Hideaki Wakui

From BR Bullpen

Hideaki Wakui (涌井秀章)

Bats Right, Throws Right
Height 6' 1", Weight 187 lb.

High School Yokohama High School

Born June 21, 1986 in Matsudo, Chiba Japan

Hideaki Wakui has been following the career path of Daisuke Matsuzaka - ace at Yokohama High School, then on to the Seibu Lions.

Wakui was a member of the Japanese team that won Silver in the 2004 World Junior Championship, going 1-0 with a 3.12 ERA. After graduating Yokohama High School in 2005, he was picked in the first round of the draft by the Seibu Lions. He was just 1-6 with a 7.32 ERA in a miserable rookie season. He was 12-8 with a 3.24 ERA in 2006 as Seibu's #2 starter behind Matsuzaka. He was 4th in the Pacific League in innings (178), tied fellow youngsters Tomoya Yagi and Yu Darvish for 5th in wins, tied Kazumi Saito for third in complete games (8) and tied Tsuyoshi Wada for 7th in strikeouts (136). Wakui was chosen to the NPB All-Star team for their series against the MLB All-Stars.

When Matsuzaka left Japan, Wakui became the Seibu ace. He did a fine job in his second season with the Lions, going 17-10 with a 2.79 ERA. He was 8th in the PL in ERA but led in innings (213) and wins. He also led in hits allowed (199), was second in complete games (11, one behind Darvish) and was 7th with 141 strikeouts. He joined the Japanese national team for the 2007 Asian Championship and dazzled in his one outing, giving up one hit, no walks and no runs in six innings against the Philippines, with 7 strikeouts.

Wakui was 2-0 with a 0.66 ERA for Japan in the 2008 Olympics, getting half their wins. He allowed only 6 hits and struck out 13 in 13 2/3 IP. He faced the minimum 21 batters in a 7-inning shutout against the Chinese national team and got the win over the Taiwan national team. In the semifinals, he was on the mound for the final 2 runs in a 6-2 loss to South Korea but one was an inherited runner left by Hitoki Iwase and both were due to an error by G.G. Sato. He tied Suk-min Yoon, Norge Vera, Hyun-jin Ryu and Jonder Martínez for the most wins in Beijing. His 12 K's in the round-robin tied Seung Song for second, trailing Chris Begg by two and Yoshihisa Naruse by one.