The Chunichi Dragons of the Japanese pro baseball league became the first team to rank last for the third consecutive year. With manager Kazuyoshi Tatsunami stepping down taking responsibility for poor performance, five coaches also shedding their clothes. One of them was Age Ochiai, 55, a pitching coach with deep ties to Korea.
The Chunichi Dragons lost 0-2 to the Yokohama DeNA BayStars in the final game of the season in the 2024 Japanese pro baseball league held at the Banterin Dome Nagoya on the 6th. It was their 16th goalless loss of the season, and they were lethargic until the end. With this result, the Chunichi Dragons finished sixth and last in the Central League with 60 wins, 75 losses and 8 draws (winning rate .444) this season.
Under Tatsunami’s leadership, the Chunichi Dragons continued to suffer setbacks. After 66 wins, 75 losses and two draws (winning percentage .468) in 2022, the first year of Tatsunami’s inauguration, and 56 wins, 82 losses and five draws (winning percentage .406) last year, the team ranked sixth in the Central League for the third consecutive year this year. It is the first disgrace in the history of the team. Even in the overall league, the team ranked sixth in the bottom three consecutive years since its inauguration as Hanshin Tigers coach Nomura Katsuya from 1999 to 2001 for the sixth time in the history of the team.
According to Japanese media including “Nikkan Sports,” Tatsunami bowed his head to fans after the final match on Sunday, saying, “I feel sorry for the fans that I have not produced a result for three years.” Tatsunami then said, “We have made reforms to strengthen our team, but this team is still in the process of reform. It is regrettable that we will leave the team without achieving our goal, but please give strength to the team that will change into a new system starting next year. I really appreciate the past three years.”
Tatsunami and five first-team coaches will also leave the team. Head coach Atsushi Kataoka, pitcher and training coach Ochiai, batting coach Kazuhiro Wada, batting coach Yoshinori Ueda, and outfielder Takayuki Onishi and base running coach have all stepped down. After Tatsunami first announced his intention to leave the team last month, the five coaches also applied to the team to take responsibility.
His name attracts attention. He has deep ties with the Samsung Lions in the KBO League. Having played for 15 years as a Chunichi pitcher for the period between 1991 and 2006, he recorded a total of 37 wins, 45 losses and 24 saves with an ERA of 3.29 in 463 games (675 innings), his relationship with Korea began when he trained as a coach for three months at Samsung in 2007. He had a rare training as a coach in Korea due to his respect for then-Samsung coach Sun Dong-yeol who spent four years with him during the Chunichi Dragons. 토토사이트
Afterwards, he was appointed as Samsung’s first team pitching coach in 2010 and stayed together for three years until 2012. With Cha Woo-chan, a promising player at the time, breaking his potential as a starter, he built the best bullpen in the league consisting of Kwon Hyuk, Kwon Oh-joon, Ahn Ji-man, Chung Hyun-wook and Oh Seung-hwan. He led the team to a combined victory in the 2011-2012 period, laying the foundation for the mound during the Samsung Dynasty.
After returning to Japan in 2012 as a commentator and serving as a first-team pitching coach for the Chiba Lotte Marines from 2015 to 2017, Ochiai returned to Samsung in 2018. After serving as Samsung’s first-team pitching coach until 2019, Ochiai continued to manage Samsung Futures from 2020 to 2021. During this period, Samsung’s young guns, including Won Tae-in, Choi Ji-kwang, and Hwang Dong-jae, showed signs of growth.
After the end of the 2021 season, he left Samsung at the request of Tatsunami, who was with him as a player, and served as the head coach and pitching coach of Chunichi. He showed leadership by ranking second in the Central League team’s ERA for two consecutive years from 2022-2023, but his team did not perform well because the batting line did not explode, and he started in the second division this year. He received a call-up for the first team in the second half of the year, but there was no change in his team’s performance, and he eventually resigned with the manager.
Coach Ochiai has returned to Korea after leaving the Chiba Lotte Marines after the 2017 season. At that time, he consulted with Tsutomu Ito, taking responsibility for his poor performance. Attention is also focusing on whether Coach Ochiai, who has withdrawn from the team again this time, will return to Korea. His leadership is already well-known in Korea, and he is also bright in the domestic market as he has spent seven years. We wonder whether he will be able to continue his relationship with Samsung for the third time this winter.
