Nobuyuki Hoshino

Nobuyuki Hoshino (星野 伸之)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 6' 0", Weight 162 lb.

• High School Asahikawa Technical High School

• Born January 31, 1966 in Asahikawa, Hokkaido Japan

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Nobuyuki Hoshino pitched for 18 seasons in Nippon Pro Baseball and made seven All-Star teams. He was an Opening Day starter eight times. His fastball peaked at only 85 mph.

Hoshino was a 5th-round pick of the Hankyu Braves out of high school in the 1983 NPB draft. He went 1-2 with a save and a 4.47 ERA in 1985, walking 39 in 46 1/3 innings as a rookie. He went 9-8 with a 3.88 ERA in 1986 to finish 9th in the Pacific League in ERA, between Hisashi Yamada and Yoshiaki Nishikawa. He was 11-12 with a 3.87 ERA, 170 strikeouts in 179 innings and a .214 opponent average in 1987, and led the league with six shutouts that season. Hoshino was also selected into the 1987 NPB All-Star Game, and he fanned 5 in 2 innings with a 2-run shot allowed to Tatsunori Hara as the PL's starter of Game 1. He was 9th in wins (tied with Kazuyoshi Ono), 2nd in losses (tied with Hideyuki Awano and Seiichi Sato) and 4th in Ks (between Kimiyasu Kudo and Yukihiko Yamaoki).

The junkballer was 13-9 with a 3.06 ERA and .220 opponent average in 1988 and made a second All-Star team. He was the PL's starter of 1988 NPB All-Star Game 1, and he completed 2 shutout innings. He finished 8th in the circuit in ERA (between Hiroshi Tsuno and Shintaro Yamasaki), 5th in wins (tied with Taigen Kaku, Yamasaki, Sato and Katsuo So) and 4th in strikeouts (163, between Awano and Hiroaki Matsuura). In 1989, Hoshino went 15-6 with a 3.48 ERA, though he led the league with 11 wild pitches. He was 6th in ERA (between Hisanobu Watanabe and Tomoo Watanabe), 3rd in wins (tied with H. Watanabe) and 4th in Ks (160, between Yukihiro Nishizaki and Kazuyoshi Ono). Hoshino was voted into the 1989 NPB All-Star Game, and he struck out 3 in 2 shutout innings in Game 2.

The Orix hurler slipped to 14-9, 4.02 in 1990 and gave up 33 home runs, tying Awano for the PL lead. He was also 3rd in wins (4 behind H.Watanabe and Hideo Nomo) and 3rd in strikeouts (behind H.Watanabe and Nomo). That year, he was embarrassed by his catcher Satoshi Nakajima on September 20, who caught one of Hoshino's slow curves barehanded and fired the ball back to the mound, causing both teams to erupt in laughter. Despite Hoshino's anger over the stunt, Nakajima would repeat it in bullpen sessions. He rebounded to 16-10, 3.53 with a save in 1991 and made his fourth All-Star team; he pitched 2 innings with one run allowed in the 1991 NPB All-Star Game 2. He finished 10th in ERA (between Yamaoki and Katsuyoshi Murata), 2nd in wins (1 behind Nomo) and 4th in strikeouts (138, between Kudo and Satoru Komiyama).

Nobuyuki was 13-9 with a 3.62 ERA and 175 strikeouts in 1992 while tying Hideo Nomo for the league lead with five shutouts, Hoshino's last time as a league-leader. He again was 10th in ERA（between Kudo and Toyohiko Yoshida), 5th in wins (tied with Hiroshi Takamura) and 2nd in Ks (53 behind Nomo). In 1993, he had a 10-12, 3.35 season and was 10th in ERA for the third straight year (between Kazuhiro Takeda and Komiyama). He had a 10-10, 3.58 record in 1994 and was 7th in ERA, between Yoshinori Sato and Yoshida.

In 1995, the crafty southpaw turned in a 11-8 record with a 3.39 ERA. He returned to his old familiar spot of #10 in the PL in ERA and made his 5th All-Star team. In the 1995 Japan Series, he allowed one run in 4 1/3 innings as Orix fell to the Yakult Swallows. Hoshino improved to 13-5, 3.05 in 1996 while making his sixth All-Star squad. He was 5th in ERA between Yukihiro Nishizaki and Koji Noda. He started games one and five of the 1996 Japan Series, allowing three runs in eight total innings and getting two no-decisions, as the BlueWave won their only Japan Series title.

Hoshino made his final All-Star team in 1997, and he completed one shutout inning in the 1997 NPB All-Star Game 1. The 31-year-old was 14-10 with a 3.24 ERA. He placed 8th in ERA (between Fumiya Nishiguchi and Noda), 3rd in wins (1 behind Hideo Koike and Nishiguchi) and 8th in strikeouts (121, between Akinori Otsuka and Tetsuya Shiozaki). He struggled at 6-10, 5.12 with a .310 opponent average in 1998 but rebounded to 11-7, 3.85 in 1999. Hoshino left Orix after 15 seasons to sign with the Hanshin Tigers. He was 5-10 with a 4.04 ERA in 2000 and 1-2 with a 4.60 ERA in 2001. His lone win that year was the 4,000th in franchise history, on August 12. He ended up with a 2-1, 2.39 season in 8 games in 2002. Hoshino later became the minor league pitching coach for the Tigers from 2006 to 2009, and he was the pitching coach for Orix from 2010 to 2017.

Overall, Hoshino was 176-140 with two saves and a 3.64 ERA in 427 NPB games. He struck out 2,041 in 2,669 1/3 innings. Through 2024, he was 37th in NPB history in wins (between Juzo Sanada and Fumio Narita), 41st in losses (tied with Yutaka Yanagida and Genichi Murata), 41st in completed games (129, between Noboru Akiyama and Kazumi Takahashi), 29th in shutouts (29, between Akiyama and Shigeo Ishii), 23rd in whiffs (between Hideaki Wakui and Hiromu Matsuoka), 28th in walks (927, between Yutaka Enatsu and Hisashi Yamada), 21st in earned runs allowed (1,079, between Kuwata and Naoki Takahashi) and 83rd in ERA (between Kazuhisa Ishii and Manabu Kitabeppu).

Sources

• Wiki Japan