Taira Suzuki

Taira Suzuki (鈴木 平)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 171 lbs.

• High School Tokai University Shoyo High School

• Born March 10, 1970 in Iwata, Shizuoka, Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Taira Suzuki pitched in Nippon Pro Baseball for 12 years.

Suzuki was drafted by the Yakult Swallows in the third round of the 1987 NPB draft, but he spend his first six seasons mainly in the NPB Farm Leagues, only pitching 29 games combined with the top team. The Swallows then traded him to the Orix BlueWave for Yoshihiro Yamauchi after the 1994 season. Suzuki soon became a solid reliever after changing teams, and recorded a solid 1.83 ERA in 55 games in 1995. He ranked 5th in appearances in the Pacific League, 8 behind Takehiro Hashimoto. He appeared in Games 2, 3 and 4 of the 1995 Nippon Series, pitching 4 1/3 hitless innings combined and struck out 5 against the Swallows.

The Shizuoka native replaced Masafumi Hirai to become the new closer in 1996, and he was selected into the 1996 NPB All-Star Game. He succeed Masaru Imazeki in the 3rd inning of Game 3, and pitched a shutout inning with a strikeout of Akira Eto. He ended up notching 19 saves with a 2.43 ERA in 55 games, ranking 4th in saves (4 behind Toshihide Narimoto) and 2nd in appearances (2 behind Shigeki Sano). In the 1996 Nippon Series, he relieved Takahito Nomura in the 8th inning of Game 1 but gave up a game-tying 2-run shot to Takeshi Omori in the 9th inning. The Orix still won the game with Ichiro Suzuki's go-ahead homer, and Hirai saved it so Suzuki was the winning pitcher. He then relieved Nomura in Game 2, retiring Hiromitsu Ochiai to get a save. Suzuki succeed Nomura again in the 9th inning of Game 3; he struck out Ochiai, retired Omori then struck out Shane Mack to notch his 2nd save. In Game 5, Suzuki pitched 2 shutout innings to collect his 3rd save, and won his first Nippon Series title. He received 22 points in the 1996 PL MVP Voting, and ranked 4th behind his teammates Ichiro, Troy Neel and Nobuyuki Hoshino.

Suzuki suffered a right shoulder injury in 1997, so Hiroshi Kobayashi took the closer spot. He was still a reliable middle-inning reliever, recording a 2.10 ERA in 45 games in 1998, then pitched 42 games with a 3.98 ERA in 1999. The BlueWave traded him to the Chunichi Dragons for Ryo Kawano and Takatoshi Kishikawa, but Suzuki only pitched 21 games with a 3.86 ERA in 2000. He spent the whole 2001 season in the NPB Farm Leagues, and the Dragons released him. The Fukuoka Daiei Hawks picked him up, but Suzuki's ERA was 5.25 in 12 games, and he announced his retirement after the 2002 season.

Overall, Suzuki was 27-20 with a 3.11 ERA, collected 36 saves, struck out 293 and pitched 367 innings in 12 years in NPB.