Hayato Horioka

Hayato Horioka (堀岡 隼人)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 194 lbs.

• High School Aomori Yamada High School

• Born September 11, 1998 in Hadano, Kanagawa Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Hayato Horioka has pitched in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Horioka was drafted by the Yomiuri Giants in the 7th round of the development phase in the 2017 NPB draft; the scout was Takashi Kashiwada. He suffered from a right elbow injury and missed his first season, and he notched 9 saves with a 1.04 ERA in 29 games in the NPB Farm Leagues in 2019. He made his NPB debut on August 1, and he ended up having a 6.23 ERA in 3 games that season. On August 6, 2020, Horioka allowed 7 runs in an inning then Daiki Masuda relieved him. Masuda was the first position player to pitch in Central League history (due to NPB's larger roster sizes, teams don't turn to position players to pitch in blowouts the way they do in MLB). Horioka's ERA was 7.82 in 12 games that season, and he only pitched 3 more games with a 13.50 in 2023 for the big club before the Giants released him after the '23 season.

The Yokohama BayStars picked him up, and Horioka pitched 6 shutout innings in 2024. He pitched a shutout inning with a clutch strikeout against Kazuma Okamoto in 2024 CLCS final stage Game 1, and the BayStars eliminated the Giants to advance to the 2024 Nippon Series. Horioka surrendered 3 runs in an inning in Game 1, and that was his only appearance in the entire series. The BayStars beat the Softbank Hawks in 6 games.

Horioka's repertoire features a fastball that peaks at 95.7 mph, a changeup and a slider.

Sources

• Wiki Japan
• 2024 Nippon Series