Toshihide Narimoto

Toshihide Narimoto (成本 年秀)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 193 lb.

• School Kyoto Sangyo University
• High School Nishinomiya Higashi High School

• Born September 11, 1968 in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Japan

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Toshihide Narimoto pitched in Nippon Professional Baseball for 10 years and once led the league in saves.

Narimoto was drafted by the Chiba Lotte Marines in the second round of the 1992 NPB draft, and he soon became an important part of Lotte's bullpen. In his rookie year, Narimoto had a 3.23 ERA in 37 appearances. Because of his solid performance, the Marines named him as their new closer in 1994, and he collected 19 saves with a 2.73 ERA. Narimoto appeared in the 1995 NPB All-Star Game 2, and he pitched a shutout inning, with a strikeout against the legendary Hiromitsu Ochiai. He ended up notching 21 saves with an elite 2.00 ERA in 1995, and ranked 3rd in saves in the Pacific League (6 behind Masafumi Hirai).

The Hyogo native won the Fireman of the Year award with a league-leading 23 saves in 1996, but his ERA rose to 3.32. He also pitched 1/3 of an inning in 1996 NPB All-Star Game 3. However, the 1996 season was his last productive season for the Marines because he torn his ligament and underwent Tommy John surgery in 1997. Narimoto failed to recover so he only pitched 18 innings combined in the next four seasons, and the Marines released him after the 2000 season.

The Hanshin Tigers then picked him up, and Narimoto miraculously came back in 2001. He notched 20 saves with a solid 2.34 ERA, and attended the 2001 NPB All-Star Game. Narimoto pitched a shutout inning in Game 1, but he allowed a solo shot to Kenji Johjima in Game 3. He also won the NPB Comeback Player of the Year Award. However, he was injured again and didn't pitch any games with the big club in 2002, and the Tigers released him. The Yakult Swallows signed him but he struggled again, had a 5.22 ERA in 2003 and only recorded 7 appearances in 2004. The Yakult released him after the 2004 season and he joined the Uni-President Lions of the CPBL. The veteran was 2-2 with a 3.90 ERA in Taiwan, and announced his retirement after the 2005 season. After retiring, he became the pitching coach for Yakult from 2005 to 2007, then served as bullpen coach for the minor league team of the Marines from 2008 to 2009. He worked as pitching coach for them in 2010 and 2012, and also coached their big club in 2011. After leaving Lotte, Narimoto was the pitching coach for the Shiga Unions of the Baseball Challenge League in 2018, and managed them from 2019 to 2020.

Overall, Narimoto was 26-20, collected 83 saves with a 3.33 ERA, struck out 359 and pitched 402 1/3 innings in 10 seasons in NPB.

Sources

• Wiki Japan
• Taiwan Baseball Wiki
• NPB.com Bio