Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters Shohei Ohtani

1 hokkaido nippon-ham fighters

1.1 2013
1.2 2014
1.3 2015
1.4 2016
1.5 2017

hokkaido nippon-ham fighters
2013

ohtani made debut @ age 18 in hokkaido nippon-ham fighters season-opening game on march 29, 2013, playing rightfielder. selected pacific league roster spot 2013 all-star game. pitcher, finished season 3–0 record in 11 starts. ohtani used rookie in both outfield (leading fighters 51 games in right) , @ pitcher. unusual two-way role historic in lots of ways. second nippon pro baseball rookie drafted out of high school prior year used both pitcher , position player, following kikuo tokunaga in 1951; ohtani first start in both roles. first npb pitcher since takao kajimoto in 1963 bat 3rd, 4th or 5th , first rookie hurler since junzo sekine in 1950. second player, following osamu takechi (also 1950), start game @ pitcher, bat in heart of order (3rd through 5th) , hit , rbi in game. missed time during year right ankle sprain , right cheekbone fracture. fans voted high-profile rookie all-star game despite mediocre numbers. season, 3-0 4.23 era 33 walks 46 k in 61 2/3 ip , hit .238/.284/.376 in 204 plate appearances. had 7 outfield assists 1 error. 8 hit batsmen tied manabu mima, tadashi settsu, hideaki wakui , ryoma nogami 5th in 2013 pacific league. did 4 of 233 votes 2013 nippon professional baseball rookie of year award (pacific league), tying tatsuya sato distant second behind takahiro norimoto.

2014

ohtani batting in 2013 fighters

throughout entire season, ohtani performed double-duty pitcher , outfielder, utilizing strong throwing arm impressive batting skills. hitter, batted .274, 28 extra-base hits (including 10 home runs), 31 rbis , .842 on-base plus slugging percentage in 212 at-bats. pitcher, 11–4 2.61 era in 24 starts , struck out 179 (third in npb) in 155.1 innings. 10.4 k/9 best in league , opponents hit .223 against him.

in september 7 game against orix buffaloes, homered straightaway center @ kyocera dome become first japanese player reach double digits in both home runs , wins. tossed 1–0 shutout against orix on september 13 , became first pitcher out of high school record 1–0 shutout victory within first 2 years fighters since toshiaki moriyasu in 1967. became first pitcher out of high school notch 2 shutout victories within first 2 years in npb since yu darvish.

during july 2014 mazda all-star game, threw 162 km/h (101 mph) fastball in bottom of 1st inning, setting new record fastest official pitch thrown japanese pitcher, beating record set yakult swallows yoshinori sato in 2010 (161 km/h (100 mph)). jersey wore during game sold 1,752,000 yen ($7004170000000000000♠17,000), making top-seller @ all-star 2014 charity auction. proceeds donated 3 tohoku earthquake children s relief funds.

on october 5 against eagles, ohtani recorded fastest pitch japanese pitcher in official game, tying marc kroon s all-time record npb pitchers. pitch came against lead-off hitter akiminai ginji in 1st inning. count 0–1, ohtani threw fastball registered 162 km/h (101 mph) on stadium radar gun , shattered ginji s bat in half. hit 162 km/h twice against second hitter, aoi enomoto. of fifteen pitches threw in 1st inning, 8 in 160s.

during postseason, ohtani chosen become member of national team, dubbed samurai japan, , participated in suzuki all-star series, five-game friendly competition squad of major leaguers. in game 1, pitched 1 shutout inning in relief, retiring 3 consecutive batters. started game 5 @ sapporo dome and, although team lost (3–1), wasn t charged earned run (he gave 2 unearned), , of 12 outs recorded in 4 innings, got 7 via strikeout. threw fastballs, clocked 1 @ 160 km/h (99 mph), occasional curveballs, , few forkballs in mid-140s, including 1 threw in second inning strike out tampa bay rays star ben zobrist.

in december, became 2nd player out of high school in npb history reach 100m yen in salary in third year, after daisuke matsuzaka in 2001. new contract more tripled previous salary estimated @ 30m yen.

