Mitsuo Sumi

Mitso Sumi (角 盈男)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 6' 0", Weight 190 lb.

• High School Yonago Kogyo High School

• Born June 26, 1956 in Yonago, Tottori Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Mitsuo Sumi was both a Rookie of the Year and Fireman of the Year during his Nippon Pro Baseball career. His son Ikko Sumi played in the US minors while another son, Kota Sumi, played in the Japanese minors.

Sumi played for Mitsubishi Heavy Metals in the industrial leagues after high school. The Yomiuri Giants took him in the third round of the 1976 NPB draft. He was 5-7 with 7 saves, a 2.88 ERA and .203 opponent average as a rookie in 1978, pitching 60 games; he walked 77 in 112 2/3 IP. He was second in the Central League in pitching appearances (three behind teammate Hisao Niura) and tied Masaji Hiramatsu for 6th in saves but was third in walks, behind Hiromu Matsuoka and Kojiro Ikegaya, both of whom pitched significantly more innings.

Sumi slumped to 2-5, 3.99 with six saves in 1979. He allowed a .218 average and walked 39 in 64 1/3 IP. In 1980, he switched to a sidearm delivery and it did wonders - he went 1-5 with 11 saves, a 2.28 ERA, .178 opponent average and 110 K in 79 innings. His WHIP was 1.05, a drop of .31 from 1978 and .34 from 1979. He tied Yutaka Ikeuchi and Hiroaki Mizutani for the CL lead in games pitched, was 4th in saves (between Takamasa Suzuki and Ikeuchi) and was 9th in whiffs (leading all relievers).

The Tottori native was sharper yet in 1981 (8-5, 20 Sv, 1.47 ERA, .155 average allowed, 121 K in 104 1/3 IP, .84 WHIP). He tied Kazuhiko Ushijima for third in the league in games pitched (51), led in saves (9 ahead of Yutaka Ono and Tatsuo Komatsu) and was 9th in strikeouts (Ono's 78 were next-best for a guy who did not start that year). He was named Fireman of the Year. He also made his first CL All-Star team. In the 1981 NPB All-Star Game 1, he relieved Hiroaki Fukushi and pitched two innings, fanning three and allowing a hit in a 5-3 loss to the Pacific League. Relieving Manabu Kitabeppu with a 2-1 deficit in game 2, he allowed one run in three innings as the CL rallied for a 6-3 win in 10, giving Sumi the victory. In game 3, he relieved Komatsu in the 9th with a 6-0 lead and allowed a hit and a walk but no runs. Yomiuri made it to the 1981 Japan Series; Sumi allowed one run in 2 1/3 IP as the Giants beat the Nippon Ham Fighters. Sumi took the loss in game 1, giving up the game-ending hit to Hiroaki Inoue.

The southpaw was 2-3 with 9 saves, a 2.00 ERA, .168 opponent average and .95 WHIP in 1982, striking out 71 in 63 innings. He tied Komatsu for 5th in saves. He was 3-5 with 18 saves and a 3.38 ERA in 1983 while also hitting his lone career home run. His walk rate regressed (32 in 56 IP). He was second in saves, four behind Akio Saito. He made his second and final All-Star team. He entered Game 2 of the 1983 NPB All-Star Games with a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the 8th, replacing Ushijima, but allowed two hits, a walk and a run and took the loss. In Game 3, he relieved Suguru Egawa in the 9th with a 2-1 deficit and gave up a hit to Koji Minoda and a homer to Hiromitsu Ochiai to put it further out of reach. In the 1983 Japan Series, he pitched one game, tossing a shutout inning to end a 3-2 game 7 loss to the Seibu Lions in relief of Takashi Nishimoto.

Sumi was 3-4 with 14 saves, a 3.22 ERA, .210 opponent average and 31 BB in 58 2/3 IP in 1984. He was third in saves behind Ushijima and Kazuyuki Yamamoto and 6th with 49 games pitched (between Ushijima and Yoshitaka Katori). He was 1-2 with five saves and a 4.68 ERA in 42 games in 1985 and was 9th in the league in saves.

In 1986, the veteran was 2-3 with two saves, a 2.78 ERA, .198 opponent average, 1.01 WHIP and 70 K in 58 1/3 IP in a rebound year. He was third in the CL in appearances behind Katori and Kiyooki Nakanishi. In his 10th season, he was 2-1 with a save and a 3.35 ERA; he was now being used as a LOOGY with 37 2/3 IP in 57 games in 1987. He tied Jun Kawabata for 4th in pitching appearances. He was 0-1 with a 4.73 ERA in 25 games and 13 1/3 IP in 1988. He pitched 1/3 of an inning for Yomiuri in 1989 then went to Nippon Ham for no compensation.

Sumi was 3-4 with a 3.39 ERA in 15 games for the Fighters in '89. He made his first start after a NPB-record 423 consecutive relief appearances (the record has since been broken). He went 1-4 wit ha save and a 3.62 ERA as a swingman for Nippon Ham in 1990 and 3-7 with a 3.90 ERA and 51 BB in 85 1/3 IP in 1991. He was then dealt to the Yakult Swallows for Junji Ogawa. He was 2-4 with five saves, a 3.20 ERA, .210 opponent average and 24 BB in 39 1/3 IP over 46 games in 1992. He was 6th in the CL in games pitched (between Tatsuhiro Yuminaga and Kikuo Yamada) and led the pennant-winning Swallows. He did not appear in the 1992 Japan Series, in which Yakult fell to the Seibu Lions.

In 618 games in NPB (43 starts), Sumi was 38-60 with 99 saves and a 3.05 ERA. He allowed a .216 average and 1.27 WHIP, walking 488 and striking out 888 in 962 IP. Through 2011, he was among the NPB career leaders in games pitched (30th, between Toyohiko Yoshida and Tamotsu Nagai), saves (25th, 4 behind Micheal Nakamura and Hisashi Takeda and one ahead of Korean great Dong-yeol Sun), 16th in save points (128, between Rodney Pedraza and Yasuyuki Kawamoto) and 90th in strikeout rate (between Sadaaki Nishimura and Hideo Nomo). He hit .160/.172/.184.

Sumi coached for Yakult when they won the 1995 Japan Series and for Yomiuri in 1997 then was a TV baseball commentator.

Sources

• Defunct Japan Baseball Daily website by Gary Garland
• Michael Eng's Japanese database
• Japanese Wikipedia entry