The NPB Fresh All-Star Game in Japan is Nippon Professional Baseball’s equivalent of Major League Baseball’s All-Star Futures Game. It features players who are top prospects from the NPB pro teams’ Farm Teams, AKA Second Teams (and sometimes called “B Teams”). These farm squads are the equivalent of MiLB’s Minor League Baseball teams – though there is only one farm level in Japan totaling 14 teams. The Fresh game could also be compared to Minor League Baseball’s former Triple-A International League and Pacific Coast League All-Star Game.
NPB Fresh All-Star Game Baseballs
2002 NPB Fresh All-Star Game “We Love Baseball” Nagano Olympic Stadium! 2005 NPB Fresh ASG, Miyazaki. 2006 Mizuno NPB Fresh ASG, Tokyo Dome. 2007 Mizuno Fresh ASG, Matsuyama Botchan Stadium. 2010 Mizuno Fresh ASG, Nagasaki Big N Stadium. 2012 Mizuno Fresh ASG, Hard Off Eco Stadium, Niigata. 2013 Mizuno Fresh ASG, Akita Komachi Stadium. 2015 Mizuno Fresh ASG CANCELED (typhoon), Muscat Stadium. 2016 Mizuno Fresh ASG, Muscat Stadium. 2017 Mizuno NPB Fresh ASG, Kusanagi. 2018 Mizuno NPB Fresh ASG, Hirosaki. 2021 Mizuno NPB Fresh ASG, Matsuyama Botchan Stadium. 2023 Mizuno NPB Fresh ASG, Toyama Alpen (Alpine) Stadium. 2024 Fresh ASG, Himeji. 2025 Mizuno Rexxam NPB Fresh All-Star Game Baseball, Marugame.
All 12 NPB pro franchises have one minor league squad bearing the same team name as the parent club, and there are two independent teams: the Oisix Niigata Albirex Baseball Club and Kufu Hayate Ventures (Shizuoka Prefecture). Second teams are split into two “minor” leagues which are divided geographically into the Eastern and Western leagues. The current Nippon Fresh All-Star Game format is an Eastern League All-Stars vs. Western League All-Stars single game matchup. Fresh ASG baseballs are usually very special, very cool, and very difficult to find. Nearly every season features a multicolor-laced official on-field All-Star Game ball! Wow!
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 future stars. It has featured several legendary players 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.
More 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, even current iterations. I believe all Fresh baseballs are Mizuno, dating back to the first we’ve discovered, the 2000 Fresh ASG ball (picture to be added, it’s buried in storage.) But it’s possible earlier models were Sun-up or other Japanese manufacturers until 2006, when Mizuno became NPB’s official “uniform 12-team match ball.”
Game-Used Examples: NPB Fresh ASG Balls