2015

2015 marked ohtani s third professional season (and second full season). though offensive production declined (5 home runs), performance on mound among best in league, earning him starter role in 2015 all-star game , pitching spot in end-of-year pacific league best 9 awards. ohtani started 2015 npb all-star game 1 pl. went 2 innings , fanned two, allowing 1 run (on double yoshitomo tsutsugo , single jose lopez), relieved nishi 1-0 deficit. pl lose 8-6 got no-decision. finished season 15-5 2.24 era, 196 strikeouts , 100 hits in 160 2/3 ip. led pl in era (.14 on nishi), tied wakui wins , second in strikeouts (19 behind norimoto, though threw 34 fewer innings). played field did see action @ dh, hitting .202/.252/.376 5 hr in 109 ab. made best 9 pl s top hurler. finished third in mvp voting again, placing behind yanagita , shogo akiyama 2015 pacific league mvp. ohtani placed third in mvp voting (first among pitchers) , 1 of 3 candidates considered 2015 sawamura award, given annually top pitcher in either league.

ohtani led league in wins , winning percentage 15-5 record in 22 starts, , 2.24 era, 5 complete games, , 3 shutouts best in league. these stats career bests, 196 strikeouts, 0.909 whip, , 11 strikeouts per 9 innings.

ohtani dominant japanese national team in 2015 premier 12. hit 100 mph while blowing away eventual champion south korea (10 k, 2 h, 2 bb, 0 r in 6 ip) before norimoto relieved. facing south korea again in semifinals, sharper (11 k, 0 bb, 1 hb, 1 h in 7 ip). did not give hit until keun-woo jeong singled in 7th , had whiffs in game first premier 12 ever. norimoto relieved 3-0 lead , 2 other relievers combined allow 4 in 9th blow japan fell in shocking defeat. led event in era (scott diamond had 12 innings 0.00 era ohtani s 13) , strikeouts (one ahead of chun-lin kuo) while allowing lowest average starting pitcher. named all-star sp event (sho nakata other member of samurai japan picked all-star team).

2016

in 2016, ohtani had breakout season hitter. in 104 games , 382 plate appearances, hit 22 home runs. hit 18 doubles, 67 rbi, batted .322 obp of .416, scored 65 runs , had 7 stolen bases. won best 9 award designated hitter. ohtani same dominant pitcher on mound. in 21 games pitched, had career low in era @ 1.86. had 10-4 record, struck out 174 batters in 140 innings 4 complete games , 1 shutout. won best 9 award pitcher , won pacific league mvp.he got double many votes other pitcher pl 2016 npb all-star game; had 300,025 while #2 shota takeda had 158,008. not pitch in event due blister on finger wound starring dh. in game 1, batted dh yuya hasegawa , lined out in 8th against scott mathieson. starting @ dh , hitting 5th in game 2, homered off shoichi ino in 5th start pl comeback 3-0 deficit. singled against ryo akiyoshi in 7th , scored on hit kenta imamiya 4-3 lead. coming 5-4 deficit in 8th, singled off shinji tajima bring in shogo akiyama tying run. produced 3 of pl s 5 runs in 5-5 tie, earning him game mvp honors. hit 165 km/h (102.5 mph) on radar gun during year, breaking marc kroon s npb record of 163 kmph.

he finished year @ .322/.416/.588 22 hr in 382 pa on offense , 10-4, 1.86 on mound 174 k in 140 ip. tied 8th in pl in wins, third in strikeouts (behind norimoto , kenda segai) better strikeout rate either of hurlers), have led in era had qualified (ayumu ishikawa led @ 2.16; ohtani 3 ip shy of qualifying), have been second in average if had qualified (52 plate appearances shy; katsuya kakunaka led @ .339), have ranked 4th in obp (between akira nakamura , haruki nishikawa), have led in slugging (.065 ahead of yanagita), have led in ops (35 ahead of yanagita) , 8th in home runs (every other player 15+ had @ least 50 more plate appearances).

he led nippon ham 2016 japan series, lost opener hiroshima carp; fanned 11 in 6 innings allowed 3 runs, 2 on homer brad eldred , 1 on steal of home seiya suzuki. down 2 games 0, came big dh in game 3, getting 3 hits, run , rbi. in bottom of 10th, singled off daichi oserato score nishikawa winner; nippon ham take next 3 games win second japan series title. teammate brandon laird win series mvp. ohtani hit .375/.412/.625 4 doubles, doing more on offense on mound series.

he made best 9 top pitcher in pl - , top dh. topped 4-time cuban mvp alfredo despaigne @ dh (190 votes 47; 3 others combined 8 votes) vote @ pitcher closer (he had 111 of 245 votes, ishikawa 69 , tsuyoshi wada 61). run-away winner of 2016 pacific league valuable player award, getting 253 of 254 first-place votes (naoki miyanishi got other one) , 1 second-place vote. had 1,268 vote points, 298 runner-up laird.

2017

in 2017, played in 65 games, hitting .332 8 homers , 31 rbis while going 3-2, 3.20 29 strikeouts on mound. in september, revealed ohtani ask posted @ end of season in order play in major league baseball in 2018. however, before happen, had surgery on right ankle in october. injury had occurred in 2016 japan series, , had cost him chance play in 2017 world baseball classic in addition restricting playing time during season.