It’s baseball year-round.
Rakuten Eagles left-handed pitcher Takahisa Hayakawa, 25, joined the Australian Winter League on Thursday. The Australian League is very familiar to Korean baseball players and fans. Until last year, Geelong Korea, which consisted of KBO players, participated in the Australian League. There have been many cases where players who gained experience in Australia during the KBO offseason have made the leap to the main team. Domestic clubs mainly sent 1.5 players who moved up and down the first and second divisions.
Hayakawa will be preparing for next season with the Perth Heat, the team where “Legend” Koo Dae-sung briefly played. It is a month-long schedule until December 25. “I want to gain a lot of knowledge and experience, and I’ll work hard and come back,” he told Rakuten.
In just a week, he’ll be back in action.
Hayakawa was a member of Japan’s team at the Asian Professional Baseball Championship (APBC) from November 16-19 at the Tokyo Dome. On Nov. 18, he started the third game of the preliminary round against Australia and pitched a five-inning perfect game. He faced 15 batters through five innings, throwing 63 pitches, allowing no hits, walking four and striking out seven. In the third inning, he was dominant, striking out three batters on 10 pitches.
Before the start of the tournament, Japanese national team manager Hirokazu Ibata (48) announced the starting pitchers for the three preliminary games and the final (third and fourth place games). It was a vote of confidence. Yuji Akahoshi (24-Yomiuri), Chihiro Sumida (24-Seibu), and Hayakawa started against Taiwan, South Korea, and Australia. Imai Matsuya (25-Seibu), who joined as a wild card, pitched in the final against South Korea.
The third-year player joined the organization as the No. 1 pick in the 2021 draft after graduating from Waseda University. Hayakawa is Rakuten’s next ace.
Mi is the top prospect. 아톰카지노 도메인
It’s baseball all season long.
This season, his third year in the organization, he started 17 games and pitched 96⅔ innings. He had a 6-7 record, 78 strikeouts, and a 3.44 ERA. He was fifth on the team in innings pitched and wins. In the second team, he pitched in six games (34 starts) and 28 innings. Combined for 124⅔ innings between the first and second teams.
He struggled in the second half. On August 22, he gave up five runs in 5⅓ innings in a loss to the Needham Fighters. He returned to the first team 40 days later and had another bad outing. On October 5, he gave up three runs in three innings against Niihon Ham.
In 2021, he started his rookie season with three starts. In 24 games (23 starts), he went 9-7 with a 3.86 ERA, throwing 137⅔ innings.
On May 16 of that year, he threw a 98-pitch complete game against the Orix Buffaloes. It was the 15th complete game by a rookie in history. His salary increased from 16 million yen to 36 million yen.
The next two years saw a decline. In 19 games last year, he went 5-9, 3.86 in 107 1/3 innings, giving up a league-high 19 home runs. Had elbow surgery after the season. Will look to regain confidence against Australia in the APBC and upgrade in the Australian League.