The Sawamura Award is awarded to the season's most outstanding complete game pitcher completes games, in commemoration of the late Eiji Sawamura, a legendary pitcher from the early days of professional baseball. The selection committee (selection committee members: Masatsugu Hiramatsu, Tsuneo Horiuchi, Hisashi Yamada, Kimiyasu Kudo, and Masaki Saito) met in Tokyo on the 27th and decided that Hiromi Ito (Nippon-Ham) would be the first recipient of the award.

Ito commented through the team, "As pitcher, this is an award I have longed for and have been aiming for, so I am truly honored to have been selected. I am truly happy that my pitching over the past season has been recognized. I feel that the results I have achieved this year are due to the fact that I have practiced with intention, starting from my own training, and pitching desperately in games throughout the season with the aim of helping the team win. I would like to express my gratitude to Manager Shinjo, who believed in me and encouraged me, all the team members who supported me, my family, and of course, the fans who continue to support me. I will savor the joy of receiving this award and continue to work hard in my daily training in order to reach even greater heights."

Of the seven selection criteria - number of appearances, number of complete game, number of win, innings pitched, winning percentage, strike out, and ERA- Ito met the criteria in three of the categories of number of appearances, winning percentage, and strike out.

This is the first time Nippon-Ham player has won the Sawamura Award in 18 years, since Yu Darvish in 2007.

◆ Sawamura Award selection criteria

*The numbers in parentheses are Ito's results for this season

・Number of appearances: 25 (27)

complete game games: 10 (6)

win: 15 (14)

innings pitched: 200 (196 2/3)

・Winning percentage: .600 (.636)

・ strike out: 150 (195)

・ ERA: 2.50 (2.52)