Takeru Sasaki (佐々木 健, Sasaki Takeru, born May 13, 1996) is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher for the Saitama Seibu Lions of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).
| Takeru Sasaki | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Saitama Seibu Lions – No. 115 | |
| Pitcher | |
| Born: May 13, 1996 Aomori, Japan | |
Bats: Left Throws: Left | |
| NPB debut | |
| June 11, 2021, for the Saitama Seibu Lions | |
| NPB statistics (through 2023 season) | |
| Win–loss record | 3–1 |
| Earned Run Average | 3.05 |
| Strikeouts | 41 |
| Teams | |
| |
Career
editSasaki was drafted by the Saitama Seibu Lions with the team's 2nd pick in the 2020 Nippon Professional Baseball draft.[citation needed]
On June 11, 2021, Sasaki made his NPB debut, pitching 2.0 scoreless innings against the Chunichi Dragons. On July 2, Sasaki became the first player in NPB history to be ejected while facing the first batter of the game. His 3rd pitch of the game hit Orix Buffaloes leadoff hitter Shuhei Fukuda in the head, which resulted in an automatic ejection.[1] He finished his rookie campaign making 5 appearances, struggling to an 8.31 ERA with 4 strikeouts in 8.2 innings of work.
In 2022, Sasaki made 37 appearances for Seibu, posting a 3-0 record and 3.03 ERA with 24 strikeouts in 29.2 innings pitched.[2]
References
edit- ^ @NPB_Reddit (2 July 2021). "Seibu Lions pitcher Takeru Sasaki became the 1st pitcher in NPB history to be ejected while facing the 1st batter o…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ "Takeru Sasaki Japanese League Statistics". baseball-reference.com. Retrieved 2023-04-27.