Hiroki Nomura

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Hiroki Nomura (野村 弘樹) (Giant Killer)

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Biographical Information[edit]

Hiroki Nomura pitched in Nippon Professional Baseball for 15 years and once led the league in wins.

Nomura was drafted by the Yokohama Taiyo Whales in the third round of the 1987 NPB draft, but he spent a good portion of the first two seasons in the NPB Farm Leagues, only pitching 15 games combined with the big club. He joined the rotation in 1989, but his ERA was a terrible 5.89 and he was moved to bullpen in the middle of the season. The talented southpaw broke out in 1990, having a 11-16 record with a 3.50 ERA. He also won the nickname "Giant Killer" for his three consecutive complete games against the Yomiuri Giants. Nomura started All-Star Game 1 with 3 shutout innings, allowing no hits and one walk to the Pacific League stars while fanning five. Masaaki Sato took over with a scoreless tie and took the loss as the PL bats came alive once Nomura wasn't on the hill.

The Hiroshima native improved to 15-8 with a 3.16 ERA in 1991, as he ranked 3rd in the Central League in wins (2 behind Shinji Sasaoka) and 7th in ERA (.72 behind Sasaoka). He attended 1991 NPB All-Star Game 2, and pitched a inning with one run allowed. He slumped to 5-4 with a 5.48 ERA in 1992, but then bounced back soon and had a career year in 1993. Nomura led the Central League with 17 wins, and ranked 4th in ERA (2.51, .46 behind Masahiro Yamamoto), 3rd in shutouts (2 behind Yamamoto) and 5th in strikeouts (110 behind Shinji Imanaka). He relieved Yamamoto in 1993 NPB All-Star Game 2 in the 6th inning, allowing 2 runs in 1 2/3 inning but got the win over Yasukatsu Shirai; Yutaka Ono saved it.

The ace of Yokohama suffered a left elbow injury in 1994, and his ERA rose to a horrible 6.37. He was still struggling in 1995 as he had a 4-7 record with a 4.45 ERA. Nomura bounced back and collected 10 wins with a 4.12 ERA in 1996, then improved to 10-8 with a 3.89 ERA in 1997. He also helped the BayStars won the CL pennant in 1998 with his 13-8 record. In the 1998 Nippon Series, Nomura started in the opening game, and pitched 6 2/3 innings with 4 runs allowed to win over Fumiya Nishiguchi and the Kintetsu Buffaloes. His next appearance was in Game 4, but he allowed 4 runs in 5 innings and Takashi Ishii beat him. The Baystars won the Series in 6 games, and Nomura won his only Nippon Series title; it was also Yokohama's lone Series title.

The veteran southpaw injured his elbow again in 1999 and he only pitched 7 games. He recovered in 2000, but he only went 2-8 with a 4.38 ERA. Nomura collected his 100th win on August 5 in the next season, and he ended up 4-5 with a 4.44 ERA. He announced his retirement after he allowed 8 runs in 5 1/3 innings in the 2002 season. After retiring, Nomura was the pitching coach for the BayStars' minor league team in 2003, and coached their big club from 2004 to 2005. He also worked as pitching coach for Yokohama from 2007 to 2010. He coached J.F. Oberlin University after leaving the BayStars

Nomura's repertoire included a fastball (peak 90 mph), curveball, slider, shuuto, screwball and forkball.

Overall, Nomura was 101-88 with a 4.01 ERA, struck out 998 and pitched 1,534 innings in 15 seasons in NPB.

Sources[edit]

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