPB) 31 | 33.72%
Jon Duplantier Tigers (NPB) 30 | 31.45%
Foster Griffin Giants (NPB) 29 | 29.46%
Masaki Oyokawa Tigers (NPB) 24 | 29.21%
Taisei OtaGiants (NPB) 26 | 28.13%
Ruei-Yang Gu Lin Fighters (NPB) 25 | 27.93%
Tatsuya Imai Lions (NPB) 27 | 27.76%
Ryoji Kuribayashi Carp (NPB) 28 | 26.51%
Hiroya Miyagi Buffaloes (NPB) 23 | 25.88%

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.

Don’t forget to subscribe & follow me on Twitter | LinkedIn | Medium | IG | TikTok

-Chris Boz

Failure to plan is planning to fail. Remain resolved in your pursuits.

Baseball Finance Blogs :

MLB :