In the last few hours, the possible lineups of the Japanese Professional Baseball League franchises have been announced for the Opening Day of the 2025 season. However, Ariel Martínez stands out for his absence in the lineup of the Nippon Fighters. Ham Fighters for the first game, according to the Japanese baseball site Full Count.
The prestigious Japanese outlet predicted that, for the first game of the campaign, only one of the foreign acquisitions will be line up, he is Dominican slugger Frammil Reyes, as the third hitter on the team led by Tsuyoshi Shinjo. The projected lineup is because the opposing pitcher will be Tatsuya Imai, who has been particularly dominant against Martínez over his career.
Shinjo could go with the following batting order for the Fighters’ opening contest, which will be led by Shun Mizutani and Kotaro Kiyomiya, followed by Reyes as the third hitter. Yuki Nomura will hit cleanup, with Chusei Mannami, Yua Tamiya, Yuya Gunji, Daigo Kamikawabata and Tatsuki Mizuno rounding out the lineup.
Last season, it was rare for Shinjo to repeat the same batting order in consecutive games. Therefore, the possible absence of Ariel Martínez on the first day of the regular calendar should not be surprising. Martínez has just signed a record contract by a Cuban (4yrs, 8M) for the organization. .
Last season Martínez had 57 RBIs, in addition to becoming one of the team’s main hitters and he was rewarded with a juicy contract. In the last two seasons the slugger has knocked in more than 50 runs each campaign, 123 in total over that span with the Nippon-Ham.
Martínez has 167 RBIs in his NPB career, scored 125 runs, has a batting average of .252 and an on-base percentage of .343. Over his career with Chunichi and the Fighters he has swatted 305 hits, including 40 home runs, 65 doubles, five triples and has made two trips to the circuit’s All-Star Game.