Japanese HOF Project

[nat]

Michiyo Arito played third base for Lotte from 1969 to 1986. Superficially, his offense reminds me of Scott Rolen, although with more speed. (He was stealing 20ish bases per year until he got old.) Arito’s career slash line of 282/348/482 is a little bit lower than Rolen’s, but Rolen also played through the silly ball era, whereas Arito’s league was pretty low on offense (I checked the 1977 Pacific League: 255/309/382). So in context Arito was probably a somewhat better hitter than Rolen.

He was probably the best third baseman in the Pacific League in the 1970s. For his career he was named to the best nine ten times, including eight in a row. He won a batting title, and four gold glove awards. Lotte won the Japan series once during his career.

I don't know quite how far to carry the Rolen comparison. Arito was a somewhat better hitter, and I assume he was a good fielder if he won four gold gloves. But Rolen was more than a good fielder. Among third baseman he's 4th all-time in dWAR, behind Brooks, Clete Boyer, and Nettles. (I was eyeballing the dWAR leader list, so it's possible I missed someone.) Maybe tone down the defense a bit, and bump up the offense a bit, and Rolen isn't a bad comparison.

After retirement Arito took over as manager of Lotte, replacing the relatively relaxed Kazuhisa Inao. Arito was a hard-nosed traditionalist, and not a good manager. The Orions finished with a losing record under his management, he refused to play Leron Lee, and he forced the trade of Hiromitsu Ochiai. To be fair, Lee was at the end of the line (at 39), but he was also coming off of a 331/397/561 season. Wanting to trade Ochiai, on the other hand, was unalloyed insanity. Ochiai was a transcendent superstar coming off of the greatest season of his career.

Meikyukai: Yes – Hall of Fame: No

1980 Yamakatsu