The Yomiuri Giants announced yesterday that veteran right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma will retire at the conclusion of the current Nippon Professional Baseball season. Shoulder problems have kept Iwakuma off the mound in 2020, but he will hang up his glove after a combined 17 seasons of action in NPB and Major League Baseball.
Iwakuma is best known to North American fans for his six-year run with the Mariners from 2012-17. The righty posted a 3.42 ERA, 3.86 K/BB rate, 47.6% grounder rate, and 7.3 K/9 over 883 2/3 innings at the big league level, starting 136 of 150 games. Highlights of Iwakuma’s Seattle tenure included an outstanding 2013 season that saw him finish third in AL Cy Young Award voting, and a no-hitter against the Orioles on August 12, 2015.
It’s easy to wonder what might have been had Iwakuma arrived in the majors prior to his age-31 season, and also perhaps what he could have been able to accomplish in both NPB and MLB had he not been bothered by shoulder injuries and some other health woes for a good deal of his career. This injury history cost Iwakuma some money in his initial contract with Seattle, and even more notably, a potential three-year, $45MM free agent deal with the Dodgers in the 2015-16 offseason that Los Angeles abandoned after concerns about Iwakuma’s physical. Even Iwakuma’s return to Japan resulted in only two innings with Yomiuri’s minor league team in 2019.
Over 1541 innings for the Kintetsu Buffaloes and Rakuten Golden Eagles from 2001-11, Iwakuma posted a 3.25 ERA, 3.44 K/BB rate, and 6.9 K/9. 2008 was his greatest year, as Iwakuma captured both league MVP honors and the Sawamura Award (Japan’s equivalent to the Cy Young Award) after posting a 1.87 ERA, 4.42 K/BB rate, 7.1 K/9, and a 21-4 record over 201 2/3 innings for the Golden Eagles. Iwakuma was also a member of Japan’s winning squad in the 2009 World Baseball Classic, with Iwakuma being named to the all-tournament team.
We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Iwakuma on an excellent career, and wish him the best in retirement.
Speaking of retirements, I heard that former Twins and Red Sox reliever Pat Light retired yesterday.
Yeah they posted that article yesterday, and then 20 minutes later they wiped it off the face of the earth. Mlb1225 can tell you that too lol.
Here’s the link: google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s…
Granted that just takes you to an error 404.
When they retracted it, I originally thought that it was fake news and took it down so they weren’t reporting a false story.
It was mentioned on a laptop left with a computer repair shop in NY.
One thing I found interesting. Iwakuma was a partime catcher in the very first few years of his professional career. He caught 59 games in 2001-2003.
Regardless, have a happy retirement, Iwakuma.
Damn, that’s really cool.
Who???
Seriously?
Kuma was as good as anybody for a couple years with the mariners. Him playing in Seattle, instead of some big marquees town.. LA, NY made sure nobody, other than hard core baseball fans really knew who he was.
We Mariner fans loved him. He was always smiling it seems. Happy retirement Kuma.
I remember when he pitched a no-hitter with the Mariners at home and the crowd was so silent for his final inning that you could hear a pin drop. That’s respect. Iwakuma could probably hear his own heart beat. Being silent during those last outs was a sign of respect for him not usually seen in a high leverage game for any sport
Dude. I was at this game against the Orioles. I think we all held our breaths. Was the coolest sports moment I’ve witnessed in person, for sure.
That’s awesome. So glad it was at home too
One of the most underrated Mariners of all time. Hope that he never gets forgotten.
Iwakuma was such a good signing, one of my favorite Mariners SP’s from the last decade. He really knew how to pitch, even when he didn’t have his “A” game he could still get hitters out because he was a dealer in the art of deception!
Incredible pitcher. Happy retirement!
Forgot about that 45 million he missed out on. Solid career
Kyuji Fujikawa, former Cubs pitcher, currently on the Hanshin Tigers is also retiring at the end of the NPB season.