Shota Abe

Shota Abe (阿部 翔太)

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 171 lb.

• School University of Fukuchiyama
• High School Sakata Minami High School

• Born November 3, 1992 in Osaka, Osaka Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Shota Abe has pitched in Nippon Pro Baseball and for the Japanese national team.

Abe's collegiate career was limited by injuries. He then played for Nippon Life in the industrial leagues and was named one of the Outstanding Players in 2017. He pitched for Japan in the 2019 Asian Championship. In his debut, he relieved Yasuaki Ojima with a 2-0 lead in the 8th against Taiwan and again went 1-2-3 (facing Ju-Liang Tai, Chih-Yu Tsai and Chen-Yu Yang). He closed out Ojima's two-hitter against Sri Lanka, striking out the side (Asanka Lakmal, Niroshan Sriyarathna, Amila Pushpa Kumara). He started against South Korea and got the win over Yee-kyung Choi, fanning ten in five innings (3 H, 1 BB, 3 R, 3 ER) before Masaru Fujii relieved. Entering the medal games (which did not count for leaderboard purposes), he was 5th in opponent average (.125), 10th in IP, first in Ks (four ahead of Ojima) and tied for first in appearances. In the Gold Medal Game, he relieved Yoshiki Yamada in the third with a 3-2 deficit against Taiwan and struck out two in two shutout innings (2 H) as Japan went ahead 4-3. Makoto Hori then replaced him but Japan could not hold on and wound up with the Silver Medal.

He was picked by the Orix Buffaloes in the 6th round of the 2020 NPB draft; at age 28, he was the oldest player drafted since Shogo Makita 18 years prior. He was 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA in seven minor league games when he made his NPB debut on April 30, 2021. He relieved Nobuyoshi Yamada with two outs in the 8th and a 4-2 deficit against the Softbank Hawks. He retired the only batter he faced, Takuya Kai, before Taisei Urushihara relieved him in the 9th.