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In the year 2023, Takahashi had a total of 25 appearances, pitching for 146 innings and recording an average of 8.9 strikeouts and 3.1 walks per nine innings. His WHIP was 1.233, slightly lower than his impressive numbers in 2022.

Kona Takahashi, who recently celebrated his 27th birthday in February, has been playing in NPB since 2015, giving him a more extensive history compared to the first two pitchers on our list. However, he has shown significant improvement in the last two seasons.

Beginning in the 2022 season, Takahashi’s ERA has been significantly lower compared to his career average, with recorded ERAs of 2.20 and 2.21 in 26 and 23 starts, respectively. This improvement can be attributed in part to his increased fastball velocity, which he focused on during his offseason training with Driveline in the Seattle region.

During the current offseason, there has been a lot of news coverage surrounding former Japanese baseball players. One notable event was former NPB player Shohei Ohtani signing a record-breaking contract with the Dodgers. Another piece of news was MLB newcomer Yoshinobu Yamamoto signing a contract that ties for the fourth-highest paid contract in MLB history. It is possible that Ohtani and Yamamoto could make up two-fifths of the Dodgers’ starting rotation for many years to come. However, Ohtani will not be able to pitch until 2025 due to undergoing arm surgery.

In 2023, he began his first year as a starting pitcher. In his previous three seasons as a reliever, he was consistently successful, with his ERA never going above 1.87. He also had a higher strikeout rate (between 10.5 and 12.2 K/9) and a lower walk rate.

Takahashi has recently stated his interest in joining the Majors. This is partly influenced by his former teammate, Yusei Kikuchi, who has also moved to the United States, as well as attending Game 4 of the 2022 World Series in Philadelphia. However, his team, the Saitama Seibu Lions, has not yet made a decision to post him.

Yamashita throws a fastball that typically ranges from 94 to 97 mph, but can reach speeds of 99 mph, which ranks in the top 2% of all pitches in the NPB.

In recent times, there has been a great abundance of talented pitchers in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).

Although Takahashi is only 22 years old, he has been highly successful in the last two seasons despite not receiving much support from his team. Despite having an impressive ERA of 2.50, he has only managed a record of 13-18 in NPB.

During the 2023 season, Yamashita played in 16 games where he pitched an average of almost six innings per game. He had an average of 9.6 strikeouts per nine innings and only 2.8 walks, resulting in a WHIP of 1.063. His skill was evident as he had an impressive 1.61 ERA and his ability to make batters miss on pitches outside of the strike zone (O-swg%) was in the 88th percentile.

Over the past few years, Yu Darvish has been selected as an All-Star five times and has placed in the top 10 for the Cy Young award four times. In his first year with the Mets, rookie Kodai Senga was their strongest starting pitcher with a 2.98 ERA in 29 starts. Additionally, Ohtani has been a standout pitcher for several years, even earning a second-place spot in the 2022 AL Cy Young Award voting.

In the final game against the United States, he used a forkball to strike out Mike Trout, and then proceeded to strike out Paul Goldschmidt as well.

The Seibu Lions may also be considering another player as a potential target for Major League Baseball.

In the 2023 season, Sasaki had an average of 13.4 strikeouts and only 1.7 walks per nine innings. He also maintained an impressive 0.747 WHIP and 1.78 ERA in 15 games (91 innings). These numbers were almost identical to his performance in the previous year.

Yamashita is currently playing for the Orix Buffaloes, which was also Yamamoto’s previous team. He has shown impressive skills as a pitcher.

Surprisingly, Sasaki’s fastball is not his strongest pitch. He also has a very powerful splitter/forkball that reaches speeds in the low 90s and has a movement of almost 30 inches.

Some of this can be attributed to Takahashi’s fastball, which typically ranges from 93-95 mph but has reached speeds of up to 98 mph. It has been consistently hit with an average of almost .300. However, batters have a much lower average of just .133 when facing his forkball, which is typically thrown in the high 80s to low 90s.

There has been an increase in his fastball speed, now averaging in the mid- to upper-90s instead of the previous low-90s. He has also made improvements to his splitter, slider, and change.

Therefore, teams are now more willing to offer bigger contracts to Japanese pitchers, as they have proven their success in the Major Leagues and have even exceeded the expectations of their deals.

Possibly the most fascinating aspect, however, is his youth. Yamashita will not reach 22 years old until July, giving him ample opportunity to further develop as a dominant pitcher.

Taira, who recently celebrated his 24th birthday in November, is expected to be transferred soon due to his age and impressive performance with the Lions since joining in 2018. In the 2023 season, he maintained a 2.40 ERA and a 1.133 WHIP in 150 innings, with an average of 3.3 walks and 9.2 strikeouts per nine innings.

In January, Sasaki stated his interest in joining MLB soon. There are rumors that his contract includes a clause allowing him to be posted by Chiba Lotte whenever he requests, potentially allowing him to make the move to the Major Leagues as early as the next off-season.