Hayato Terahara

Hayato Terahara (寺原 早人)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 192 lb.

• High School Nichinan Gakuen High School

• Born October 9, 1983 in Miyazaki, Miyazaki Japan

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Hayato Terahara made his first All-Star team in Japan in 2008.

Terahara was a high school star. In the 2001 Baseball World Cup, the youngster struck out 7 and allowed 6 hits and 2 runs in 4 innings, going 1-0 as one of the two least-used Japanese hurlers. He was picked by the Daiei Hawks in the first round of 2001 NPB draft that year. In 2002, the teenager went 6-2 with a save and a 3.59 ERA for Daiei. He had a 7-5, 5.48 record in 2003 at age 19. He was clearly less effective than Daiei's other 5 pitchers who made 10 or more starts: Kazumi Saitoh, Tsuyoshi Wada, Toshiya Sugiuchi, Nagisa Arakaki and Brandon Knight. Terahara did not pitch in the 2003 Japan Series.

In 2004, the right-hander allowed 7 runs and 4 homers in just 8 1/3 IP; he gave up 4 runs in 4 innings in 2005. In 2006, Hayato returned to semi-regular action, going 3-7 with a 4.23 ERA while serving as a sometimes #5 starter for Softbank.

Following the 2006 season, the former top prospect was traded to the Yokohama BayStars for Hitoshi Tamura, a former star who had struggled since an auto accident the year before.

Terahara debuted for Yokohama in 2007, going 12-12 with a 3.36 ERA and 163 strikeouts in 184 2/3 IP. He finished 7th in the Central League in ERA, tied 2001 World Cup teammate Shohei Tateyama for second in losses (one behind teammate Daisuke Miura), was 5th innings, tied four others (including Hiroki Kuroda and Kenshin Kawakami) for 5th in wins, tied Miura for second in complete games (4, trailing Kuroda), tied for 2nd in shutouts (2, one behind Miura), tied Kazuhisa Ishii for third in strikeouts (behind Tetsuya Utsumi and Kenichi Nakata) and tied Kuroda for 2nd in runs allowed (78, behind Miura).

In 2008, Terahara made his first CL All-Star team. He was 3-9 with 22 saves and a 3.30 ERA as the BayStars closer, striking out 66 and allowing only 12 walks and 57 hits in 71 innings. He was forced into the closing role when Marc Kroon departed via free agency. He finished with the fewest saves of any CL closer, but he had very few opportunities on a team that went 48-94.

Terahara was a late addition to Japan's provisional roster for the 2009 World Baseball Classic.

Terahara's repertoire includes a fastball (tops out at 98 mph), slider and a shuuto (two-seamer).

Sources

• Japanesebaseball.com
• Japan Baseball Daily by Gary Garland
• Chinese Wiki Baseball
• Japanese Wikipedia entry
• Defunct IBAF site