Sports · Baseball · 14 hrs ago
Yomiuri Giants battery coach Kazunari Sanematsu to leave after this season
The Yomiuri Giants say battery coach Kazunari Sanematsu will leave after this season.
Sanematsu has worked with the team since 2020, first as a coach for its second-team battery unit.
He later coached the first-team battery and returned to the Giants in 2024 after other work, including scouting.
He helped the Giants win the league title in 2024.
Sanematsu and batting coach Lee Seung-yop, who is also leaving, both requested to depart, according to one account.
The Giants finished second in the Central League this season and lost in the first stage of the playoffs, and Sanematsu is the second coach to leave this offseason.
The Yomiuri Giants announced on October 19 that battery coach Kazunari Sanematsu will leave after this season.
Sanematsu has served the team as a coach since 2020, with a break between coaching roles.
The announcement follows the departure of hitting coach Lee Seung-yuop, making Sanematsu the second Giants coach to leave this off-season.
Both departures were reportedly at the coaches’ own request.
The Giants finished second in the Central League and lost in the first stage of the Climax Series.
- Who
- Kazunari Sanematsu, the Yomiuri Giants’ battery coach.
- What
- He will leave the team after this season.
- When
- The Giants announced the departure on October 19, 2026.
- Where
- The Yomiuri Giants.
- Why
- The departure was at Sanematsu’s own request.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Sanematsu retired as a player at the end of the season.
He became a Yomiuri Giants minor-league battery coach.
He served as the Giants’ major-league battery coach.
He returned to the Giants and contributed to the team’s league championship.
The Giants announced that Sanematsu would leave after the season.
- Departure announced
- October 19, 2026
- Role
- Yomiuri Giants battery coach
- Coaching with Giants since
- 2020
- League finish
- Second in the Central League
- Climax Series
- Lost in the first stage
- This off-season
- Second Giants coaching departure reported