Masaki Oyokawa | |
---|---|
Hanshin Tigers – No. 37 | |
Pitcher | |
Born: Sōsa, Chiba | April 18, 2001|
Bats: Left Throws: Left | |
NPB debut | |
2021, for the Hanshin Tigers | |
Career statistics (through 2021 season) | |
Games | 13 |
Holds | 2 |
Earned run average | 1.76 |
Teams | |
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Masaki Oyokawa (及川 雅貴, Oyokawa,Masaki, born April 18, 2001 in Sōsa, Chiba) is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher who currently plays for the Hanshin Tigers of Nippon Professional Baseball. [1]
He is nicknamed "Oyoyo" by his teammates. [2]
He started playing little league baseball in 3rd grade for Suka Elementary, and was chosen to play for the Chiba Lotte Marines Junior team in his 6th year. [3] He continued playing baseball for Yokaichiba Daini Junior High, and was selected to pitch for the national team in the 2016 WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup. [4] He helped Japan finish 2nd overall, and he earned the lowest ERA pitcher award as well as a "Super Junior High pitcher" reputation for his 140 km/h fastball. [5]
He entered Yokohama High School, a known baseball powerhouse in Kanagawa prefecture, and became the team's ace in his 2nd year. [6] But despite his team making it to national tournaments for 3 years in a row, he failed to pitch well in several games that at one point he was stripped of the ace jersey (#1). [7] In his final year, his team almost made it to the summer prefectural finals but lost to the opponent when he gave up 3 runs in less than 2 innings of relief. This was the first time his school was defeated by a public high school in the prefectural tournaments, last occurred in 1997 when Daisuke Matsuzaka was a sophomore pitcher there. [3] Nevertheless, his 153 km/h (95 mph) fastball was enough to gain scout attention and he was one of the top high school prospects of the 2019 draft, along with Junya Nishi, Rōki Sasaki and Yasunobu Okugawa. [8]
He was the Tiger's 3rd round pick during the 2019 NPB draft. [6] He signed a 50 million yen contract with Hanshin, for an estimated annual salary of 6 million yen. [1] He was assigned jersey number 37.
2020 He spent his first year playing in Western League games (farms). He finished with a 2-4 record in 9 outings with a 6.0 ERA. [9]
2021 He debuted as a middle reliever in the May 25 game against the Lions and pitched a scoreless 2/3 innings. [10] Two days later, he earned his first career win as a reliever after pitching 2 scoreless innings. [11]