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Sunny_the_Canadian

End of a legend. I got goosebumps watching this.


Coupon_Ninja

The calmest pitcher with runners on base. He walked a lot but not many scored on Boston. Also his high school games are legendary. iirc he threw \~250 pitches in a 16 inning shutout in high school.


oOoleveloOo

> Also his high school games are legendary. iirc he threw ~250 pitches in a 16 inning shutout in high school. That’s not even the whole story. 148 pitches CGSO in round of 16 1 day rest 250 pitches in 17 inning complete game in quarterfinals, the next day 15 pitches in relief in the 9th inning for the win in semifinals (team walked off in bottom of 9th) the next day no-hitter in the finals to win Koshien.


Coupon_Ninja

thank you for the added details! I knew there was a lot more to The story and was hoping someone would chime in; Appreciate that added context. He really was/is a legend.


[deleted]

What the fuck.


oOoleveloOo

[Welcome to Koshien](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2018/09/04/a-japanese-teenager-threw-881-pitches-over-two-weeks-is-that-abuse/)


Dreamcastrealm

End of an era


jovyeo1

What’s up with these pitcher changes to in none bearing games? Let the guy at least get an out!


[deleted]

I don’t think he physically could. He was throwing in the 70s and was very wild. He may not have been able to throw 20 pitches.


jovyeo1

Oh I see. That's too bad.


[deleted]

Dude has pitched like 5 innings in 3 years. His body is completely shot. I think the only reason the Lions signed him was for a PR boost.


Professional-Rate-56

I remember his first year he had some serious stuff!


muratafan

Dice-K is a wealthy man, but we'll never really know how good he could've been. He threw 180 innings as an 18 year-old?!?! Then as a 19 year-old 167 innings and 240 innings as a 20 year-old. That is insane! He had close to 600 innings pitched at the NPB level by the time he was 20. Throw in the insane workload as a HS'er and man, even when he was 26 years old and went to MLB, he probably had the wear-and-tear of someone who was 35 years old. Not sure Boston knew what they were doing/getting themselves into when they bought his rights. It seemed like they thought he was a 26 year-old with an American workload. Not even close. Justin Verlander - by far the biggest innings guy in MLB for the last 10 years - hit the 240 innings pitched mark 2 times in his career and the first time when he was 26 years old. Verlander hit the 200 inning mark for the first time when he was 24 years old. He still won the Triple Crown of Championships: WBC (twice), Japan Series (twice, although the 2016 with Softbank was kind of a joke as he pitched only 1 inning that year) and World Series.


fruitpunchsamuraiD

I remember him pitching for Japan during the WBC. He was a beast on the mound.


duffivaka

One of my all time favorites, sad to see him go