Hisashi Aikyo

Hisashi Aikyo (愛敬 尚史)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 9", Weight 165 lb.
• School Teikyo University
• High School Konko Osaka High School
• Born December 4, 1976 in Takatsuki, Osaka Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Pitcher Hisashi Aikyo played in Nippon Professional Baseball from 2001 to 2006.

He played for Matsushita Electric in the industrial leagues after college. He went 0-1 with a 7.50 ERA for the Japanese national team in the 1998 Baseball World Cup, serving up four homers in a loss to Cuba. He was 1-0 with a save and a 1.00 ERA for the Japan in the 1999 Intercontinental Cup, allowing 5 hits and 3 walks in 9 innings while fanning nine. He saved Hiroki Kuroda's win over South Korea. In the Bronze Medal game, he relieved Taiyo Fujita with a 4-0 lead over Team USA in the 4th and threw six shutout innings for the win. The Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes took him in the second round of the 2000 NPB draft.

He began his NPB career with a 2-0 record and a 1.67 ERA in 30 relief appearances in 2001. He pitched his only Japan Series game, relieving Kazuya Shibata in the 8th inning of game 1 against the Yakult Swallows and giving up 3 hits and two runs in one inning before Katsuhiko Maekawa ended the game; the Buffaloes dropped the Series, 4 games to 1. His numbers faded in 2002 (1-0, 3.65 in 18 G, 21 H in 12 1/3 IP) and 2003 (2-0, Sv, 4.15 in 38 G).

He was 5-0 with a 3.06 ERA his first three campaigns, which totaled 86 relief showings. Over the next three campaigns, he was 4-5 with a 4.75 ERA in 33 games (11 starts). He allowed one run in one inning in 2004. Moving to the new Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in 2005 when the Buffaloes vanished in a merger (and did not retain him in the merged entry), he allowed 27 hits and 14 runs in 16 innings, getting no decisions. He did not lose a game in NPB until his 108th career appearance, a Pacific League record to open a career. He also tied Kazuhisa Inao's NPB record of eight straight wins to start a career; Rick van den Hurk broke the mark in 2015. For 2006, Aikyo was 4-5 with a 4.01 ERA for Rakuten; his ERA was nearly tops among their hurlers with 10+ starts, trailing only Ryan Glynn by .05. It would still be his last season in NPB, though he spent three more years in ni-gun.

Aikyo threw a slider, sinker, shuuto, curveball and fastball (high 80s) but had trouble with left-handed hitters.

All told, he went 9-5 with a 4.12 ERA in 119 games.

Sources

• Japanbaseballdaily.com
• Yakyubaka.com
• Former IBAF site
• Japanese Wikipedia