Tetsuya Utsumi
From BR Bullpen
Tetsuya Utsumi (内海 哲也)
- Bats Left, Throws Left
- Height 6' 1", 'Weight 185 lb.
- Born April 29, 1982 in Jōyō, Kyoto Japan
Tetsuya Utsumi is a pitcher for the Yomiuri Giants. He is the grandson of Iso Utsumi.
Utsumi drew the interest of the Orix BlueWave out of high school but turned them down as he wanted to play for his grandfather's old team, the Yomiuri Giants. Utsumi pitched for Tokyo Gas in the industrial leagues. He was easily Japan's worst hurler in the 2002 Intercontinental Cup, allowing 9 walks, 2 homers and 7 runs in just 3 innings of work. In 2004, he was a first-round pick of the Yomiuri Giants. He led the Eastern League in ERA but had a 5.14 ERA in his three games with the Giants ichi-gun team.
In 2005, the southpaw was just 4-9 with a 5.04 ERA as a regular member of the Yomiuri rotation but he outperformed fading veteran Masumi Kuwata and Scott Mullen to avoid being at the bottom of the staff.
In 2006, he improved to 12-13, 2.78. He was 4th in the Central League in ERA behind Hiroki Kuroda, Shinobu Fukuhara and Kenshin Kawakami. He tied for the CL lead in losses, was 4th in innings (194), tied for 5th in wins, tied for 4th in complete games (6), tied for 4th in shutouts (2), was third in strikeouts (179, trailing Kawakami and Kei Igawa), 4th in walks (52), tied for 5th in hit batsmen (7) and led in wild pitches (9). He made the CL All-Star team.
Utsumi went 14-7 with a 3.02 ERA in 2007. He improved to third in the league in ERA, behind Hisanori Takahashi and Seth Greisinger. He was second in innings (187 2/3, behind Greisinger), tied for second in wins (behind Greisinger), was third in hits allowed (183), led in strikeouts (180, 3 ahead of Kenichi Nakata), was second in hit batsmen (11) but only 10th in walks (48).
Tetsuya remained strong in 2008 at 12-8, 2.73. He was third in the CL in ERA (behind Masanori Ishikawa and Colby Lewis), third in innings (184 1/3), tied for 4th in wins, 5th in hits allowed (166), third in strikeouts (154, trailing Lewis and Greisinger) and leading with 68 walks. He helped Yomiuri post the best record in the CL for the second straight year, but this time they advanced to the Japan Series. Utsumi had a 1-0, 3.38 record in the 2008 Japan Series, winning game 3; Yomiuri lost the Series.
Utsumi started one game in the 2009 World Baseball Classic, giving up one run on 3 hits and a walk in 2 2/3 IP versus South Korea. Japan won the title.
