Rakuten Eagles hitting coach Toshiaki Imae was promoted to manager on Tuesday, while SoftBank Hawks manager Hiroshi Fujimoto quit his role.
The Eagles, who narrowly missed the three-team Pacific League Climax Series playoffs by finishing fourth, said last week former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Kazuhisa Ishii will not return as their manager after the end of his three-year contract.
The Rakuten offense pulled out of a slump in the 2023 season after Imae was promoted from the farm team to begin coaching the hitters in late May.
The 40-year-old former third baseman has been a coach of the Sendai-based club since 2020.
Imae spent the first 14 seasons of his 18-year career through 2019 with the Lotte Marines before joining the Eagles. He collected 1,682 hits.
Fujimoto, meanwhile, left his post after the Hawks lost the best-of-three PLCS first round against Lotte on Monday night.
The Hawks entered Game 3 of the playoffs tied at one game apiece with the second-place Marines, but suffered a dramatic 4-3 defeat after 10 innings at Zozo Marine Stadium.
SoftBank was leading the PL in early July but stumbled to finish the season third and 15.5 games behind the champion Orix Buffaloes, suffering their first 12-game losing skid in 54 years on the way.
The 59-year-old Fujimoto took the reins in 2022 on a two-year contract and missed out on the PL pennant on the final day in his first season.
Former Japan manager Hiroki Kokubo, the 52-year-old currently leading the Hawks farm team, is likely to be promoted to replace Fujimoto.
