Haruto Takahashi
| Haruto Takahashi | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Hanshin Tigers – No. 29 | |
| Pitcher | |
| Born: November 7, 1995 Shizuoka City | |
Bats: Left Throws: Left | |
| debut | |
| April 11, 2018, for the Hanshin Tigers | |
| Career statistics (through 2021) | |
| Games | 44 |
| Win–loss | 14-18 |
| Earned Run Average | 3.01 |
| Teams | |
| |
Haruto Takahashi (髙橋 遥人, Takahashi, Haruto, born November 7, 1995) is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher who currently plays for the Hanshin Tigers of Nippon Professional Baseball.[1]
Early baseball career
[edit]Influenced by his older brother, Haruto played softball at an early age, then played little league baseball for the Nishina Shonen Baseball Club in his hometown in Shizuoka.[2]。
He entered Tokoha University Tachibana Integrated High, where doubling as a pitcher and right fielder, he helped his school win the national junior high softball tournament.[3] In his 2nd year in high school, he pitched as a reliever in the 2012 Summer Koshien, but his team lost in the 1st round.[4] The next year, despite declaring his intentions to become a professional baseball player after graduation, none of the teams drafted him, so he entered Asia University in Tokyo instead.[5] He became a regular starter as his team participated in the Tohto University Baseball League, and even made it all the way to the 2016 Japan National Collegiate Baseball Championship Tournament where he was awarded Best 8.[6] He finished with 5 wins, 7 losses and a 3.57 ERA in 31 league appearances.[7]
Hanshin Tigers
[edit]He was the Tiger's 2nd round pick during the 2017 NPB draft.[3] He signed a 70 million yen contract with Hanshin, for an estimated annual salary of 12 million yen.[8] He was assigned jersey number 29.[5]
2018
The coaches made him undergo strength training during spring camp to improve his weak pitching arm as they've seen its potential.[9] Shortly into the season, he was given the opportunity to debut as the starter for the April 11 match against the Carps. He pitched seven shutout innings and allowed only 2 hits and no runs, earning him his first career win. This victory made him the first Hanshin rookie pitcher in 6 decades to win his debut match in Koshien Stadium (since Minoru Murayama won against the Swallows in April 1959).[10] Despite his starts having wider rest intervals than the team's other starting pitchers due to his weak arm, his continuous starts took its toll in June, prompting the coaches to stop him from pitching any further before his arm gets worse. His season ended with a 2–3 win loss record, and a 3.63 ERA.[11] He received a 1 million raise in November, bringing his total annual salary to 13 million yen. [12]
2019
He spent the first few months in the farm to give his arm more time to heal.[13] His first start came on May 5 against the Baystars, but he failed to secure a win after giving up 5 runs in 4 innings.[14] He also lost his next start, but redeemed himself on May 30 when he pitched 7 solid innings against the Giants and won the game. This was his first official win in more than a year.[15] He continued to pitch well afterwards and was even in the running for the July MVP of the month after giving up at most 2 runs in 6 consecutive starts, but he kept failing to secure a win due to lack of run support.[16] His continued starts took its toll on his arm once more however, and he went into a slump later in the season, losing 3 out of his 4 matches in September.[17] He also pitched in relief during Randy Messenger's retirement game on September 29, and recorded his first career hold after pitching 2 scoreless innings. He finished the season with 3 wins, 9 losses, 1 hold and a 3.78 ERA in 19 game appearances. After Hanshin finished 3rd in the overall rankings, he started 2 games during the post-season Climax Series and helped his team beat the Baystars to reach the final stage.[18] His improved performance earned him a 9 million pay raise, bringing his total annual salary to 22 million yen.[17]
2020
Despite seeing less playtime in 2020 as the NPB season was shortened due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Takahashi brought his A-game early on. He held the Giants scoreless during his first start on August 6 and fanned a career first of 11.[19] He gave away only 2 runs in his next 2 starts and finished August with 0.82 ERA.[20] His early success against the Giants prompted the team to schedule most of his starts against them, and the gamble paid off as he notched a 2.03 ERA and gave away only 1 home run in all of his 6 starts against them. He was particularly effective against Giants prolific hitter Hayato Sakamoto who only managed 2 hits out of 16 at-bats (0.125). In contrast, he wasn't as effective against the Baystars where he recorded 4.91 ERA and 3 home runs in 2 starts. On October 5, he struck out a career-high of 14 and went the distance on 113 pitches to record his first career complete win.[21] He finished the season with 5-4 in 12 starts, and a personal best ERA of 2.49 - second among the team's starters, behind Yuki Nishi's 2.26. 4 of his 5 wins were earned at their home stadium Koshien where he recorded a 1.47 ERA out of 5 starts there. This earned him a 7 million pay raise to bring his annual salary to 29 million yen.[22]
His success during this season was partly attributed to forming his batteries with Seishiro Sakamoto instead of the team's mainstay catcher Umeno. After observing each batter, Sakamoto was able to set a good tempo for his throws and cleverly mixed the fastballs with the breaking pitches to confuse the opponent.[23] Sakamoto also tends to direct Takahashi's pitches towards the edges of the strikezone [24]
Pitching style
[edit]| Pitch | Percent Thrown |
Hit Rate |
Strikeout + Fanning Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Four-seam | 44% | 26% | 19% |
| Two-seam | 21% | 16% | 20% |
| Cutter | 19% | 29% | 23% |
| Slider | 11% | 27% | 33% |
| Curve | 3% | 29% | 33% |
A 5'11 southpaw pitcher with three quarters delivery, he throws a four-seam fastball as his main pitch, coupled with a cutter, a two-seamer, and an occasional curveball and slider.[6] Despite his weak arm, his fastest pitch was clocked at 152 km/h (94 mph).[26] His fastballs average around 150 km/h (93 mph) while his breaking balls were clocked around the 140 km/h (87 mph) range. [24]
Career statistics
[edit]- Career statistics from Baseball Reference (Minors)
References
[edit]- ^ "阪神 - 契約更改 - プロ野球 (Hanshin Contract Renewals - Pro Baseball)". Nikkan Sports. November 20, 2018.
