Tatsuhiro Hagiwara: Connecting Baseball to the Next 100 Years

2023/04/12

February 25, 2023, the first preseason game of the year. For the first time in three years, the live sound of the cheer squad and vocal cheering from the crowd returned.

The past three years made us realize once again that the team was able to fight while feeling supported and encouraged by the fans because of the real cheers reaching us at the stadium. I believe this day served as a declaration that professional baseball is moving toward a new stage following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Looking back, this marks my 12th season since I was seconded to the BayStars along with several other DeNA employees when DeNA acquired the Yokohama BayStars in December 2011.

Originally, I was in charge of Human Resources at DeNA. I spent two seasons in administrative departments including HR, followed by nine seasons moving between the first team and the farm team. Starting from the 2023 season, I have taken on the role of head of the team operations department.

A professional baseball club is generally divided into three major departments: Business, Team, and Administration. The Team department is one of these. My role is to manage a professional baseball team of over 200 people, including approximately 80 players, 20 coaching staff, and 100 staff members. While this position is often thought to be primarily about roster composition, I feel it also has strong HR elements such as organizational development, human resource cultivation, and cultural fostering.

At the Yokohama DeNA BayStars, our goal is to "connect baseball to the next 100 years." We have set a milestone to become the "strongest and most attractive club in the world" within 20 years, and to "stand at the threshold of becoming a perennial winner in Japan" within 5 years. For us, having rarely experienced a championship even in Japan, these are immense goals. However, we intend to move forward steadily, step by step, to be a "strong" presence that brings "happiness" and "pride" to everyone involved with this club.

First, while feeling the joy of being responsible for the first tier of the pyramid—the very foundation—we will push forward as one team with the goal of standing at the threshold of becoming a perennial winner in five years.

We have finished our training camp in Okinawa and will welcome the season opening at the end of March.

We would be very happy if you could come and support us. We look forward to seeing you at Yokohama Stadium!