Baseball: Kokubo promoted from farm team post to manage Hawks

Hiroki Kokubo was named as the new manager of the SoftBank Hawks on Saturday, as their former star slugger was promoted from managing the Pacific League club’s farm team.

The 52-year-old, who managed the Japan national team from 2013 through 2017, will succeed Hiroshi Fujimoto in taking the reins at the Hawks, who last won the PL and the Japan Series in 2020.

SoftBank finished the regular season third this year and lost the best-of-three PL Climax Series first round against the second-place Lotte Marines on Monday. Fujimoto subsequently left his role after fulfilling his two-year contract. Kok...