​Haru Matsumoto pitcher who joined Fukuoka Softbank as the 5th pick in the 2022 draft, started last season as a reliever due to the team's short bullpen. However, he made a strong showing with 12 consecutive scoreless runs and was promoted to starter in May. He ultimately made 15 starts, finishing with a record of 5 wins and 6 losses and an ERA of 3.41. This season, he started the second game of the season on March 28th, pitching 6 innings and allowing 2 runs winning pitcher and help the team's winning streak. This time, we will delve into pitch style of this promising fourth-year left-hander, based on his performance last season.

Pitching that doesn't completely fall apart even when hits are given up.

Comparing Matsumoto's performance as a starter last season to the league average, pitcher Avg of .286 suggests he was hit somewhat hard. On the other hand, BB rate was above average, and strike out rate of 9.21 was on par with his teammate Moinelo pitcher (9.27). Despite allowing many runner on base due to hits, he was able to consistently get outs through struck out, which likely kept pitch count per inning around average.

They aggressively challenge the batter in strike zone and try to get them to hit the ball.

One notable aspect of starting pitcher Matsumoto's data is his high percentage of pitch in strike zone. Not only does he throw his basic fastball, but he also throws many breaking ball such as slider and curves within the zone, with his overall strike zone pitch percentage being 51.3%, more than half. For reference, of the 23 pitcher who reached the required innings pitched in NPB last season, only two pitcher, pitcher Yokohama DeNA and Hiromi Ito Hokkaido Nippon-Ham had pitcher zone percentage exceeding 50%. This confident approach can be said to be a characteristic of pitcher.

However, simply throwing more to the strike zone also increases the risk of being captured by hitter. As mentioned earlier, the disadvantage actually manifests itself in the form of Avg. Nevertheless, one of the factors that allowed closer to be made is the large number of golo-hit balls. The high pitch number of slider and curves in the zone also marked a higher percentage of ground balls than the league average, which seems to be connected to the pitching that makes them hit and get them.

After getting ahead in the count, switch to aiming for struck out.

Matsumoto pitcher is pitcher to "throw it into the zone and let it hit", but he also steals a lot of struck out. At first glance, it seems contradictory, but the key to making this special pitching breaking ball possible. count Looking at the swing rate of each pitch by separate, in a 2-strike situation, the numbers of all three pitches have jumped, and the difference with the league average is widening. In other words, the fact that the hitter is the same before and after the drive, but after the drive, it switches to a ball that makes the ball swing empty. This control is Matsumoto's pitcher strength.

Last season, he was reassigned to relief again at the end of the season, so after the contract was renewed, Matsumoto said, "I want to be a pitcher who will start in the Persol CS Pa and the Japan Series," pitcher. In this season's camp, he set a goal of "throwing from start to finish in the starting rotation" and first realized his entry into the opening rotation. pitcher Can we live up to expectations as the axis of the team and have a season of doing what we say? number I would like to pay attention to the pitching of 49.

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

Text by Data Stadium