Tadashi Sugimoto

Tadashi Sugimoto (杉本 正‎)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 8", Weight 176 lb.

• High School Gotemba Nishi High School

• Born May 3, 1959 in Sunto-gun, Shizuoka Japan

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Tadashi Sugimoto pitched in Nippon Pro Baseball and for the Japanese national team.

Sugimoto represented Japan in the 1979 Intercontinental Cup. The Seibu Lions drafted him in the third round of the 1980 NPB draft. Sugimoto was named as a regular starter as a rookie, and he had a 7-8 record with a 3.47 ERA in 21 starts in his rookie year. He was 7-12 with a 3.66 ERA in 1982, and led the league in shutouts with 4. In the 1982 NPB All-Star Games, he pitched 1 2/3 shutout innings combined in Game 2 and Game 3. He started in Game 2 of the 1982 Nippon Series, pitched 3 2/3 shutout innings and ended up with a no-decision. His next start was in Game 5, and he went 5 innings, only allowing a run by Yasunori Oshima's solo shot and had a no-decision again. The Lions beat the Chunichi Dragons in 6 games, and Sugimoto won his first Nippon Series title. Sugimoto improved to 12-6 with a 3.43 ERA in 1983. He ranked 6th in ERA (.51 behind Osamu Higashio) and 10th in wins (6 behind Higashio) in the Pacific League. In the 1983 Nippon Series, he pitched 3 1/3 innings with 2 earned runs in Game 3 and got a no-decision. He started and pitched 9 innings with 3 earned runs in Game 6, but ended up with a no-decision again; Seibu won in the 10th. The Lions beat the Yomiuri Giants in Game 7, and Sugimoto won another Nippon Series title. The Shizuoka native extended his stable performance, when he went 7-8 with a 3.83 ERA in 1984. The Lions traded him with Tomoyoshi Oishi to the Dragons for Yasushi Tao after the 1984 season.

He slumped to 5-4 with a 4.29 ERA in the first season with the Dragons. He bounced back and collected 12 wins with a 3.01 ERA in 1986. He was 5th in wins (6 behind Manabu Kitabeppu), 4th in complete games (7 behind Kitabeppu) and 6th in ERA (.58 behind Kitabeppu). The Shizuoka native started in Game 2 of the 1986 NPB All-Star Game. He pitched 2 innings, gave up a 2-run homer to Kazunori Yamamoto and ended up with a no-decision. His performance declined a little, but he still got 13 wins with a 4.33 ERA in 1987. Sugimoto was also selected into the 1987 NPB All-Star Game, but Hiromichi Ishige blasted a 3-run homer in Game 2 off him, and he got the loss. He suffered an elbow injury and only went 6-6 with a 3.94 ERA in 1988. He started for the Dragons in Game 4 of the 1988 Nippon Series, but he allowed 3 runs in 3 innings and got the lose. He was 3-4 with a 3.99 ERA in just 7 starts due to the injury in 1989, and the Dragons traded him with Satoru Takashima to the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks for Kazuhiro Yamauchi in the middle of the 1990 season.

Sugimoto struggled in 1990, recording a 4.94 ERA in 13 starts. His injury limited him to only starting 13 games with a 4.25 ERA in 1991. The Hawks moved him to the bullpen in 1992, and his ERA rose to 4.94 in 29 appearances. He spent the whole 1993 season in the ni-gun, and announced his retirement after that season. He became a coach after retiring, and served as ni-gun pitching coach for the Hawks from 1995 to 1997. He transferred to the Seibu Lions and became their bullpen pitching coach from 1998 to 2001. Sugimoto came back to the Hawks and worked as their ni-gun pitching coach from 2004 to 2005, and went to the big club in same position from 2006 to 2008. He was the pitching coach for the Yokohama BayStars in 2009, and coached the KIA Tigers of the Korea Baseball Organization in 2010. He then became the pitching coach for the Lions from 2012 to 2013.

Overall, Sugimoto was 81-90 with a 3.87 ERA and pitched 1,369 2/3 innings in 12 seasons in NPB.

Sources

• NPB site
• Wiki Japan