The Premier12 Super Round is in full swing, and on November 21, Japan took on the United States in the Tokyo Dome. Hiroto Takahashi took the mound for Japan and showed fans why he will eventually be playing in Major League Baseball.
Takahashi went four scoreless innings with eight strikeouts. An American audience may have asked, “Who is this guy?” Nippon Professional Baseball fans should not have been surprised. The 22-year-old finished his third season with the Chunichi Dragons and pitched to a 1.38 ERA in 21 games. In 2023, he struck out 145 batters with a 2.53 ERA. Team USA manager Mike Scioscia praised Takahashi’s performance against his squad.
“He’s what we expected. He’s got a very, very good arm and didn’t make many mistakes, and I think he used all his pitches,” said Scioscia. “His curveball, he never really came into the game to break him up, but he took the hand to split, and he had good velocity, and he was throwing, you know, the ball was moving too, that two-seam and four-seam, and I can see why he’s one of the best.”
If American viewers think Takahashi may be familiar, it’s because he was part of Japan’s World Baseball Classic championship victory over the United States. In the fifth inning of the Gold Medal Game, he struck out Mike Trout and Paul Goldschmidt.
While the competition in the Premier12 isn’t the likes of Trout and Goldschmidt, Takahashi dominated some of the bright young stars on their way to the big leagues. Of his eight strikeouts, five came against some of the top prospects in baseball. He struck out Rays No. 4 prospect Chandler Simpson, Cubs No. 1 prospect Matt Shaw (MLB No.22), Rays No. 1 prospect Carson Williams (MLB No. 4), and Pirates No. 3 prospect Termarr Johnson (MLB No. 75).
Takahashi’s outing against Team USA will surely be discussed when it’s his time to jump from NPB to MLB.
Leif Skodnick contributed to the reporting in this article.
