Kentaro Takasaki

Kentaro Takasaki (高崎 健太郎)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 9", Weight 181 lb.

• High School Chinzei High School

• Born June 24, 1985 in Kamimashiki-gun, Kumamoto Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Kentaro Takasaki has pitched in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Out of high school, Takasaki signed with Nissan in the industrial leagues. He joined the Japanese national team in 2005, appearing in the 2005 Asian Championship and 2005 Baseball World Cup. In the World Cup, he was arguably Japan's best hurler, with a 0.61 ERA in 5 games. He got the win over Australia and fanned 19 in 14 2/3 IP. He just missed the top 5 in the event in ERA. He helped Japan win Silver in the 2006 Asian Games. He was 1-0 with a 0.82 ERA in the 2006 Intercontinental Cup, beating Riccardo De Santis and Italy. only Shota Oba (0.73) had a better ERA for Japan.

Takasaki was a "draftee request signing" of the Yokohama BayStars and debuted with them in 2007, going 2-1 with a 5.40 ERA in nine outings. He spent most of the year in ni-gun, leading the minor Eastern League with 10 wins. His first strikeout in ichi-gun came against Michihiro Ogasawara. In 2008, Kentaro faded to 0-2, 7.94, allowing a .385 average (30 hits in 17 innings) in 11 games for Yokohama.

Takasaki throws a fastball (around 93 mph peak), slider, curveball and forkball.

Sources

• Japanesebaseball.com by Michael Westbay
• Defunct IBAF site
• Japanese Wikipedia entry