Shun Tono

Shun Tono (東野 峻)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 187 lb.
• High School Hokota Daiichi High School

• Born July 11, 1986 in Hokota, Ibaraki Japan

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Pitcher Shun Tono played nine seasons in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Tono was selected by the Yomiuri Giants in the 7th round of the 2004 NPB draft, and he spent his first two seasons in the NPB Farm Leagues. He pitched for the Honolulu Sharks of the short-lived Hawaiian Winter League in 2006, and he was 1-1 with a 5.94 ERA there. Tono pitched one game for the big club in 2007, and he notched 2 holds with a 2.83 ERA in 28 appearances in 2008. Tono joined the rotation in 2009, and he went 8-8 with a 3.17 ERA. Tono was 9th in ERA in the Central League (between Colby Lewis and Daisuke Miura) and 7th in strikeouts (133, between Miura and Kan Otake). He also finished tied for second in the Central League with Yoshinori Sato with 57 walks. Tono pitched 4 1/3 innings with only one run allowed in the 2009 CLCS final stage, and the Giants advanced to the 2009 Nippon Series. He relieved Tetsuya Utsumi in the 2nd inning of a 4-2 loss in Game 2 of the Japan Series, and after doing well, got the start in Game 6 on November 7th, facing Masaru Takeda. However, he did not make it out of the 1st inning as Shinji Takahashi lined a ball off his wrist with two outs, and he had to leave the game in great pain. This time, it was Utsumi who relieved him and pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings to earn the win that clinched the championship.

The Ibaraki native had his best season in 2010 when he had an excellent year with the Giants, going 13-8, 3.27 in 27 games, logging 157 innings and striking out 140 opponents. He started the second of the 2010 NPB All-Star Games on July 24th after going 11-2 in the first half of the season, but allowed 4 runs to the Pacific League in 2 innings. Tono was 3rd in wins (tied with Wei-Yin Chen and Masanori Ishikawa), 6th in strikeouts (between Sato and Utsumi) and 5th in ERA (between Yasutomo Kubo and Kyohei Muranaka). In 2011, he pitched a few more innings at the top level - 161 - but fell to 8-11, 3.67. He was 5th in losses, tied with Hirokazu Sawamura, Tatsuyoshi Masubuchi, Shogo Yamamoto and Bryan Bullington. On October 11th that year, he gave up a single to Matt Murton of the Hanshin Tigers that extended Murton's hitting streak to 30 games, setting a new record for a gaijin in NPB.

Tono only pitched one game for the big club in 2012, and the Giants traded him with Kazunao Yamamoto to the Orix Buffaloes for Toru Anan and Ryota Katsuki. He was 1-3 with a 7.17 ERA in 2013, and he spent the entire 2014 season in the minors. The Buffaloes then released him, and he signed with the Yokohama BayStars. However, he allowed 3 runs in 4 innings in 2015, and he announced his retirement. After his playing career, he worked for a time as a batting practice pitcher for Yokohama, until injuring his rotator cuff in 2016. He was the minor league assistant pitching coach of the BayStars in 2024.

Overall, Tono was 32-30 with a 3.43 ERA, struck out 458 and pitched 556 1/3 innings in 8 seasons in NPB.

Sources

• Wiki Japan