Masumi Kuwata

Masumi Kuwata
Pitcher
Born: (1968-04-01) April 1, 1968 Osaka, Japan
Batted: Right	Threw: Right
Professional debut
NPB: 1986 for the Yomiuri Giants
MLB: June 10, 2007 for the Pittsburgh Pirates
Last professional appearance
August 13, 2007 for the Pittsburgh Pirates
Career statistics
Win-Loss (NPB)	173-141
ERA (NPB)	3.42
Strikeouts (NPB)	1980
Win-Loss (MLB)	0-1
ERA (MLB)	9.43
Strikeouts (MLB)	12
Teams
Yomiuri Giants (1986–2006) Pittsburgh Pirates (2007)
Career highlights and awards
1987 Eiji Sawamura Award 1994 Central League MVP

Kuwata pitching for the Yomiuri Giants in 2006.

Masumi Kuwata (桑田 真澄 Kuwata Masumi, born 1 April 1968 in Yao, Osaka, Japan) is a former Japanese right-handed pitcher. He was formerly with the Yomiuri Giants of the Central League. He pitched 21 seasons with the Giants, beginning in 1986. In December 2006 Masumi signed a minor league deal with the Pirates. Despite interest from the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Dodgers, Masumi chose Pittsburgh because he predicted he would have the best chance of breaking in the main club as a starter with the Pirates.

Kuwata participated in spring training with the Pittsburgh Pirates, but injured his right ankle, ending hopes of getting on a major league roster at the start of the season. The Pirates did not release Kuwata, but placed him on their Triple-A Indianapolis Indians roster as a disabled player, giving him a chance to work his way up to the majors. He made his major league debut for the Pirates in June 2007.

High school

Kuwata entered the prestigious PL (Perfect Liberty) High School in Osaka. He and his teammate Kazuhiro Kiyohara immediately became stars in high school baseball. Kuwata led his team to five Koshien tournaments, winning the tournament twice. He won 20 games at Koshien, which is the highest record except Masao Yoshida's 23 wins.

The Yomiuri Giants drafted Kuwata in the 1st round in 1985. The draft generated some controversy, since Kuwata had repeatedly expressed a desire to enter Waseda University, prompting other teams to refrain from picking him in the draft. Kuwata reversed his previous statements and immediately signed with the Yomiuri Giants, founding rumors that he had conspired with the Giants to avoid being picked by other teams.

Professional career

Japan

Kuwata quickly established his presence in the professional leagues, winning 15 games in his second year (1987) with a 2.17 ERA, the lowest in the league. Major League pitcher Bill Gullickson played for the Giants in 1988–1989, and befriended Kuwata. Gullickson named his son Craig Kuwata Gullickson after Kuwata, and gave much advice to the Japanese pitcher. Kuwata has said his dream of playing in the Major Leagues came from Gullickson. However, many obstacles kept him from realizing this dream. He won the Eiji Sawamura Award (the Japanese equivalent of the Cy Young Award) the same year, and won over ten games for six consecutive seasons starting in 1992. No other modern player (with the exception of Daisuke Matsuzaka) that entered the professional leagues from high school has been so immediately effective in the Japanese professional leagues. Kuwata suffered a severe injury to his right elbow while attempting to catch a pop fly in June, 1995, ending his season. Kuwata had surgery in the U.S., and spent the rest of 1995 and all of 1996 in rehab. He made a comeback in 1997, winning 10 games, and 16 games in 1998, but his pitching had noticeably deteriorated compared to the years before his injury. As he became more and more hitable, he was relegated to relief and closing duties, where he was mostly unsuccessful. Kuwata decided to retire during the 2001 off-season, but Giants general manager Tatsunori Hara convinced him to remain on the team. On April 19, 2002, he aroused the public's notice for defeating Kei Igawa by scores of 1-0.^[1] Kuwata gave a brilliant performance in 2002, posting a 2.22 ERA (lowest in the league), and winning over 10 games for the first time in four years. However, he once again dipped into mediocrity in the 2003 season and did not win a single game in 2005. Kuwata has 118 complete games in Japan.^[2]

Major League Baseball

At the end of the 2006, Kuwata surprised fans by announcing his intent to play in the Major Leagues.^[3] Kuwata signed a minor league contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates as a 38-year-old rookie, ending his 21-year stay with the Yomiuri Giants. On June 9, 2007, Kuwata was promoted to the Pittsburgh Pirates after reliever Salomón Torres was placed on the disabled list. He is the first Japanese player in team history. He made his Major League debut June 10, 2007^[4] in a game against the New York Yankees. At that time he was 39 years old, which was the oldest debut with the exception of Satchel Paige and Diomedes Olivo in the post-World War II era. He gave up 2 runs in 2 innings on a home run to third baseman Alex Rodriguez.

On August 14, the Pirates designated Kuwata for assignment.^[5] The Pirates outrighted Kuwata to Triple-A on August 17 but Kuwata refused the assignment. Afterwards, Kuwata returned home to Japan.

In December 2007, Kuwata signed a minor league contract with the Pirates for the 2008 season. The contract included an invitation to the Spring Training with the team.

Retirement

Kuwata announced his retirement from baseball on March 26, 2008 after not making the team out of Spring Training.^[6] Upon announcing his retirement, the Pittsburgh Pirates offered Kuwata a coaching position with the club, but he declined.

After returning to Japan, he became a commentator for the Sports Hochi daily newspaper, Nippon Television's NPB live programmes, and Tokyo Broadcasting System Television's MLB programmes. On January 28, 2009, at age 40, he was accepted into the Graduate School of Sport Sciences of Waseda University, and on March 25, he graduated first on the list of this school. His paper describes the "Yakyu-Do", the soul and spirit of Japanese baseball, which is continued by tradition from Meiji Era to nowadays.^[7] Now, he also consisted on the harm of physical punishments, and appeals to abolish it from Japanese sport scenes.

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs
• Career statistics, links and information on JapaneseBallPlayers.com
• "Pirates pick up pair of foreign-born right-handed pitchers" The Valley Independent, 18 December 2006