Kaima Taira and Rookie Taiga Kojima Win NPB Best Battery Award

Kaima Taira and rookie catcher Taiga Kojima have won the 2026 NPB Best Battery Award after anchoring the Saitama Seibu Lions through one of the Pacific League’s strongest pitching seasons. Kojima is the first rookie catcher in the award’s 36-year history to be selected.

The Lions announced the honor on October 20. It is the first Best Battery Award for both players and Seibu’s first since Tatsushi Masuda and Tomoya Mori won in 2019.

Taira’s move back to the rotation pays off

Taira returned to a starting role in 2026 and delivered a career year. The right-hander won the Pacific League ERA title with a 1.36 mark and set a personal best with 12 victories.

The achievement also completed a rare career sweep. Taira previously led the league in holds in 2022 and saves in 2025, making him the first pitcher in NPB history to win titles for relief points, saves and earned-run average.

His season began with a dominant March and April, when he posted a 0.49 ERA across 37 innings and earned the Pacific League’s monthly MVP award. He kept his monthly ERA below 2.00 in every month except August.

Kojima makes history in his first season

Kojima handled those innings while establishing himself immediately as Seibu’s primary catcher. The 2025 first-round draft pick appeared in 99 games and remained with the first team for the entire season.

He also contributed at the plate, batting .267 with 91 hits, nine home runs and 40 RBIs in 341 at-bats. Seibu went unbeaten in all nine games in which Kojima homered, and four of those home runs produced the winning runs.

The rookie’s impact extended into the postseason, where he started all three games of Seibu’s Pacific League Climax Series First Stage.

A battery built on trust

Taira praised Kojima for navigating the demands of his first professional season. The pitcher said the rookie “really fought well for the whole year” and called his ability to finish the season and win the award “truly amazing.”

Kojima credited Taira for teaching him throughout the year and said working with the Pacific League ERA champion accelerated his development. He added that he wants to keep growing both behind the plate and as a hitter.

The award caps a breakthrough season for a Lions team that climbed from fifth place in 2025 to host a Climax Series round at Belluna Dome for the first time in seven years. For Seibu, the partnership between a 26-year-old ace and a 22-year-old rookie catcher now looks like a foundation for 2027.