The NPB Fresh All-Star Game is Nippon Professional Baseball’s equivalent of Major League Baseball’s All-Star Futures Game. It features players from the NPB pro teams’ Farm Teams, AKA Second Teams. And as you can imagine, these Farm teams are the equivalent of MiLB’s Minor League Baseball teams – though there is only one level of NPB farm teams in Japan.
All 12 of NPB’s franchises have one minor league squad bearing the same team name as the parent club. Second Teams are split into two “minor” leagues which are divided geographically – Eastern and Western. The Fresh All-Star Game normally pits the Eastern League All-Stars vs. the Western League All-Stars.
The Fresh matchup takes place annually, usually a day or two before the first of NPB’s two pro All-Star Games. Much like the MLB Futures Game, it features upcoming prospects and potential stars. It has featured some true stars and future NPB (and MLB) Hall of Famers in its history. For example, in 1992 the Orix BlueWave’s second team rookie outfielder, Ichiro Suzuki, took home the Fresh MVP Award for hitting a go-ahead home run late in the game.
Now about these official NPB Fresh All-Star Game baseballs: They’re very limited, have very low production numbers, and they’re often very difficult to find. I believe all Fresh baseballs are Mizuno, dating back to the first we’ve discovered, the 2000 Fresh ASG ball (picture to be added soon.)
