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Kentaro Kuwahara

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Kentaro Kuwahara
Kuwahara with the Tigers, 08-2015, Naruohama Stadium
Hanshin Tigers – No. 64
Pitcher
Born: (1985-10-29) October 29, 1985 (age 39)
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
NPB debut
April 6, 2008, for the Yokohama BayStars
NPB statistics
(through 2018)
Win–loss record13-13
ERA3.39
Strikeouts256
H73
Teams

Kentaro Kuwahara (桑原 謙太朗, born October 29, 1985 in Nabari, Mie) is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher for the Hanshin Tigers in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball. He previously played for the Yokohama BayStars from 2008 to 2010 and the Orix Buffaloes from 2011 to 2014.

Early Baseball Career

He started playing little league baseball in 4th grade for the Nabari Elementary School in Mie Prefecture. He went on to become the ace of Tsuda Gakuen High, but his school never made it to any national tournaments.

He entered Nara Sangyo University and pitched regularly in the Kinki University Baseball League. In the spring of 2007, he pitched a perfect game against Nara University, earned 6 wins and helped his team win the league championship for the 3rd consecutive tournament. In all his 47 league appearances, he finished with a 26-2 win-loss record, 1.38 ERA and 255 strikeouts, and won one MVP, one Best Pitcher Award, a Fighting Spirit Award (Kantoushou 敢闘賞) and got selected into the Best Nine 3 times.

Yokohama DeNa Baystars (2008-2010)

Kuwahara with the BayStars farm team Shonan Searex in 2010

He got selected as the Baystars' 3rd pick during the 2007 NPB professional baseball draft. He inked a 70 million yen contract for a 12 million yen annual salary, and got assigned the jersey number 38.

He debuted as a reliever against the Carps on April 6, 2008. He then alternated as a starter and reliever in his following appearances, and earned his first win on July 9 when he pitched 2 scoreless innings in relief against the Swallows. On August 16, he threw 150 pitches to claim a complete shutout victory against the Tigers in Kyocera Dome. The rest of his outings were not so good however, and he finished the season with 3 wins, 6 losses, 1 hold and a 4.74 ERA. He performed better as a reliever with 2.45 ERA in 20 games, than as a starter with 6.75 ERA in 10 games.

He suffered from an injury during the pre-season games in 2009, and only managed to get back to the main squad in mid-August where he pitched mostly as a reliever thereafter. This role continued in 2010, but his appearances gradually decreased as he fell into a slump. As a result, he and Shingo Nonaka got traded to the Orix Buffaloes for Ikki Shimamura by the end of the 2010 season.

Orix Buffaloes (2011-2014)

Kuwahara with Orix in 2011

He got 10 appearances in 2011, but recorded no wins and a 3.50 ERA. He spent the next year pitching in the Western League (farm), where he finished with a 5-1 record and 2.61 ERA out of 22 games. He got a handful of appearances with the main squad in the next two seasons, but he spent the majority in the farm. After making just 22 appearances in 4 years for Orix, he was traded to the Hanshin Tigers at the end of the 2014 season for pitcher Hirokazu Shiranita[1] as Orix was short of starters and Hanshin was short of relievers.[2] He inherited Shiranita's former jersey number, 64.[3]

Hanshin Tigers

2015

As soon as he joined the Tigers, his reliever skills were immediately put to the test during the season opening game. But as he continued to give away runs in his next 4 outings, he was eventually sent back to the farm. He had 2 more appearances in May, but he spent the remainder of the season pitching in the Western League games.[4]

2016

He continued to struggle with his pitching and only appeared in a handful of farm games. But after training to adjust his mechanics, he eventually improved and finished the season with a 2.42 ERA out of 29 games (1 win, 3 losses, 2 saves).

2017

His now stable pitching got him through 8 pre-season games with a 1.17 ERA, and earned him a spot in the season opener.[4] Afterwards, he and Marcos Mateo worked together as the main set-up relievers to closer Rafael Dolis during matches where the Tigers have a narrow lead. On the April 5 match against the Swallows, he finally earned his first win as a Tiger, 7 years after he last got one in 2010 from the same opponent.[5] From then onward, he appeared in 16 consecutive games until May 21,[6] and from May 27 until July 18 (including 10 Inter-league games), he pitched in relief for 19 consecutive games without giving away a single run.[7] He finished the season as Hanshin's top reliever with 67 game appearances, 1.51 ERA, 39 holds, 4 wins and 2 losses.

Pitching Style

With three quarters delivery, he throws a four-seam fastball up to a speed of 152 km/h (94 mph)[8] and a 150 km/h (93 mph) cutter that sharply changes course just as it approaches the batter.[9] Also included in his arsenal is a 130 km/h (81 mph) slider that follows a large hooking motion.

He struggled with control issues before joining the Tigers,[8] but through the guidance of farm pitching coach Yasuo Kubo, they slowly altered his pitching mechanics during the 2016 season. The training made a drastic improvement in his pitching consistency, and resulted to his breakthrough performance in 2017 and his league topping K/BB ratio in 2018.[10]

References

  1. ^ "トレード成立のお知らせ(Trade Official Announcement)". Orix Buffaloes Official Site. 2014-11-07.
  2. ^ "阪神・白仁田とオリ桑原　1対1交換トレード オリ金子流失に備え動く". スポーツニッポン. 2014-11-07. Retrieved 2014-11-16.
  3. ^ "トレード (2014年度シーズン終了後 ～ )". NPB Official Website. 2014-11-11.
  4. ^ a b "阪神・桑原、2015年以来の開幕1軍!「はじめが肝心」". Sankei Sports. 2017-03-29. Retrieved 2017-04-19.
  5. ^ "阪神桑原、7年ぶり白星　虎で3球団目の苦労人". Nikkan Sports. 2017-04-06. Retrieved 2017-04-19.
  6. ^ "阪神・桑原　17戦ぶり失点「先頭を出したのがすべて」". Sports Nippon. 2017-05-25. Retrieved 2017-05-25.
  7. ^ "阪神桑原桑原19試合連続無失点、防御率驚異の0.70". Nikkan Sports. 2017-07-18. Retrieved 2017-07-20.
  8. ^ a b "虎・桑原、安藤＆福原に弟子入りだ！リリーフの一角に入るぞ". Sankei Sports. 2014-11-13. Retrieved 2014-11-16.
  9. ^ "虎ブルペン支える"謎多き右腕"桑原に７つの質問". Sports Nippon. 2017-06-06. Retrieved 2019-05-24.
  10. ^ "巨人菅野を抑え1位に立ったのは…　投手の安定感を示すK/BBランキング【セ編】]". Full-count. 2018-12-02.
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