- ^ "阪神ドラ2高橋遥人 子供5人を育て上げた"脱サラ"父の教え". Nikkan Gendai DIGITAL. 2017-11-15. Retrieved 2019-05-04.
- ^ a b "家康は故郷で鷹狩り 阪神ドラ２高橋 壮大"タイガードラマ"天下獲り". Sports Nippon. November 27, 2017.
- ^ "菅原「魔ックルカーブ」10Ｋ／甲子園". Nikkan Sports. November 27, 2017.
- ^ a b "阪神２位指名の亜大・高橋、４年前の悔しさ晴らし「うれしい」". Sankei Sports. November 27, 2017.
- ^ a b "阪神Ｄ２・高橋遥、亜細亜大の宝刀ツーシームでセ界斬る！". Sankei Sports. 2017-11-07. Retrieved 2019-05-04.
- ^ "阪神高橋遥人2回無安打に監督「スゴイと思わん？」". Nikkan Sports. March 5, 2018.
- ^ "ドラ１馬場は「１８」 ２位高橋は「２９」新入団会見で背番号発表". Daily Sports. December 4, 2017.
- ^ "阪神高橋遥人2回無安打に監督「スゴイと思わん?」". Nikkan Sports. December 25, 2018.
- ^ "阪神ドラフト2位高橋遥「100点」デビュー ネガティブ男がセ界新人一番星". Sports Nippon. April 12, 2018.
- ^ "阪神高橋遥人2回無安打に監督「スゴイと思わん?」". Weekly Baseball(週刊ベースボール). December 25, 2018.
- ^ "阪神高橋遥人100万増励みに巨人岡本へリベンジだ". Nikkan Sports. November 21, 2018.
- ^ "阪神・高橋遥、８カ月ぶり帰ってくる！１０日フリー打撃登板". Sankei Sports. February 10, 2019.
- ^ "阪神・高橋遥 今季初登板初先発も5回途中5失点KO「申し訳ない」 4失策で足引っ張られ…". Sports Nippon. May 5, 2019.
- ^ "阪神・高橋遥、今季初白星 圧巻9Kで巨人にリベンジ「やり返そうと」". Sports Nippon. May 31, 2019.
- ^ "阪神高橋遥人６戦連続援護２点以下／セ見どころ". Nikkan Sports. August 2, 2019.
- ^ a b "阪神・高橋遥が９００万円アップの２２００万円で契約更改". Sankei Sports. November 25, 2019.
- ^ "阪神高橋遥人が第２戦先発 ＤｅＮＡ戦から中２日". Nikkan Sports. October 9, 2019.
- ^ "11Ｋ阪神高橋遥人の決め球はツーシームとカット". Nikkan Sports. 2020-08-07.
- ^ "阪神13連戦スタート、先陣は防御率０点台の高橋". Nikkan Sports. 2020-09-01.
- ^ "Baseball: Takahashi strikes out 14 as Hanshin beats CL-leading Yomiuri". Mainichi Shimbun. 2020-10-05.
- ^ "阪神・高橋 来季のフル回転誓う「規定投球回を目指して」 700万円増の2900万円で更改". Sports Nippon. 2020-12-08.
- ^ 山田久志 (2020-10-05). "阪神坂本が引き出した"違う高橋遥人"". Nikkan Sports.
- ^ a b "11Ｋ阪神高橋遥人の決め球はツーシームとカット". Nikkan Sports. 2020-08-07.
- ^ "2020年度 髙橋 遥人【阪神】投手成績詳細(カウント別・球種配分)". baseballdata.jp. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
- ^ "ドラ２高橋遥は「左の岩隈」 しなる腕からキレあるボール！金村コーチ絶賛". Daily Sports. January 18, 2018.