Shosei Togo

Shosei Togo (戸郷 翔征)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 158 lb.

• High School Seishin Ursula Gakuen High School

• Born April 4, 2000 in Miyakonojo, Miyazaki Japan

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Biographical Information

Shosei Togo has been an All-Star pitcher in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Togo was a sixth-round pick of the Yomiuri Giants in the 2018 NPB draft. He spent most of 2019 in the minors (4-1, 3.00, 44 K in 42 IP) but was 1-0 with a 2.08 ERA in two games for the big club. Despite that limited experience, he pitched for the Giants in the 2019 Japan Series. In Game 3, he relieved Yohei Kagiya with a 2-2 tie in the 4th against the Softbank Hawks. He had a rough time, allowing a one-out single to Seiichi Uchikawa, walking Takuya Kai, making an error on a ball hit by fellow hurler Rick van den Hurk then giving up a sac fly to Yuya Hasegawa. He gave up a Kenta Imamiya single, walked Yuki Yanagita to force in a run and surrendered a two-run single to Alfredo Despaigne to make it 6-2; he had allowed four unearned runs in 2/3 IP and took the loss.

The 20-year-old was a regular in the rotation for Yomiuri in 2020, posting a 9-6, 2.76 record with 106 K in 107 2/3 IP. He was 8th in the Central League in wins and tied Aren Kuri for 5th in strikeouts as Yomiuri's #2 hurler behind Tomoyuki Sugano. Togo was in the bullpen for the 2020 Japan Series; he had a 3.18 ERA and struck out eight in 5 2/3 IP, leading Yomiuri in Ks and games pitched (3) as they got swept by Softbank again. He became the second-youngest player to win the Fighting Spirit Award as the MVP of the losing team in the Japan Series; the great Kazuhisa Inao had been 19 in 1956. He also got votes for some other hardware - a distant second to Masato Morishita for the 2020 Central League Rookie of the Year Award and 13th for the 2020 CL MVP.

He made his first NPB All-Star Game in 2021 NPB All-Star Game 1, relieving Yuki Takahashi in the third with a 2-0 deficit against the Pacific League. He struck out Yanagita, got Yuito Mori on a fly, served up a homer to Brandon Laird then retired Masataka Yoshida. In the 4th, he was succeeded by Noboru Shimizu. For the 2021 season, his numbers fell from his rookie campaign (9-8, 4.27). He had the highest ERA of any CL qualifier , tied for 8th in wins, tied Shun Yamaguchi for 8th in losses, was 4th in IP (between Koyo Aoyagi and Kuri), allowed the most runs (75, two more than Kuri), gave up the most earned runs (72, 9 more than Kuri), gave up the most homers (19), was second with 58 walks (3 behind Takahashi) and was second with 138 strikeouts (30 behind Yuya Yanagi).

His repertoire includes a slider, change-up, forkball, curveball, cutter and fastball (peak 95 mph).