SIS is pleased to announce the winners of the 2025 NPB Fielding Bible Awards.

This marks the 6th season that we have honored the best defensive players in NPB. The awards are chosen in a vote by a panel of experts who consider statistical analysis, the eye test, and any other factors that they wish to utilize.

We are also announcing the winner of the NPB Defensive Player of the Year and NPB Defensive Team of the Year award.

This year’s winners are:

Defensive Player of the Year

Seibu Lions infielder Natsuo Takizawa won the Defensive Player of the Year award for 2025. That snapped a two-year run by Chusei Mannami, who won in 2023 and 2024.

Takizawa finished the season with 30 Defensive Runs Saved, the most for any player in NPB. For those unfamiliar, Defensive Runs Saved measures a player’s ability to turn batted balls into outs as well as other position-specific skills, such as turning double plays, blocking pitches in the dirt, or robbing home runs.

SIS uses MLB out probabilities in its Runs Saved calculation. An average Runs Saved total is 0. There were 17 NPB players with at least 10 Runs Saved in 2025 (six of them catchers).

Takizawa had 20 Runs Saved at second base and 12 Runs Saved at shortstop. He also won our award for multi-position excellence.

“His entire infield defense is excellent,” said Fielding Bible voter Yuri Kurasawa. “Despite being only 5-foot-4 or 5-foot-5 he makes these crazy highlight-reel plays. He gets everything out of his frame.”

Defensive Team of the Year

The Softbank Hawks won our inaugural NPB Defensive Team of the Year Award. Softbank was the NPB team leader in Runs Saved and was one of two teams that had a positive Runs Saved at all three outfield positions.

Other winners

Takizawa was joined on the winners list by his teammate, Tyler Nevin. Nevin played four seasons in MLB with the Orioles, Tigers, and Athletics before beginning his career in Japan in 2025. That career will continue as he recently signed a two-year extension with Seibu.

The other teams to have two players win an Award were the Chiba Lotte Marines, who had shortstop Atsuki Tomosugi and left fielder Mishō Nishikawa, and the Hanshin Tigers, who had catcher Seishiro Sakamoto and third baseman Teruaki Sato.

Sakamoto, an excellent pitch framer, easily led all catchers in Runs Saved. Tomosugi was the leader in Runs Saved at shortstop. Nishikawa led left fielders with 22 Runs Saved, the same total as MLB left field winner, Steven Kwan.

The Softbank Hawks had a player winner in addition to the Defensive Team of the Year award, center fielder Ukyo Shuto. Shuto tied for the lead in Runs Saved among center fielders.

Other winners were second baseman Naoki Yoshikawa (Yomiuri Giants), right fielder Chusei Mannami (Nippon-Ham Fighters), and pitcher Masato Morishita (Hiroshima Carp).

Yoshikawa and Mannami have each won the Award three straight seasons. Shuto was also a winner last year. Shuto also won in 2020 for multi-position excellence. Morishita also was a previous winner, in 2020.

Our expert voting panel consisted of Japan Times baseball writer Jason Coskrey, NPB content creators: Yuri Karasawa (Yakyu Cosmopolitan) and Yuta Sekiguchi (Mr. Bouono’s Diary) with oversight from Mark Simon, editorial lead at Sports Info Solutions.

“We are honored to once again reward the best defensive players in NPB,” Simon said. “We are glad that our metrics can be put to use to help identify the best baseball players not just in MLB but in other leagues as well. With so many good NPB players, we felt it was important that they were recognized too.”

The NPB Fielding Bible Awards have been presented by SIS since 2020. SIS’ mission is to enhance and optimize the decision-making process for sports teams, sportsbooks, and sports fans. It has been an industry leader in baseball since its founding in 2002.