Shuta Ishikawa

Shuta Ishikawa (石川 柊太)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 176 lb.

• School Soka University
• High School Tokyo Comprehensive Industrial High School

• Born December 27, 1991 in Shinagawa, Tokyo Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Shuta Ishikawa has contributed to the Softbank Hawks' 2010s dynasty.

Ishikawa was taken by the Softbank Hawks in the 2013 NPB draft. He was 4-0 with a 3.00 ERA in the minor Western League in 2016. By 2017, he was up with the big club, going 8-3 with a 3.29 ERA and 99 K in 98 1/3 IP; he allowed only 69 hits but walked 50. He was 4th in the Pacific League in walks, between Hideaki Wakui and Yusei Kikuchi. In the 2017 Japan Series, he was the winning pitcher in relief in Game 2 against the Yokohama BayStars (beating Spencer Patton) and Game 3 (against Joe Wieland). He also appeared in Games 4 and 6, the Hawks' other wins, as they took the Series. He had a 2.70 ERA and was the only hurler to win two games that Series. He got two votes for the 2017 Pacific League Rookie of the Year Award, finishing second, well behind Sosuke Genda's 252.

He was 13-6 with a 3.60 ERA for the 2018 Hawks, cutting his walks to 43 while increasing his IP to 127 1/3. He tied Kodai Senga and Mike Bolsinger for 3rd in the PL in victories. He pitched two shutout innings (1 H, 2 K) as the Hawks won the 2018 Japan Series. He was on the Japanese team roster for the 2018 Nichi-Bei Series before being replaced by Kakeru Narita due to an elbow injury.

In 2019, he missed almost the entire season due to thigh and elbow injuries as well as the flu. He only pitched three innings (2 H, 0 BB, 0 R, 3 K). He was back in action by the 2019 Japan Series, winning Game 3 against the Yomiuri Giants in relief of Rick van den Hurk (retiring all six batters he faced) as the Hawks swept the Series for their third title in a row.

Ishikawa was 11-3 with a 2.42 ERA as a regular in the rotation in 2020, with a 0.98 WHIP and only 68 hits in 111 2/3 IP. He did not pitch enough to qualify for the ERA title; only Senga and Yoshinobu Yamamoto had lower ERAs among the qualifiers. He tied Senga and Wakui for the win lead in the COVID-19-shortened season and was 7th in K (between Takahiro Norimoto and Nao Higashihama). He beat Nobutaka Imamura in Game 2 of the 2020 Japan Series as the Hawks pulled off a historic second straight Japan Series sweep and fourth straight Series title. He went 5 1/3 and fanned 7, allowing four hits, including a two-run homer to Zelous Wheeler. Amazingly, his 3.38 ERA nearly was the highest as Softbank absolutely shut down the Yomiuri offense; only Tsuyoshi Wada (4.50) was higher among the Hawks' 12 hurlers in the Series. He was 10th in voting for the 2020 Pacific League MVP.

His fastball peaks at 96.9 mph.