The Hawks had one of the older offenses in the league, still anchored by Nobuhiko Matsunaka and Hiroki Kokubo. Yuya Hasegawa had a breakout season (.312, 7HR, 44RBI) after suffering injuries in the previous two seasons. Hitoshi Tamura came back in mid-May and hit .283 with 17 home runs, which helped to make up for a disappointing season from Munenori Kawasaki, who batted a career-low .259 despite career highs in games played (143) and stolen bases (44).
