is a Japanese

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

player. He plays for the

Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles The , often shortened as the , are a baseball team based in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. It has played in Nippon Professional Baseball's Pacific League since the team's formation in November 2004. The team is owned by the Internet shopping c ...

of the

Pacific League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the annual Japan Series. It currently consis ...

Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles

In 2013, Norimoto's rookie season, he pitched to a 15-8

win–loss record In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the total number of match ...

and a 3.34

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

. Norimoto won the Pacific League Rookie of the Year Award. In 2015, Norimoto led the Pacific League in strikeouts for the second straight season, with 215. His 194.2 innings also led the league. He finished third in ERA with a 2.91 mark. Despite these achievements, Norimoto finished the season with a 10–11 record, his first losing campaign in his three years.

Samurai Japan

After the 2014 NPB season, Norimoto was named to the Samurai Japan national team that took on the MLB All-Stars in an exhibition series in Japan. In Game 3 of that series at the Tokyo Dome on November 15, Norimoto pitched 5 perfect innings and struck out 6 with just 60 pitches and earned the win in what would turn out to be a combined no-hitter by Samurai Japan. The MLB lineup featured six All-Stars but collected just four base runners, losing 4–0.

Playing style

Norimoto is a 5 ft 10 in, 180 lb right-handed pitcher. With a three-quarters delivery he throws a fastball, a

forkball The forkball is a type of pitch in baseball. Related to the split-finger fastball, the forkball is held between the first two fingers and thrown hard, snapping the wrist. The forkball differs from the split-fingered fastball, however, in tha ...

, and a solid

slider Slider or Sliders may refer to: Arts * K.K. Slider, a fictional character within the ''Animal Crossing'' franchise * '' The Slider'', a 1972 album by T. Rex * ''Sliders'' (TV series), an American science fiction and fantasy television series * ...

. He recorded a career-high 98 mph when he worked in relief. He won five times strikeout titles, and posting a K/9 of 9.4 in his NPB career.

References

External links

1990 births 2015 WBSC Premier12 players 2017 World Baseball Classic players Japanese baseball players Living people Nippon Professional Baseball pitchers Nippon Professional Baseball Rookie of the Year Award winners Baseball people from Shiga Prefecture Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles players {{Japan-baseball-pitcher-stub