Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called Puro Yakyū (プロ野球), meaning Professional Baseball. Outside of Japan, it is often referred to as "Japanese baseball".
Baseball was introduced to Japan in 1872 and is Japan's most popular participatory and spectator sport. The first professional competitions emerged in the 1920s. The highest level of baseball in Japan is Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), which consists of two leagues, the Central League and the Pacific League, with six teams in each league. High school baseball enjoys a particularly strong public profile and fan base, much like college football and college basketball in the United States; the Japanese High School Baseball Championship, which takes place each August, is nationally televised and includes regional champions from each of Japan's 47 prefectures.
Professional baseball in Japan first started in the 1920s, but it was not until the Greater Japan Tokyo Baseball Club was established in 1934 that the modern professional game had continued success.
The 2008 Nippon Professional Baseball season was the 59th season since the NPB was reorganized in 1950. The regular season started on March 20 with the Pacific League opener, and on March 28 with the Central League opener. On March 25 and 26, the Boston Red Sox and Oakland Athletics played 2 regular season Major League Baseball games at Tokyo Dome. During their visit, they also played exhibition games against the Hanshin Tigers and Yomiuri Giants.
Shinnosuke Abe is a Japanese former professional baseball player and current manager, who spent his entire 19-year career with Nippon Professional Baseball's Yomiuri Giants, serving as the team's captain from 2007 to 2014. He has twice been named the MVP of the Nippon Professional Baseball All-Star Series, in 2007 and 2010.
Neftalí O. Soto is a Puerto Rican professional baseball first baseman for the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cincinnati Reds.
Hirokazu Sawamura is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher for the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He previously played in NPB for the Yomiuri Giants and the Marines, and has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Boston Red Sox. Listed at 6 feet 0 inches (1.83 m) and 212 pounds (96 kg), he throws and bats right-handed.
Thyago Vieira Lucio is a Brazilian professional baseball pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Seattle Mariners and Chicago White Sox and in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Yomiuri Giants.
Liván Moinelo Pita is a Cuban professional baseball pitcher for Vegueros de Pinar del Rio in the Cuban National Series. He has played for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in Nippon Professional Baseball since 2017.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher for the Orix Buffaloes of the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He made his NPB debut in 2017. Yamamoto is a two-time Pacific League Most Valuable Player, a two-time Eiji Sawamura Award winner, and a three-time Japanese Triple Crown winner.
Kotaro Otake is a Japanese Professional baseball pitcher for the Hanshin Tigers of Nippon Professional Baseball. He played for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks until the 2022 season.
Cristopher Crisostomo Mercedes, or otherwise known as C.C. Mercedes, is a Dominican professional baseball starting pitcher for the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He was signed by the Tampa Bay Rays as an international free agent in 2011 and pitched for the Yomiuri Giants of NPB from 2017 to 2022. Mercedes is listed at 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m) and 180 pounds (82 kg) and throws left handed. He is a switch hitter.
Major League Baseball (MLB) and Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) are the highest levels of baseball in the United States and Japan, respectively. MLB started in 1876, while NPB was not formed until 1950, following reorganization of the Japanese Baseball League, which had been in existence since 1936. Though ostensibly the same game, baseball, is played in both MLB and NPB there are a number of differences between the game in the two organizations.
The 2022 Nippon Professional Baseball season was the 73rd season of professional baseball in Japan since Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) was reorganized in 1950. There are 12 NPB teams, split evenly between the Central League and Pacific League.
Ryota Nakamura is a Japanese professional baseball Pitcher for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball.
A Nippon Professional Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed by NPB Agreement to play in Nippon Professional Baseball's first leagues, the Central League and the Pacific League. This list is created from each team's Registered players under control ., and can be arbitrarily registered and unregistered at any time during the season. Also, the results of the list changes are announced by the NPB organization every day during the season and can be viewed.
A Registration of players under control is the process of notifying Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) that a professional baseball team affiliated with the NPB has the exclusive right to sign a contract with a specific player. A player whose unified contract documents have been approved and published by NPB is called a Registered player under control or a Controlled player, and under Article 68 of the NPB Agreement, a team has exclusive ownership of a player unless the player becomes a free agent.
The Nippon Professional Baseball Draft Meeting is a conference held by the Nippon Professional Baseball Organization (NPB) to select rookie players. The official name of the conference is the Rookie Selection Meeting. Since 2009, the Grand Prince Hotel Takanawa has been used as the venue. It was arranged with the special cooperation of Taisho Pharmaceutical with official naming rights since 2013. The draft was officially called "The Professional Baseball Draft Meeting supported by Lipovitan D ".
The Developmental Player System is a system that allows players to be held for the purpose of training players separately from the 70 registered players under control of each team created in the fall of 2005 at Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).
