Ryuji Ichioka

Ryuji Ichioka (一岡 竜司)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 176 lbs.

• School Computer Kyoiku Gakuin
• High School Toin High School

• Born January 11, 1991 in Itoshima, Fukuoka, Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Ryuji Ichiokapitched in Nippon Pro Baseball for 11 years.

Ichioka was drafted by the Yomiuri Giants in the third round of the 2011 NPB draft. He spent the majority of his first two seasons in the NPB Farm Leagues, only having 13 appearances combined with the big club. The Giants also sent him to the Leones de Ponce of the Puerto Rican Winter League after the 2013 season. He was 2-0 with a 1.62 ERA in three games there. When the Giants signed Kan Otake, the Hiroshima Carp selected him as compensation, and he soon became a solid reliever for them in 2014. He was selected into the 2014 NPB All-Star Game, relieving Shoichi Ino in Game 1; he retired Ginji Akaminai and was succeeded by Tetsuya Yamaguchi. Ichioka then replaced Tomoyuki Sugano in the 5th inning of Game 2. He retired Keiji Obiki, then allowed a triple to Dai-Kang Yang. Akaminai added a RBI double, and Yuya Hasegawa also hit a single. Ichioka then forced Wily Mo Peña to ground into a double play to end his work; Daisuke Yamai succeeded him. He ended up having a 0.58 ERA in 31 games and notched 16 holds despite missing the entire September and October due to right shoulder injuries. He got one vote for the 2014 Central League Rookie of the Year Award, finishing fifth behind Daichi Osera's 217 votes, Katsuki Matayoshi's 26, Koji Fukutani's 16 and Tomoya Mikami's 5.

The Fukuoka native slumped and recorded a 4.14 ERA in 38 appearances in 2015, but he bounced back soon and had a 1.82 ERA in 27 games in 2016. He pitched a shutout inning against the Yokohama BayStars in Game 1 of the final stage of the 2016 CLCS, but allowed 2 runs on Yasutaka Tobashira's triple in Game 4. The Carp still beat the BayStars to advance to the 2016 Nippon Series, but he didn't pitch any games there. He was still reliable in 2017, collecting 19 holds with a 1.85 ERA in 59 appearances. Ichioka pitched a inning each in Games 3, 4 and 5 of the final stage of the 2017 CLCS; he only allowed a run because of Yoshi Tsutsugo's solo shot in Game 5and the BayStars beat them in that game.

Ichioka's ERA rose to 2.88 in 2018, but he still notched 18 holds and 2 saves. He pitched a shutout inning and collected a hold in Game 1 of the final stage of the 2018 CLCS, then pitched another shutout inning to help the Carp swept the Yomiuri Giants and advanced to the 2018 Nippon Series. He pitched 3 2/3 innings combined in four games in the series, collected two holds but couldn't get the Nippon Series title as the Carp were beaten by the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks in 6 games. Ichioka still had a 2.90 ERA in 33 games with 16 holds in 2019, but his ERA rose to 6.23 in 2020. He spent the whole 2021 season in the ni-gun, and only pitched 10 games with the big club in 2022. Ichioka then announced his retirement after the 2023 season.

Overall, Ichioka was 17-14 with a 2.76 ERA. He collected 84 holds, struck out 253 and pitched 280 innings in 11 years in NPB. His repertoire featured a fastball that peaks at 93.8 mph, a forkball, cutter, slider and a curveball.