The winner of WBN’s International Player of the Week is Katsuki Azuma, a left-handed starter for the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan.
Azuma, 28, fired nine scoreless innings against the Chunichi Dragons in Vantelin Dome Nagoya on August 8.
Azuma’s line was nine innings, five hits, zero runs, seven strikeouts, one walk, and generated 17 whiffs. Despite the performance, Azuma got a no-decision, with the game ending in a scoreless tie after 12 innings. Azuma pitched a complete game shutout earlier in the season on July 10 against the Chunichi Dragons in a 3-0 win. Azuma has earned a quality start in all 18 of his starts this season and is averaging 7.1 innings per start. He has pitched 132 innings with 95 strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.00.
His ERA of 1.84 is the lowest in his six-year NPB career, all with Yokohama DeNA BayStars, who made him their first overall pick in the 2017 NPB Draft. He won the Central League Rookie of the Year in 2018 and is a three-time NPB All-Star, including this season. He was also selected to Team Japan for the 2018 MLB All-Star Series but decided not to participate.
He has thrown 698.2 innings, 609 strikeouts, and owns a career ERA of 2.40.
Azuma has a similar arsenal to Chicago Cubs’ Japanese left-handed starter Shota Imanaga, with a fastball that tops 90-92 MPH. They were teammates last season with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars. Azuma’s ERA of 1.98 last season was nearly a run lower than Imanaga’s of 2.80.
Azuma relies on weak contact and limits his walks to 1.2 per nine innings. It’s unknown if he will pursue an MLB career, but he would need three more years of NPB service time before he can ask to be posted.
