The 21-year-old breaks into the NPB record-breaking ranks. A look at Hokkaido Nippon-Ham-Kota Tatsu ‘s secret weapon | Pacific League

He broke the NPB record with seven consecutive wins since his first professional win last season.Kota Tatsu pitcher pitcher performance by year ©Data Stadium

Pitcher Kota Tatsu joined Hokkaido Nippon-Ham pitcher as the first pick in the 2021 draft. He earned his first professional win against the Lotte Marines on October 3rd of last year, and has started in 10 games so far this season, posting a solid 6-1 record with an ERA of 1.60. On July 14th against Seibu Lions, he recorded a new NPB record of seven consecutive wins, starting every game since his debut, and also made his first appearance in the Mynavi All-Star Game. In this column, we’ll take a closer look at pitcher ‘s pitching, which continues to make great strides in his fourth season since graduating from high school.

He uses a combination of fastballs and fork to compete against hitter, regardless of whether they are left-handed or right-handed.Kota Tatsu pitcher 2025 left ・Ball type Percentage © Data Stadium right-handed hitter pitch

First, let’s take a look at the pitch percentage by pitch type this season. Up to this point, fastball and fork have been the main pitches on both sides of the hitter, and in fact, those two pitches account for more than 70% of the total. While weaving in curved balls such as slider, which started to be improved at this spring’s camp, it seems that the combination of a fastball of over 150 kg thrown from a tall body of 194 cm and a fork that falls sharply is the axis of pitch.

When count is unfavorable, he mainly throws forkKota Tatsu pitcher 2025 ・Ball type Percentage © Data Stadium count pitch

Next, let’s take a look at the pitch percentage by count situation. In both count, the two pitches of fastball and fork remain the same, but the pitch percentage of fork has risen to 42.3%, which is higher than fastball when the ball is in advance. In general, when the ball count is ahead, pitcher often throws fastballs that are easy to control in the strike zone. It can be said that the pitch of pitcher, who throw a lot of fork in unfavorable situations, is extremely distinctive.

Throw more than half of fork into strike zone2025 Pacific League fork Forkball strike Zone pitch Percentage Ranking ©Data Stadium

count Data showed that the fork of the pitcher who actively use it regardless of the situation had a high percentage of throwing into the strike zone. fork Speaking of it, many people may have the image of a pitch that is dropped into a low ball zone. However, the fork of the pitcher is in the strike zone, with a pitch percentage of 52.3%, the second highest in the league, and more than half of them are thrown into the zone. Along with that, fork ‘s strike rate is 72.8%, which is about 8 points higher than the league average. This is higher than the fastball ‘s strike rate of 69.3%, making it an effective pitch for count.

Sharpness that hitter can’t catch even within the zone2025 Pacific League fork Avg Ranking ©Data Stadium

The reason why the ball can be thrown into the strike zone even when the ball count is ahead and the hitter comes to aim for a sweet ball is because there is evidence that the Avg is superior in the fork of the pitcher. So far, fork ‘s Avg is .155, which marks the top good number in the league along with the good pitcher that is on par with it. Another major feature is that he is able to hit batters even more with his fork of pitch in the ball zone Avg.171 and .145 at pitch of the strike zone. It is not only used as a deciding ball after driving hitter, but also a pitch for throwing into the zone and inviting normal hits in situations where count is at an advantage, and it can be said that the pattern of hitting hitter has been established by fork.

Also, if you can use your excellent ball to compete in the zone, it will lead to a decrease in the number of pitch and BB. As the number of 2 complete game so far indicates, fork should be an effective pitch for throwing long inning.

Last off, he traveled to the United States at his own expense and worked cutting-edge training, and he has a relentless desire pitcher to improve. Within the team, Taisei Yanagawa pitcher and Ren Fukushima pitcher, who joined the team at the same time, are also standing out, and they are steadily moving forward to become a representative pitcher of their generation. The 21-year-old’s breakthrough, which has been showing brilliant performance so far, has not stopped.

*All numbers in the text and table are as of August 7, 2025

Moon/Data Stadium