Yoshihisa Naruse (Japanese:成瀬善久, born, October 13, 1985 in Tochigi, Japan) is a

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 ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

player. He is a pitcher for the Orix Buffaloes of

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 ...

. He made his debut in the 2006 season. In 2007, Naruse had his best season as a professional in his short career. All season long he was competing with

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters The are a Japanese professional Baseball in Japan, baseball team based in Kitahiroshima, Hokkaidō. They compete in the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball, playing the majority of their home games at ES CON Field Hokkaido. The Figh ...

superstar

Yu Darvish , more commonly known as Yu Darvish (ダルビッシュ有), is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB). Darvish has also played in MLB for the Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Dodgers, and ...

for the

Eiji Sawamura Award The , commonly known as the Sawamura Award, is an honor bestowed upon the top starting pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball each year. The award was originally established by Japanese magazine "Nekkyū" in 1947 to honor the career of Eiji Sawa ...

, the award for best pitcher in all of Japan. In 24 starts, Naruse was 16–1 with a 1.82 ERA, with 138 strikeouts and only 27 walks in 173 and 1/3 innings. Darvish, by comparison, was 15–5 in 26 starts, also compiling a 1.82 ERA, but not only did he throw more complete games than Naruse (12 for Darvish, 6 for Naruse), but Darvish also threw more innings (207 and 2/3), but he struck out more batters, with 210 punch-outs. The two ended up facing each other in the 2007 Pacific League Championship Series' deciding Game 5. Darvish triumphed over Naruse at

Sapporo Dome is a stadium located in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan, and is primarily used for baseball and association football. It is the home field of the association football club Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo, and was also home to the baseball team Hokkaido Ni ...

, and the Fighters won Game 5 and the series 3–2, setting up a rematch of the 2006 Japan Series with the

Chunichi Dragons The are a professional baseball team based in Nagoya, the chief city in the Chūbu region of Japan. The team plays in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. They have won the Central League pennant nine times (most recently in 2011) ...

. Naruse ultimately lost out to Darvish for the Sawamura Award in 2007. Since that season, he has remained solid, and was selected to the 2008 Japanese National Olympic baseball team, where he was one of the best players of what turned out to be a disappointing tournament for Team Japan, as the heavily favored Japanese failed to medal. Naruse gave up no earned runs over 12 innings, outperforming his more famous counterpart Darvish. In 2007, Naruse's number was 60, but the next season he had it changed to 17. Over his career, Naruse has a record of 63–40, with an ERA of 3.02.

External links

Career statistics - NPB.jp
{{DEFAULTSORT:Naruse, Yoshihisa 1985 births Living people Baseball people from Tochigi Prefecture Nippon Professional Baseball pitchers Chiba Lotte Marines players Tokyo Yakult Swallows players Baseball players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic baseball players of Japan Orix Buffaloes players