Kazuhito Tadano
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|---|---|
| Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters — No. 16 | |
| Starting Pitcher | |
| Born: April 25, 1980 | |
| Bats: Right | Throws: Right |
| Major League Baseball debut | |
| April 27, 2004 for the Cleveland Indians | |
| Selected MLB statistics (through 2007) |
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| Win-Loss | 1-1 |
| Earned Run Average | 4.47 |
| Strikeouts | 40 |
| Teams | |
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Kazuhito Tadano (多田野 数人 Tadano Kazuhito?, born April 25, 1980, in Tokyo, Japan) is a right-handed pitcher for the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan's Pacific League. He had previously pitched in Major League Baseball for the Cleveland Indians and Sacramento River Cats as minor leaguer. He is the 21st MLB player who has Japanese nationality. He is one of the Baseball players who were born in the 1980 academic year (from April 2, 1980 to the following April 1, 1981). So he is called one of the member of the Matsuzaka generation (松坂世代 Matsuzaka sedai?) in Japan.[1]
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[edit] Biography
Tadano as ace pitcher led Yachiyoshoin high school to the National High School Baseball Championship (Summer Koshien) for the first time. He had been a highly regarded pitcher coming out of Rikkyo University. He was expected to be a high draft pick in the Nippon Professional Baseball draft in 2002, but no Japanese team drafted him due to the gay porn video scandal, which forced him to leave Japan.[2]
The Cleveland Indians signed Tadano as a free agent in 2003, and he quickly rose through the Cleveland farm system. He signed with the Indians in March 2003, making his debut in 2004. He made 14 appearances and four starts with a 4.65 ERA in 50⅓ innings. In January 2004, it was widely reported in U.S. that Tadano had featured in a gay porn video in three years previous, with Tadano appearing at a press conference organized by the team.[3] Tadano said "I was young, playing baseball, and going to college and my teammates and I needed money" and "I'm not gay."[2]
He was sidelined due to an injury early in the 2005 season, but recovered and was shuttled between Cleveland and the Buffalo Bisons for the rest of the year.
On April 4, 2006, Tadano was traded to the Oakland Athletics for outfielder Ramon Alvarado.
In 2007, Tadano was sent down to Oakland's AA team, Midland, after being invited to spring training. He was eventually promoted back up to AAA and started off well, looking extremely sharp with a plus splitter. Curiously, he ran into trouble in June. His ERA ballooned as he gave up 29 runs over 5 games. He was moved to the bullpen in July after Oakland demoted Colby Lewis and Shane Komine. He was in the first-pick by the Nippon-Ham Fighters in the university/company player draft in 2007, he would become the last player in Matsuzaka generation to start his NPB life.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
