It's awards season in Japanese baseball and just like at the end of the actual season, the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks are front and center.
Four players from the recently crowned three-time defending Japan Series champions, the most of any team, were recognized on Thursday when the winners of the 48th Mitsui Golden Glove Awards were announced.
Softbank third baseman Nobuhiro Matsuda won for the seventh straight time and eighth overall, 19-year veteran Seiichi Uchikawa, a first baseman, won for the first time and the SoftBank battery of ace Kodai Senga and catcher Takuya Kai were also honored in the Pacific League.