Baseball: Swallows name former infielder Ikeyama as new manager

Takahiro Ikeyama. (Kyodo)

TOKYO (Kyodo) — The Yakult Swallows on Thursday named Takahiro Ikeyama as the new skipper of the Central League baseball club, promoting him from manager of their farm team.

The 59-year-old former infielder played his entire professional career from 1984 to 2002 for Yakult, appearing in 1,784 games and hitting 304 home runs.

He will step into the role vacated by Shingo Takatsu, one of his former teammates, who skippered the Tokyo-based Swallows to last place in the six-team CL this year following a succession of injuries to leading players.

Club president Tetsuya Hayashida said Ikeyama was the right manager to revitalize the team after successfully developing young players in Yakult’s farm system.

“For six years, he has worked hard to develop young players as the manager of the second team, guiding their growth,” Hayashida said in a statement. “We have asked him to take on the role, as we believe he is the right person to rebuild and improve the team.”