Kan Otake

Kan Otake (大竹 寛)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 187 lb.

• High School Urawa Gakuin High School

• Born May 21, 1983 in Yashio, Saitama Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Kan Otake has pitched for eight years in Nippon Pro Baseball through 2010.

Otake played in the 2001 Asian Junior Championship. He was a first-round pick of the Hiroshima Carp in the 2001 NPB draft but battled injuries in 2002 and did not make it to the big club until late 2003 (he was 1-1 with a 5.63 ERA in three games that year). Kan was used primarily in relief in 2004, going 6-5 with 17 saves, a 3.18 ERA, .226 opponent average and 91 whiffs in 82 innings. He was 4th in the Central League in saves behind Ryota Igarashi, Hitoki Iwase and Kazuhiro Sasaki.

The Yashio native was moved into the rotation in 2005 and went 10-12 with a 5.62 ERA. He led the Central League in strikeouts per nine innings (161 in 161 2/3 IP) but also in wild pitches (7), runs allowed (110, the first CL pitcher to top 100 in 13 years), earned runs (101) and walks (87). He was 4th in strikeouts behind Daisuke Miura, Ken Kadokura and Hiroki Kuroda and tied for second in losses, even with Shugo Fujii, Kuroda and Koji Uehara behind Shinobu Fukuhara.

Otake retired the first 23 batters he faced on September 5, 2006 before Seiichi Uchikawa singled. For the year, Otake was 6-13 with a 4.93 ERA. He tied Tetsuya Utsumi for the CL lead in losses, led with 25 homers allowed, was second with 92 runs allowed (two behind Miura), was third with 54 walks and led with 86 earned runs surrendered. In 2007, the 24-year-old hurler improved to 9-10, 3.77. He tied Fujii, Kazuhisa Ishii and Masahiro Yamamoto for 5th in losses, tied for 4th in complete games (3), was second with 59 walks (behind Kenichi Nakata) and tied for second with 11 wild pitches.

The right-hander posted a 9-13, 3.84 record in 2008 and made his first CL All-Star squad. He was 10th in the league in ERA, led in losses, was second in hits allowed (189, behind Seth Greisinger), tied for second in complete games (3, even with Masanori Ishikawa, Kazuki Yoshimi and Colby Lewis, behind Miura), was second in walks (67, one behind Utsumi), led in runs allowed (89) and led in earned runs allowed (73).

The Hiroshima mainstay was better yet in 2009, going 10-8 with a 2.81 ERA and making his second All-Star team. From April 28 through May 31, he had a 43-inning shutout streak, the longest in franchise annals. He finished the year 5th in the CL in ERA between Atsushi Nomi and Hisanori Takahashi, was third with 3 shutouts (behind Wei-Yin Chen and Yoshimi), tied for second with five complete games, led in walks (60), led in wild pitches (10) and was 8th with 127 strikeouts.

Otake was injured during spring training in 2010 and only returned for three games (1-0, 5.00, .324 opponent average). Through 2010, he had a career record of 52-62, 4.10.

Otake's repertoire includes a fastball (peak of 96 mph before his 2010 injury), curveball, shuuto, forkball and changeup.

Sources

• Japanbaseballdaily by Gary Garland
• Chinese Wiki Baseball