On the 9th, Nippon-Ham acquired pitcher Daiki Kikuchi from The Giants in the active player draft.
Born in 1999, Kikuchi is a right-handed pitcher with a fastball that reaches a maximum speed of 154 km/h. A native of Sado Island in Niigata, he attended Sado High School and Toin University of Yokohama before joining The Giants as the sixth pick in the 2021 development draft. He was registered as reliever player in April 2022, and in his first year he pitched in 16 relief games, recording ERA of 5.60. In his second year in 2023, he pitched in 50 games, second on the team, recording 4 wins, 4 losses, 1 save, 11 hold, and ERA of 3.40, supporting bullpen. He became a free agent in the offseason of 2024 and was re-signed to a development contract, but was re-signed to the regular team in July of this season.
This season, he made seven appearances with a 1-1 record and ERA of 1.80. Armed with a fastball, fork, and slider, he made his presence felt as a Doctor K pitcher, strike out in 10 inning with strike out rate of 14.40. In the Eastern League, he made 23 appearances with a 4-2 record and ERA of 1.98.
Nippon-Ham 's relief corps saw the likes of Yanagawa, Tanaka, and Saito produce results this season, but throughout the year they were unable to settle on a win formula, including a closer. In the second half of the season, they experimented by reliever Kanemura and Yamazaki, who were in the opening rotation, to relief roles. With an increase in the number of complete game pitched by their starters, Tanaka had the most appearances on the team, with 49 games. This offseason, they have been working to strengthen their reliever pitcher with proven track records in the first team, such as acquiring Shimamoto from Hanshin Tigers in a trade. There is a good chance that Kikuchi, who made 50 appearances in 2011, will be the savior.
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