Atsushi Nomi

Atsushi Nomi (能見 篤史)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 11", Weight 165 lb.

• High School Tottori Johoku High School

• Born May 28, 1979 in Toyooka, Hyogo Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Atsushi Nomi pitched in Nippon Pro Baseball for 18 years.

Nomi pitched for Osaka Gas in the industrial leagues after high school, battling injuries during that time. He was 1-1 with a 2.70 ERA for Japan in the 2004 Haarlem Baseball Week. The Hanshin Tigers picked him in the first round of the 2004 NPB draft; the scout was Toru Ikenoue. He debuted in 2005, going 4-1 with a 5.57 ERA and .302 opponent average but struck out 64 in 64 2/3 IP. In the 2005 Japan Series, he pitched twice in relief, allowing one hit and no runs in 1 2/3 IP, but Hanshin was swept by the Chiba Lotte Marines. In 2006, the lefty bounced between top team (2-4, 4.98, almost entirely in relief) and the minors. Sent to the Waikiki BeachBoys of the Hawaii Winter League, he excelled, going 3-0 with a 1.29 ERA and .205 opponent average. He finished second in the pitcher-friendly league in ERA (behind Marco Estrada) and tied for third in wins, one behind Kanehisa Arime and Scott Koerber. He was named to the league All-Star team as a pitcher alongside Arime, Rick van den Hurk and Joba Chamberlain.

The Hyogo native improved to 4-4, 4.38 for the 2007 Tigers. For the fourth straight year, he moved between the minors and Hanshin (6 R in 11 1/3 IP) in 2008. He stepped up in 2009, with a 13-9, 2.62 record. He finished among the Central League leaders in ERA (4th after Wei-Yin Chen, Kazuki Yoshimi and Dicky Gonzalez), wins (tied for 4th with Masanori Ishikawa and Seth Greisinger), innings (165, 9th, between Colby Lewis and Chen), losses (tied for 10th), strikeouts (154, 2nd, 32 behind Lewis) and walks (44, 10th), turning out to be Hanshin's ace.

Nomi had a 8-0, 2.60 record in an injury-plagued 2010. He was back as Hanshin's Opening Day starter for 2011, though, and had another big year (12-9, 2.52, .214 opponent average, 1.02 WHIP, 186 K in 200 1/3 IP). He struck out 7 in a row on April 19 against the Yomiuri Giants. He was among the CL's leaders in ERA (8th, between Kenta Maeda and Maximo Nelson), innings (4th, between Bryan Bullington and Hirokazu Sawamura), wins (tied for 4th with Randy Messenger), complete games (5, tied for second with Sawamura and Yoshimi, behind Shohei Tateyama), hits allowed (151, 7th, between Tetsuya Utsumi and Sawamura), strikeouts (again 2nd, this time only 6 behind Maeda), walks (55, tied for second with Shun Tohno, behind Yuya Fukui), runs allowed (59, 8th), opponent average (4th, between Sawamura and Tateyama) and WHIP (tied for 6th with Chen).

The southpaw was 10-10 (for a 55-75 team) with a 2.42 ERA and 172 K in 182 IP in 2012. He made his first CL All-Star team, and he pitched 2 shutout innings with 2 strikeouts (against Nobuhiro Matsuda and Takeya Nakamura) in the 2012 NPB All-Star Game 2. Nomi was among the leaders in wins (tied Soma Yamauchi, Sawamura, Messenger and Kyohei Muranaka for 8th), losses (tied Kenichi Nakata, Kentaro Takasaki and Sawamura for 9th), complete games (3, tied for 4th), shutouts (2, tied for first), ERA (7th, between Kan Otake and Yamauchi), innings (5th, between Daisuke Miura and Bullington), hits allowed (157, tied for 8th with Minoru Iwata), homers given up (14, tied with Ishikawa for second, one behind Miura) and strikeouts (tied for first with Toshiya Sugiuchi).

Nomi was then put on Japan's roster for the 2013 World Baseball Classic. He started against Chinese Taipei. Nomi completed 2 shutout innings, but he then gave up a double to Yen-Wen Kuo in the third inning. Dai-Kang Yang bunted, and Nomi walked Che-Hsuan Lin and plunked Cheng-Min Peng. Szu-Chi Chou then drove in a run with a walk, and Nomi was replaced by Tadashi Settsu. He next relieved Kenta Maeda in the 6th inning against Puerto Rico, but he gave up a 2-run shot to Alex Ríos and Japan lost. Nomi was still solid in the 2013 season, and he was 11-7 with a 2.69 ERA. He led the league with 6 complete games, and he was 7th in wins (tied with Bryan Bullington and Sugiuchi), 8th in strikeouts (127, between Yasuhiro Ogawa and Shintaro Fujinami) and 2nd in ERA (.59 behind Maeda). He also attended the 2013 NPB All-Star Game, and he pitched 2 shutout innings with a strikeout of the Pacific League's Yuya Hasegawa as the starter of Game 3.

Hanshin's ace collected double-digit strikeouts in 5 straight games from May 16 to June 24, and he set the Central League record. Nomi ended up 9-13 with a 3.99 ERA in 2014, and he led the league in losses and complete games (3). He was 4th in strikeouts (151, between Maeda and Sugiuchi) and 5th in innings (169 1/3). Nomi started against the Softbank Hawks in Game 2 of the 2014 Nippon Series, and he pitched 6 innings with only 2 runs allowed. However, Shota Takeda still got the win over him in a fine pitching duel, and the Tigers lost in 5 games. Nomi was 11-13 with a 3.72 ERA in 2015, and he led the league in losses, hits and runs allowed. He also ranked 6th in wins (tied with Yudai Ono, Hiroki Kuroda and Ogawa) and 9th in strikeouts (125, between Tomoyuki Sugano and Iwata).

Nomi was 8-12 with a 3.72 ERA in 2017, and he led the league in losses for the third straight year. He then went 6-6 with a 3.72 ERA in 2018, and he was turned into a reliever. Nomi collected 16 holds with a 2.56 ERA in 45 appearances in 2019, and his ERA was 4.30 in 51 relief outings with 18 holds in 2020. Nomi was the second 40-year-old pitcher to pitch more than 50 games in NPB history, following Hitoki Iwase. He notched 4 holds with a 3.74 ERA in 34 games in 2020, and he became the oldest Hanshin player to get a save on November 11. The Tigers then released him, and he signed with the Orix Buffaloes. Nomi pitched 26 games with 2 saves and 5 holds in 2021, and his ERA was 4.03. He was the oldest Orix player to get a save. Nomi relieved Yoshihisa Hirano in the 11th inning of the 2021 Nippon Series Game 6, and he retired Munetaka Murakami then Motoki Higa relieved him; the Buffaloes lost to the Yakult Swallows in 6 games. Nomi only pitched 5 games with a 2.45 ERA in 2022, and he announced his retirement.

Overall, Nomi was 104-93 with a 3.35 ERA, collected 57 holds and 4 saves in 474 appearances, struck out 1,517 and pitched 1,743 innings in 18 seasons in NPB. As of 2025, he was 59th in strikeouts in NPB history, between Tetsuya Utsumi and Hajime Kato. Nomi threw a slider, forkball, changeup and a fastball (topped out at 93 mph).

Sources

• Japanbaseballdaily by Gary Garland
• Taiwan Baseball Wiki
• 2004 Haarlem Baseball Week
• 2006 Hawaii Winter League