Imaoka at Tigers

Makoto Imaoka, Tigers star of the 2005 season is due to try out for the Lotte organisation at their Spring training camp having been let go by the Tigers. His career reached the heights and the depths and eventually he was forced out by an inability to deliver.
His career started well, with a stellar university career and a silver medal in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics playing at third and second. He was picked by Tigers as their No. 1 draft pick in 1996 and but started unspectacularly and seemed to be heading for anonymity. Imaoka's qualities began to manifest themselves under kantoku Katsuya Nomura. Nomura himself would say that Imaoka was from Mars, no one could tell what he was thinking. In 2000, Imaoka was sidelined for most of the season but bounced back with a respectable performance in 2001 (40 RBIs). However, he was still playing below potential.
His improvement began in 2002 with the appointment of Senichi Hoshino as kantoku. Imaoka began to play with more confidence and even though Tigers only finished fourth he drove in more runs (56 RBIs) and hit more often (.307 instead of .268). This prompted Hoshino to ask Imaoka to be his leadoff batter in 2003. Once again with good coaching Imaoka was better driving in 72 RBIs and playing a significant role in Tigers victory. Of his 12 home runs 7 were leadoff hits with 5 being of the first pitch. He also switched from shortstop to second and fielded very competently in that position. 2004 saw a new manager and once again Imaoka did well driving in more RBIs and prompting Okada to offer him the No. 5 clean up slot for the 2005 season.
This change had a big effect on Imaoka who was suddenly a super batter. His average was not spectacular but when he hit he was effective and by the end of the season he had driven in 147 RBIs and played the major part in Tigers victory. All this on only 156 hits. His ability to find gaps in the field and drive in multiple runners was phenomenal and it seemed pitchers had no answers. This was rewarded with a salary increase to 310 oku yen making him the highest paid Tigers player of all time. Imaoka by this time had moved to third base, a position in which he was merely indifferent. However, with his hitting this was forgiven.
Everything was poised for a great 2006, maybe not as spectacular as 2005 but a good year but having reached the heights Imaoka crashed into the depths. His hitting deserted him and he was awful. In addition he started to suffer tendon problems on the middle finger of his right hand and this affected his batting. His numbers crashed and he was only able to play in 55 games. His failure to perform led to a big gap in Tigers run production and contributed to them only reaching second place. Imaoka underwent surgery and rejoined the team in 2007 but once again was unable to produce. His poor fielding led to him receiving the nickname 'Mr yatta derkiru yan ka' (see what you can do if you try) and he was clearly struggling.
He was tried in the pinch hitting role but didn't have the confidence and didn't respond to the coaches (he had responded well to O'Malley, Hoshino's batting coach and a one off visit produced a brief improvement suggesting that his problems were mental in nature). 2008 saw more surgery but the performance didn't improve and he spent more and more time in the second team. Imaoka had become an expensive liability and the fans were calling for him to be let go. His last chance came with the appointment of Mayumi but he could not lift his performance even then and managed only 2 RBIs. It was clear watching him that he was finished. This was a sad end for one of Tigers stars - at the end of the season Imaoka was informed that his services were no longer required. He hadn't wanted to leave the Tigers and even when there was talk from 2007 of trading him had resisted this. Eventually, all the talk of trades with Nippon Ham or Seibu fell through and Imaoka was forced to participate in the tryouts. This led to the invitation to attend the Lotte camp but if he does not perform his career will be over.