Hiromi Itoh

Hiromi Itoh (伊藤 大海)

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 9", Weight 180 lb.

• School Tomakomai Komazawa University, Komazawa University
• High School Komazawa University Tomakomai High School

• Born August 31, 1997 in Shikabe, Hokkaido Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Hiromi Itoh has pitched in Nippon Pro Baseball and the Olympics.

Itoh was excellent for Japan in the 2018 Haarlem Baseball Week, fanning 17 in 9 2/3 IP over six outings for the champs, with only five hits and one walk; he got one win and allowed no runs. He was 4th in ERA (Orlando Yntema, Hiroshi Kaino and Chien-Lung Huang were at 0 in more innings), tied Wataru Matsumoto for 3rd in Ks and tied Kaino for the most appearances. He was the first-round pick of the Nippon Ham Fighters in the 2020 NPB draft.

He was excellent in his pro debut, starting 2021 at 7-4, 2.42 with 87 K in 81 2/3 IP and only 57 hits. He was the first NPB rookie to strike out batters in his first 23 innings; Isamu Kida had been the only other rookie to fan batters in 23 straight innings. He was a late addition to Japan's team for the Tokyo Olympics, replacing the great Tomoyuki Sugano. He was not the only 2020 draft class member on the team as Ryoji Kuribayashi was also present.

Making his Olympic debut against Mexico, he relieved Masato Morishita in the 6th with a 5-2 lead. He went 1-2-3 against Isaac Rodríguez, Sebastián Elizalde and Joey Meneses. After Japan scored in the 6th, he began the 7th by striking out Adrián González. Danny Espinosa singled, then Itoh fanned Efren Navarro and walked Jon Jones. Ramiro Peña flew out to end the threat. Japan scored again in the 8th and Kaima Taira relieved him with a 7-2 edge. His next outing was against rival South Korea with a spot in the Gold Medal Game for the winner. He replaced Suguru Iwazaki in the 7th with a 2-2 tie. He retired Kyoung-min Hur on a grounder and struck out Jae-gyun Hwang and Baek-ho Kang, with a walk to Hae-min Park in between. He got Jung-hoo Lee on a fly and Eui-ji Yang on strikes to begin the 8th. Hyun-soo Kim doubled but he recovered to get Joo-hwan Choi. Japan got a three-run double from Tetsuto Yamada in the bottom of the frame, making Itoh the winner; fellow NPB rookie Kuribayashi saved it.