Keisuke Tanimoto

Keisuke Tanimoto (谷元 圭介)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 5", Weight 159 lbs.

• School Chubu University
• High School Ino High School

• Born January 28, 1985 in Suzuka, Mie, Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Keisuke Tanimoto pitched in Nippon Pro Baseball for 14 years.

Tanimoto was drafted by the Nippon Ham Fighters in the seventh round of the 2008 NPB draft, and he soon joined the bullpen as a rookie. He recorded a 5.53 ERA in 24 games in his rookie year, then struggled again as his ERA was 5.74 in 14 appearances in 2010. Tanimoto broke out in 2011, having a 2.47 ERA in 47 appearances, and notched 5 holds. He slumped a little in 2012 as his ERA rose to 3.52, and pitched a shutout inning with two walks in Game 6 of the 2012 Nippon Series.

The Fighters tried to turn him into a starter in 2013 since he started 7 games in 2012. That attempt failed as his ERA was higher than 4.5 as a starter, and he was moved back to bullpen again. He started 13 games, and ended up getting a 3.93 ERA in 31 games. Tanimoto improved and became one of the most dominant setup men in 2014. He recorded a solid 1.59 ERA in 52 appearances, and notched 16 holds. Tanimoto collected 20 holds with a 3.18 ERA in 61 appearances 2015, and ranked 7th in games pitched (11 behind Tatsushi Masuda).

The Suzuka native notched a career-high 28 holds in 2016 with a 2.32 ERA in 58 games, ranking 5th in appearances (11 behind Hiroyuki Fukuyama) and 2nd in holds (11 behind his teammate Naoki Miyanishi). In the 2016 PLCS, Tanimoto appeared in four of the Fighters' five games, pitched 4 1/3 innings combined without any runs allowed, and collected 2 holds to help the Fighters beat the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks. He relieved Naoki Miyanishi in the 9th inning in Game 3 of the 2016 Nippon Series, but he couldn't hold the one-run lead. Seiya Suzuki hit a leadoff triple, Tanimoto then struck out Brad Eldred and forced Ryuhei Matsuyama hit an infield fly, but Tomohiro Abe still tied it up with a single. The Fighters still won this game thanks to Shohei Ohtani's walk-off hit. He then relieved Anthony Bass in Game 4, pitching one shutout inning to win over Jay Jackson. Tanimoto relieved Luis Mendoza in the 8th inning in Game 5, notched a hold with a shutout inning and won his first Nippon Series title as the Fighters beat the Carp in 6 games.

After the fine 2016 season, Tanimoto extended his solid pitching, and he attended 2017 NPB All-Star Game 2. He relieved Yuta Kuroki with a 3-1 lead in the 9th inning, allowed a hit to Ryutaro Umeno then retired Suzuki, struck out Yoshihiro Maru and forced Takashi Toritani to ground out to get a save. He also became the 4th Fighters pitcher to collect 100 career holds on June 23, following Hisashi Takeda, Miyanishi and Hirotoshi Masui. However, he was eligible to become a free agent after this season, so the Fighters traded him to the Chunichi Dragons for cash considerations in the middle of this season. Tanimoto was the first player to be selected into the All-Star game and traded in the same season. He collected 21 holds with a 3.31 ERA for the Fighters in 2017, but struggled after the trade and recorded a 6.00 ERA in 18 games for the Dragons. He still couldn't find his old form, as only had 5.22 ERA and pitched 8 games in 2018, then had a 5.22 ERA in 38 games in 2019.

Tanimoto finally bounced back in 2020. He collected 13 holds with a 3.60 ERA in 36 games, and improved to 2.01 ERA with 14 holds in 32 appearances in 2021. He still pitched 34 games with a 2.61 ERA in 2022, but he only had 7 appearances in 2023 since the Dragons were rebuilding now. Tanimoto then announced his retirement after the 2023 season.

Overall, Tanimoto was 28-25 with a 3.53 ERA and 154 holds, struck out 453 and pitched 589 1/3 innings in 14 years in NPB. Through 2023, he ranked 13th in holds (239 behind Naoki Miyanishi).

Tanimoto's repertoire featured a fastball that peaks at 93.9 mph, a curveball, forkball, cutter and a shuuto.