Unbeaten six-game winning streak in the second half

pitcher Naoyuki Uwasawa joined Fukuoka Softbank this season after a bid to make the majors in 2024. He earned his first win since the transfer against Saitama Seibu on April 6th, and has since established himself as a key member of the starting rotation, ultimately finishing with 12 wins, tying his career high. He continued to pitch consistently, especially in the second half of the season, with a 6-0 record and ERA of 1.74 in nine starts. This time, we'll take a closer look at the data behind the right-hander's excellent pitching, which has helped the team to reach the championship.

He frequently throws fork as his finishing pitch.

Uezawa pitcher is characterized by a pitch style that controls a variety of breaking ball. Looking at the percentage of pitches by pitch type in a situation pitch where he was driven to 2 strike, he threw various pitches as deciding pitches in the first half, mainly curveballs. However, in the second half, the percentage of fork soared to 47.1%. Even if you look at the data for the three years just before moving to the United States (Hokkaido Nippon-Ham era) under the same 2 strike conditions, there has never been a season in which fork was used for the deciding ball so much. So why did Uezawa pitcher choose this pitch this season?

Improved fork increases strikeout rate

Uesawa pitcher has stated that he has changed his fork grip since the middle of this season. The fork he used to throw was a splitter type of ball with a fast velocity and small drop, but he says he learned the grip from teammates Koya Fujii pitcher and Kazuki Sugiyama pitcher and increased the drop. The average velocity of the same type of ball was about 140 km/h just after the season opener, but has been around 135 km/h since June, indicating that the nature of the ball has changed.

Slowing down the ball's speed and increasing its movement may make it more likely for hitter to miss the ball, but in reality, the percentage hitter swinging at it didn't drop that much, while the swing-and-miss rate increased by about 9 points. The aforementioned pitcher Fujii and Sugiyama are pitcher rack up struck out with their sharply dropping fork. pitcher, who has adopted their techniques, also stated, "If I throw it low, I'm sure I'll get a strikeout," revealing a sense of accomplishment and confidence.

Transforming into pitcher can struck out out batters

The effect of the improved fork was also evident in the results. In the second half, he took struck out in nearly half of the at-bats he drove to 2 strike, and his Avg was .105, an improvement of more than 10% from the first half. The long hits allowed from the 2nd strike were 10 (including 4 for Home Run) at 179 At Bat in the first half, compared to only two doble at 114 At Bat in the second half, giving the opponent hitter few chances.

In the second half, Uezawa pitcher took 60 struck out in 57 inning. The strike out rate of 9.47 is on par with strong arms such as Hiromi Ito pitcher and Tatsuya Imai pitcher. Considering that Uezawa pitcher 's NPB career strike out ratio is 7.33, it can be said that a major model change has been made.

Although he suffered a loss in the third game of the "2025 Persol Climax Series Pa" Final Stage, he recorded 10 strike out in 6 2/3 innings. In Game 2 of the "SMBC Japan Series 2025", he showed impressive pitching in the postseason, such as taking a 4-way swing struck out in a row. If the fork we covered this time continues to show their power from the opening, what kind of results will remain? Next season, we can't take our eyes off the performance of number 10.

*All numbers in the text and table are as of the end of the 2025 season.

Moon/Data Stadium