By Jim Allen, KYODO NEWS - May 10, 2017 - 07:45 | Sports, All

TOKYO - Four years removed from their only Pacific League pennant, the Rakuten Eagles have seized hold of the top spot in the league thanks in part to the growth of second-year shortstop Eigoro Mogi.

The 23-year-old, who finished a close second in the PL rookie of the year voting last autumn after batting .278 with some extra-base power, has raised his game further this year. Through Tuesday, Mogi had scored 22 runs, with his six homers helping him driving in 19 from the leadoff spot.

Fresh out of Waseda University in 2016, Mogi found himself in awe of PL pitching, and fear of striking out made him defensive. But after missing a month with a hand injury after being spiked on June 10, Mogi came back in August. In the season's final months, he hit four of his six triples and six of his seven homers.

Since then, Mogi has reconsidered his hitting approach, and so far the results are impressive.

"I realized I could hit the ball into the seats without swinging as hard as possible," Mogi told Kyodo News at MetLife Dome last Friday. "Applying a comfortable amount of power, I could increase my contact rate and still drive the ball far, and that has been my focus since the start of spring practice."

"I didn't imagine I'd play so many games last year, and that was great, but on the other hand, having entrusted me with so much playing time and sending me to bat so much, I felt I should have produced more. So there was a sense of having wasted an opportunity."

This season's theme has been about being positive, focusing more on pitch selection and attacking pitches.

"If you're behind in the count, the pitcher is calling the tune. Because of that, I want to go into each at-bat with my own rhythm and impose it on the at-bat. To that end, I have been practicing being prepared, to have my timing down from the start, ready to swing on my terms."

Although Mogi said he is still miss-hitting a lot of the pitches he's trying to drive, batting coach Takehiro Ikeyama, a famous boom-or-bust swinger during his career said the difference between this year's Mogi and last year's model has been fewer miss-hit balls in 2017.

"Well that's true in a way, because a lot of those last year were on pitches out of the zone, and I'm swinging at fewer of those now," Mogi said.

Being patient and looking for certain pitches to drive can land a hitter behind in the count, but Mogi seems OK with that tradeoff.

"My perspective is a little broader this year. Sure, there are times when I have to go after the pitcher's pitch, but I'm still patient and I'm falling behind less often," he said.

"I go up there looking to hit a pitch I want when the count is still young and try to hit it hard...and sometimes that (waiting for a pitch) will put me behind in the count. The other side of that is because I am still there looking for a pitch to put a good swing on, I'm not going after other balls out of the zone -- even when I'm behind in the count."

Although Mogi and Carlos Peguero have been providing a huge amount of production in the top two spots of the Eagles' order, Rakuten's pitching and defense have also improved in manager Masataka Nashida's second year at the helm.

"I think credit for that has to go to the pitchers for executing so well. That creates a good rhythm for the fielders and sometimes we can make good plays. I think our team has a good fielding rhythm," said Mogi, who said greater familiarity has allowed him to be proactive in the field as well.

A year after taking part in 54 double plays and making 19 errors, Mogi's double play-to-error ratio through Sunday was 19-to-1. As a unit, the Eagles are Nippon Professional Baseball's most efficient double play team. Through Sunday, Eagles pitchers had served up 40 ground outs in double play situations and got 22 twin killings, that 55 percent rate being the highest in NPB, where this season's average is 39 percent.

"Compared to last year, I find I've been able to take in more of what goes on around me. Last year, I couldn't think about anything but getting the balls that came my way and making sure I got outs," Mogi said. "Now, take second base for example. I'm more conscious of where he's playing, what I need to do because of where he is and how I need to adjust in case the ball is hit in different ways.

"At first (last year) I'd see the ball off the bat and, 'It's going over there,' and I'd get after it. Now it's often like, 'It looks like it's headed over here, and I can cheat that way.' I have a better idea of where the ball is going."

"I read it wrong sometime, but as I play more, I find I'm able to guess more often what the ball is going to do. That's slowed the game down for me a little this year."

Ikeyama said Mogi still has another gear to add to his game.

"He's a whole step above last year," said Ikeyama, who was also a shortstop as a player. "But I expect even more from him next season, better contact, more power."