I've added Kensuke Tanaka, Tsuyoshi Nishioka, Munenori Kawasaki back into the mix, as per Steve's suggestion.

The numbers:

The estimates:

Based on the current rates:

Murton and Aoki are still in good shape. Tanaka and Nishioka still have a decent shot, but a few of 0fers could derail them. And at this point, it seems like Kawasaki is more of less out of the running.

Incidentally, since 8/1:

With under 30 games remaining for both the Hanshin Tigers (29) and Yakult Swallows (27), I thought it might be time for another countdown to 200 hits post.

The numbers:

The estimates:

Assuming the current rate at which the two players are hitting, Murton is on pace the finish the season with 213 hits and Aoki 207 hits.

Murton's 170 hits ties George Altman (set in 1968) for second on the single season hit list for first year foreign players.  Phil Clark sits atop of the single season hit list for first year foreign players with 174 (set in 1997).

Murton also has a shot at breaking the NPB record of 210 hits set by Ichiro Suzuki in 1994.

Norichika Aoki (YAK) went 3-for-5 last night and finished out the month of August with 42 hits.  Aoki has now closed out a month with 40 or more hits four times in his career, surpassing both Ichiro Suzuki and Alex Ramirez (they both recorded 40 or more hits in a month three times in their NPB careers).

The top two charts are for Norichika Aoki (YAK) and the bottom two are for Matt Murton (HAN).  The stats are good through 8/29.

You can view previous charts and players here.

And as always, if there is a particular player you'd like to see charted, feel free to drop me a line.

Norichika Aoki (YAK) recorded his fourth multi-hit game in a row by going 4-for-5 on Wednesday night. For the month of August, Aoki currently has 12 multi-hit games (out of 21).

In order to finish with 200 hits, Aoki will need to collect 41 hits over his next 33 games.

Other players that might have a shot at 200:

Assuming about 4 at bats per game:

Based on the numbers, Aoki probably has the best chance, followed by Murton. Kawasaki, Tanaka, and Nishioka probably won't be able to reach 200 unless they go on some crazy hitting streaks.

Norichika Aoki should be ok to play in tonight's game against the Yomiuri Giants.  Seems the day off yesterday was all he needed.  Incidentally, Sponichi is reporting that Aoki is currently thinking about getting a better shin protector.  The one Aoki currently uses is worn underneath the uniform and it seems the one he's looking into now is bigger and is worn outside of the uniform.

In other team-related news:

Masanori Ishikawa will be appearing in a Suzuki commercial that will be shown only in his hometown region of Akita.  He's also likely in line for a start on the 11th against the Giants.

Yoshinori Sato will likely get the start on the 12th against the Giants.  He'll be looking to become the first Swallows' pitcher since Yoichi Okabayashi in 1994 to toss three consecutive complete game victories.

Hitoshi Tamura felt some discomfort in his right leg during tonight's game and was taken out of the game after his at bat in the 6th. Tamura told reporters that it wasn't serious and the club currently does not have any plans of sending Tamura to a hospital to get the leg checked out.

In other injury-related news:

Tadahito Iguchi was hit by a pitch in his right knee in the first inning and was later removed from the game in the 4th on defense due to swelling.  The team will wait to see how Iguchi is doing on Monday before deciding whether or not to send him to the hospital for an examination.

Norichika Aoki fouled a ball of his right shin in the 3rd inning and was removed from the game on defense in the 4th inning.  Aoki had his right leg examined at a hospital and was diagnosed with a contusion.

The Yakult Swallows announced that they will be holding a pre-game ceremony before a Chunichi Dragons game on 8/5 to celebrate Norichika Aoki's 1,000th career hit milestone (achieved back on 7/4).  The first 10,000 fans with tickets along the first base side will also receive a commemorative shitajiki.

Here are the charts for Norichika Aoki.

I have also created charts for Matt Murton and Craig Brazell.

NOTE: these stats are through to 7/7.

Ok, I went back and crunched the numbers to include OPS (as well as a few other numbers).

Through 51 games:

And the combined stats of the three players:

Here's the offense without the three players:

I thought it might also be interesting to throw in the following:

So all of this once again points to the offense and pitching as being the main problem for the Swallows and not the trio of Jamie D'Antona, Aaron Guiel, and Norichika Aoki.

I did also did want to point something out with regards to D'Antona's numbers.  The jump in D'Antona's walk rate is a positive sign and actually falls in line with his career minor league numbers (about 11.1).  On the flip side, his strikeout rate is a big alarming.  His minor league career strikeout rate is 5.6, meaning he's striking out twice as much now than he used to.  A quick look at his AB/HR reveals that back in the States, he was hitting homers at a clip of about one every 25.5 at bats.  That's not a huge difference between the 20.5 he posted last year and the 21.1 he has posted so far this year, but it begs the question: has D'Antona modified his swing in order to hit more homers?

I don't think it'd be a stretch if he did, after all, the Swallows did bring him on board to provide the offense with some pop.  Unfortunately, that may have done more harm than good for D'Antona.

===

See also:

A statistical look at Guiel and D’Antona (and Aoki)