Hisanobu Mizutani

From BR Bullpen

Hisanobu Mizutani (水谷 寿伸)

  • Bats Right, Throws Right
  • Height 5' 10", Weight 180 lb.

BR register page

Biographical Information[edit]

Hisanobu Mizutani pitched for the Chunichi Dragons for 14 years, making two All-Star teams.

Mizutani debuted in 1960, giving up 9 runs (7 earned) in 10 2/3 innings and going 1-0. He tossed eight 1/3 shutout innings (3 H, 9 K, 1 BB) in 1962 and was 1-0 then gave up 13 runs (12 earned) and 24 baserunners in 12 innings a year later. Mizutani finally saw regular action in 1964, going 2-4 with a 2.36 ERA in 27 games (4 starts).

Hisanobu was 15-10 with a 2.48 ERA for his hometown club in 1965, allowing only a .229 average and setting a career high for wins. He went 10-7 with a 2.62 ERA in 1966, again just missing the Central League's top 10 in ERA. Mizutani fell to 6-6, 3.36 in 1967 and 4-9, 3.80 in 1968. Moving to relief practically full-time, he had a 5-5, 3.86 record in 1969 and 5-4, 3.05 in 1970.

Back in a swingman role in 1971, the veteran was 9-11 with a 2.43 ERA for Chunichi. He made his first CL All-Star team. In the first All-Star Game that year, he took part in the only NPB All-Star Game no-hitter of the 20th Century, retiring one Pacific League batter in the 7th inning. The other four hurlers (Yutaka Enatsu, Kazumi Takahashi, Hidetake Watanabe and Tadakatsu Kotani) all worked at least one inning in the historic game.

Mizutani went 6-12 despite a 2.64 ERA in 1972, his other All-Star season. He walked just 29 in 163 1/3 innings. He finished 4th in the CL in ERA behind Takeshi Yasuda, Tomohiro Tanimura and Enatsu. He had a 6-6, 3.54 record in 1973 then ended his career back in the bullpen, going 1-1 with a 4.09 ERA in 1974. For the only time of his career, Chunichi made the Japan Series. In the 1974 Japan Series, he gave up one run in 2 2/3 IP as the Dragons fell in six to the Lotte Orions.

Mizutani was 71-75 with a 3.04 ERA in 423 games (168 starts) in NPB. He later was a coach for Chunichi.

Source: Japan Baseball Daily