Takahiro Matsuba

Takahiro Matsuba (松葉 貴大)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 10", Weight 169 lb.
• School Osaka Sports University
• High School Toyo University Himeji High School

• Born August 14, 1990 in Himeji, Hyogo Japan

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Biographical Information

Pitcher Takahiro Matsuba began playing in Nippon Pro Baseball in 2013.

He was selected in the first round of the 2012 NPB draft by the Orix Buffaloes of the Pacific League. As a rookie in 2013, he went 4-6, 4.19 in 17 games, mainly as a starting pitcher. He followed that with an excellent sophomore season in 2014, going 8-1, 2.77 in 21 starts which got him an opportunity to play for the Japanese national team the following spring in a two-game series against what was called "Team Europe", made up largely of Italian and Dutch players. On March 11th, he was charged with a 6-2 loss in the second game, giving up five runs in three innings, to give the two teams a series split. He had previously suited up for Japan in 2013 for a game against Chinese Taipei and for the 2014 Nichi-Bei Series.

After his early success, Matsuba was not as dominant in his next few seasons, going 3-6, 4.28 in 2015, 7-9, 3.26 in 2016 and 3-12, 4.46 in 2017, failing to accede to the top ranks of Japanese pitchers has had been expected of him. He had another disappointing year in 2018, finishing at 3-8, 3.31 and after starting the 2019 season 0-4, he was dealt by Orix to the Chunichi Dragons of the Central League as part of a four-player deal. He had another mediocre season in 2020, going 3-7, 4.05 for Chunichi. He finally had a winning record in 2021, when he went 6-5, 3.20: it was his first winning year since his great sophomore season, back in 2014! In 2022, he was 6-7, 3.33 for Chunichi, once again falling on the wrong side of the ledger in spite of a decent ERA.

In every one of his seasons from 2013 to 2022, he pitched at least part of the year with either Orix's or Chunichi's minor league ni-gun squad.