Manabu Mima

From BR Bullpen

Manabu Mima (美馬 学)

  • Bats Right, Throws Right
  • Height 5' 7", Weight 165 lb.

BR register page

Biographical Information[edit]

Manabu Mima won the Japan Series MVP once in his 14 year career in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Mima pitched for Tokyo Gas in the industrial leagues after college, and the Rakuten Golden Eagles chose him in the second round of the 2010 NPB draft. He then joined the Japanese national team for the 2010 Asian Games, allowing a Chih-Sheng Lin homer in a semifinal loss as Japan got the Bronze Medal. He debuted on April 13, tossing a scoreless 8th to preserve a 5-1 lead over the Chiba Lotte Marines; Ryan Speier relieved him in the 9th. He finished the year 2-1 with a 3.08 ERA in 23 games. Put in the rotation in 2012, the little righty was 8-10 with a 3.08 ERA and 36 walks in 154 2/3 IP. He finished among the Pacific League leaders in losses (tied for third with Hiroki Yamada, Sho Iwasaki, Kelvin Jimenez and Takahiro Shiomi), innings (10th), homers allowed (12, 3rd behind Yoshihisa Naruse and Kazuhisa Ishii), hits allowed (142, 9th, between Seth Greisinger and Takayuki Kishi), strikeouts (108, tied for 8th with Kazuhisa Makita), earned runs (53, 2nd to Naruse), runs allowed (55, tied for 4th with Makita), hit batsmen (5, tied for 6th) and WHIP (9th, between Kenji Otonari and Hiroshi Kisanuki). He got four votes for the 2012 Pacific League Rookie of the Year Award, tying Takayoshi Kawabata for a distance 5th behind Naoya Masuda (116 votes), Shota Takeda (80) and Yoshinao Kamata (5).

The Ibaraki native was 6-5 with a 4.12 ERA in 2013, missing time to right elbow problems. He turned it up several notches in the postseason. He tossed a shutout in the Climax Series as Rakuten advanced to the 2013 Japan Series, their first Japan Series appearance. He then was excellent in two outings in the Series, outperforming Rakuten's aces Masahiro Tanaka and Takahiro Norimoto (a combined 39-9 in the regular season). In game 3 against the Yomiuri Giants, he faced Toshiya Sugiuchi, who entered 3-0 with a 0.91 ERA in his Japan Series career. Mima outdueled the veteran with four hits, no walks, no runs and five strikeouts in 5 2/3 IP for the win; Ken Ray and Takashi Saitoh wrapped it up. He then got the nod in game 7 and was again brilliant (6 IP, 1 H, 3 BB, 1 HB, 5 K) with Norimoto and Tanaka finishing off a 3-0 shutout to again beat Sugiuchi. He was named Japan Series MVP for his efforts.

Mima suffered from injuries, so he only started 14 games with a 2-9 record and a 4.83 ERA in 2014. He then went 3-7 with a 3.44 ERA in 2015, and he missed most of the season again due to elbow injury. Mima returned in 2016, and he pitched 25 games with a 9-9 record and a 4.30 ERA. He was then selected into the 2017 NPB All-Star Game, and he pitched 2 shutout innings with 3 Ks to get the win over the Central League's Shoichi Ino in Game 2. He ended up 11-8 with a 3.26 ERA in 2017, and he was 7th in wins (tied with Ryoma Nogami), 6th in complete games (3, tied with Yuki Nishi), 8th in strikeouts (134, between Nao Higashihama and Taisuke Yamaoka) and 7th in ERA (between Rick Vanden Hurk and Kota Futaki).

The little righty suffered from right elbow injury for the 4th time in his career in 2018, and he went 2-6 with a 4.56 ERA in 14 starts. Mima then attended the 2019 NPB All-Star Game, and he pitched an inning with a RBI double allowed to Shuhei Takahashi in Game 2. He had a 8-5 record with a 4.01 ERA in 2019, and he led the league with 2 complete games. Mima then announced that he would become a free agent, and he signed a 3-year contract with the Chiba Lotte Marines. He was 10-4 with a 3.95 ERA in his first season with the Marines, and he was 4th in wins (1 behind Shuta Ishikawa, Kodai Senga and Hideaki Wakui).

Mima went 6-7 with a 4.92 ERA in 2021, and he became the first pitcher to allow double-digit runs in back-to-back games in the two-league era (1950-). The Marines then named him the starter of the 2021 PLCS final stage Game 2 against the Orix Buffaloes. He blanked his opponent's lineup for 5 2/3 innings, but he was then hit by Masataka Yoshida's comebacker on his knee, so he left the game. Yusuke Azuma then gave up a game-winning, 2-run homer to Yutaro Sugimoto, and Mima got the loss. He bounced back in 2022, and he was 10-6 with a 2.91 ERA. He tied Dietrich Enns, Higashihama, Hiromi Itoh, Kaito Yoza and Takahiro Norimoto for 5th in wins, and he would have ranked 5th in ERA had he qualified. Mima was 3-9 with a 4.76 ERA in 2023, and his ERA was 7.43 in 3 games in 2024. Mima announced his retirement in the middle of the 2025 season; his retirement game was on September 30. As the starter, he faced his former teammate Hideto Asamura, and he struck him out in his last at-bat. In fact that pitch was a wild pitch, but Asamura chose to swing at it, so Mima would finish his professional career with a strikeout.

Overall, Mima was 80-88 with a 3.94 ERA, struck out 1,042 and pitched 1,454 2/3 innings in 14 seasons in NPB. His repertoire included a slider, forkball, curveball, shuuto (two-seamer), and a fastball (peak 95 mph).

Sources[edit]

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