is a former

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

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 leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

who played for the

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks The are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture. They compete in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) as a member of the Pacific League. The team was formerly known as the Nankai Hawks and was based in Osaka. ...

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 ...

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 cons ...

Early life

Born in

Yokosuka, Kanagawa is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city has a population of 409,478, and a population density of . The total area is . Yokosuka is the 11th most populous city in the Greater Tokyo Area, and the 12th in the Kantō region. The city ...

, Takahashi attended Otsu Junior High School and Yokohama So-Gakukan High School. He was selected in the third-round of the 2004 draft by the (then named)

Fukuoka Daiei Hawks The are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture. They compete in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) as a member of the Pacific League. The team was formerly known as the Nankai Hawks and was based in Osaka. ...

Professional career

Takahashi spent seven years with the Hawks organization. In 2010, the sixth year of his professional career, he received a call-up to the club's first team and made his debut appearance on April 28, 2010 against 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 ...

. He pitched the 9th innings and allowed one run. He made his second (and final) first-team appearance on May 10, 2010 against the Orix Buffaloes. He pitched 1 1/3 innings and struck out one batter, T-Okada. In the 2011 season he pitched well in the farm league, but could not secure a call-up to the first league. He was released by the Hawks in December 2011. He later announced via his Twitter account that he was retiring from professional baseball.

References

External links

Player Profile: Toru Takahashi
{{DEFAULTSORT:Takahashi, Toru 1987 births Living people Baseball people from Kanagawa Prefecture Japanese baseball players Nippon Professional Baseball pitchers Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks players