Established as a central player in his sixth season

Tohoku Rakuten 's Fumiya Kurokawa has demonstrated his talent by maintaining a batting average of nearly 30% in the minor leagues since his first year after graduating from high school. This season, his sixth year, he was promoted to the major leagues on June 12th and has consistently produced results, establishing himself as a central player. He leads the batting lineup with his competitive batting, and has posted a career-high batting average of .299 in 83 games. In this article, we will delve into the factors that led to Kurokawa's breakthrough, focusing on his signature bat control.

Ability to adapt to any pitch type

The league average for contact rate is around 78% each year, and Kurokawa's third year in 2022 saw him exceed that average, reaching the 85% mark. However, looking at pitch type, he struggled somewhat with breaking ball in 2023 and fastballs last season. However, this season he has been able to make contact with any pitch, recording numbers around 85% for all of them. His batting average against breaking ball has also risen significantly from the previous year to .273. Despite facing multiple first-division level pitcher, he was able to complete the season without losing his batting accuracy.

Overcoming his weakness on the outside corner

Next, let's look at the data by pitching path. Last season, the contact rate for balls on the outside corner was 71.7%, a figure significantly lower than for other pitches, and below the league average (74.9%). This season, however, it has risen to 79.1%, above average. In general, pitcher tend to focus many of pitch on the outside corner, accounting for nearly half of all pitch. What changes have there been in the way pitchers handle this important pitching path?

Determine the ball and hit it in the opposite direction

What we want to focus on here is the stage before contact, the decision of whether to swing or not. The swing rate on the outside corner was 36.9%, a 7.6 point drop from last year. In contrast to the contact rate, this rate was above the league average last season but has fallen below it this season. Kurokawa is known for his bat control, but it seems that he has become more conscious of determining which balls he should hit rather than aggressively swinging his swing.

As a result, there was a big change in the direction of the ball. Last season, the majority of balls hit from center center fielder to the right on balls on the outside corner, but this season, the majority of balls hit to the left. When trying to hit balls on the outside corner to the right, many of the hits are weak, so-called "hooks," but by hitting to the left, it is easier to hit the ball hard. In fact, when hitting balls on the outside corner to the left, he had 21 hit in 42 At Bat-bats (batting average .500), far exceeding the league average for left-handed hitter (.358). This data is symbolic of Kurokawa's performance this season, who watches the ball carefully and hits it back without going against its course.

Tohoku Rakuten has been disappointing as a team, finishing in the B class for the fourth consecutive year. However, this season saw the presence of rising players such as Rui Muneyama, rookie Rui Munetayama, and second-year player Daisuke Nakashima. Next season, we hope to see Kurokawa, along with the other young players, lead the team from the start and lead them to a high ranking.

*All figures in the text and tables are as of the end of the 2025 season.

Text and Data Stadium