Takanobu Oshima

Takanobu Julian Oshima (Smash Bro)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 209 lb.

• Born November 14, 1988

Biographical Information

Takanobu Oshima has played for the Swiss national team. He is the brother of Hideori Oshima.

He hit .226/.355/.274 in the Ligue Nationale A in 2009 at age 20, fielding .971. he was only 5 for 36 in the postseason. In 2010, he hit .339/.455/.450 with 39 runs in 28 games, fielding .885. He was 3-0 with a 2.55 ERA on the hill.

In 2011, he was at .289/.356/.367 in the regular season, fielding .879. He hit .280/.419/.360 in the playoffs. The next summer, he slashed .326/.447/.539 with 37 runs in 24 contests, going 1-0 with a save and a 2.33 ERA and fielding .892. In the postseason, he hit .226/.294/.258 but scored 7 times in 7 games. In 2013, he hit .393/.493/.589 with 19 runs and 18 RBI in 16 games in the regular season (2-0, 0.50; .935) and was 4-for-20 in the postseason.

During the 2013 B-Level European Championship, he was 0 for 9 with two walks, a HBP and two runs, fielding .808. He tied for 5th with 14 assists but his four errors tied Jaka Trobec for second. In '14, he was 3-1 with a save and a 2.55 ERA, hit .464/.567/.548 with 27 runs in 21 games and fielded .930. He fell to .227/.277/.250 in the playoffs. In '15, he hit .359/.451/.474 with 20 runs and 22 RBI in 18 games, fielded .923 and was 0-1 with a 15.95 ERA. He scored 8 runs in 7 playoff games, batting .304/.484/.435.

He excelled at the 2015 B-Level European Championship after his rough 2013 performance; he hit .429/.556/.789 with 3 steals in 3 tries over 4 games. He fielded .923. He trailed only Roman Boiko and Sven Leemann in average, was behind only Jaroslav Sitar and Dimitar Nassapov in slugging, led in OBP (.018 ahead of Alexander Vaclavick, tied Nikola Sertić for 7th in total bases (11), was one steal behind leaders Kostiantyn Chukhas and Antonio Horvatić and was 10th with 11 assists. In the 2016 Swiss season, he was 2-0 with a save and a 0.51 ERA, fielded .872 and hit .364/.464/.432 with 18 runs and 18 RBI in 11 games; he was at .333/.379/.556 with 8 runs and 8 RBI in six postseason contests.

In 2017, he hit .394/.484/.667 with 41 runs, 16 doubles and 42 RBI in 24 games, fielding .905 and pitching 7 shutout innings. He scored 11 runs in 9 games in the playoffs, when he batted .275/.408/.425. At the 2017 CEB Cup, he was 1 for 12 with 3 walks, a HBP, 3 runs and a RBI for the Therwil Flyers, fielding .882. With Switzerland at the 2017 B-Level European Championship, he had a massive 3-homer, 3-walk, 8-RBI game against Serbia and scored 3 times against champion Austria. He finished the event at .467/.636/1.400 with 4 homers, 10 runs, 11 RBI and 6 walks in 5 games, fielding .783. He tied Bojan Ninic for 5th in average, leading in slugging (.092 ahead of Thierry Burkhardt), finishing second in OBP (.014 behind Teodor Dimitov), leading in OPS, leading in runs (3 ahead of Tobias Siegrist, Felix Zimmerle and Benjamin Salzmann), tying for 5th in hits, leading in RBI (two more than Dominik Talir), leading in total bases (21, one ahead of MVP Sammy Hackl), tying Teodor Dimitov for the walk lead, finishing second with 15 assists (3 behind Mo Hackl) and leading with 5 errors.

Oshima was 7-1 with a 2.10 ERA for the 2018 Flyers, hitting .333/.417/.617 with 35 runs, 8 homers and 38 RBI in 26 games, fielding .888. He was at .316/.449/.368 in the playoffs and went 2-1 with a save and a 3.97 ERA. In the 2018 CEB Cup, he lost to Dmytro Limarenko of Biotechkomanda despite falling a triple shy of the cycle to help his own cause. He hit .444/.474/.722 with 4 RBI in 4 games but had a 10.57 ERA, the highest by a qualifier (Justin Olic was next at 8.38). He fielded .947. He made the leaderboards for average (9th, between Mohamed Baoui and Jakub Kubica), hits (8, tied for 5th), total bases (13, tied for 6th with Raudelin Legra, Boiko and Maurice Wilhelm) and assists (12, tied for 5th with Legra, Alexander Perdomo and Drew Janssen).

The veteran slashed .418/.530/.890 with 33 runs, 11 home runs and 38 RBI games in 2019 (fielding .988 and going 5-2 with a save and a 4.08 ERA) and .222/.371/.370 in the playoffs (1-1, Sv, 3.21). He hit .150/.261/.450 with two homers and five RBI in five games in the 2019 Federations Cup, fielding .783 and going 0-3 with a 20.86 ERA; he lost to the Leksand Lumberjacks' Per Sjörs, the Vienna Metrostars' Jak Simonsen and Olimpija Karlovac's Carlos García. He tied for 7th in homers, was second in games pitched (3), led in losses and trailed only Sam Boermans in assists (14). In the 2019 B-Level European Championship, he drove in 3 against Finland then beat Chukhas and Ukraine. He then defeated Poland's Ray Wojtala when he worked 5 shutout innings of relief. He finished at .300/.333/.500 with 3 steals in 3 tries, 5 runs and 5 RBi in 5 games, going 2-0 with no runs in 7 IP, fielding .913. He tied Eimantas Žičkus and Jakub Ižold for the win lead, would've tied for the ERA lead had he qualified and tied Burkhardt for 3rd with 14 assists.

Takanobu hit .439/.548/.591 with 30 runs and 23 RBI in 18 games in 2020, fielding .879 and going 2-1 with two saves and a 3.95 ERA. He was 1-0 with a save and a 1.08 ERA in the playoffs, going 9-for-17 with two doubles, two homers, 9 runs, 8 RBI and 8 walks in 6 games. There were no European tournaments that year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In '21, he produced at a .318/.474/.455 clip with 16 runs in 12 games, going 1-0 despite a 9.00 ERA and fielding .960. He hit .333/.481/.619 in the playoffs, scoring 9 runs and driving in 7 in 6 games. In the 2021 European Championship Qualifier, he was 1 for 7 with a walk but his lone hit was a 3-run dinger against Slovenia. No longer at short, he was now at first, handling 9 putouts. With Therwil for the 2021 CEB Cup, he hit .211/.348/.211 with 3 steals in five games; only Roibert Decena stole more bases. He handled 14 chances without a miscue.

In the summer of 2022, he scored 29 times and drove in 22 in 16 games, hitting .396/.553/.830, fielding .945 (he was still a middle infielder in domestic play) and saving 3 games with a 1.00 ERA. He had 8 runs and 8 RBI in 6 playoff games, batting .364/.545/.591. He was at .267/.353/.333 in the 2022 Confederation Cup, fielding .893 and allowing 2 runs in one inning. He led with 16 assists, one ahead of Dennis De Quint, and tied for third with 3 errors.

Oshima hit .450/.600/.975 with 19 runs and 16 RBI in 12 games in 2023, going 1-0 with a save and a 4.66 ERA and fielding .920. He won the MVP (it is certainly possible he won other hardware in Switzerland, but this has not been found by this writer). He was 2-for-13 in the 2023 Confederation Cup, fielding .946 and yielding four runs in one inning. He went deep off Lilian Amoros of the Savigny Lions. He was 9th with ten assists. In 2024, he hit .286/.385/.429, then was an amazing 9-for-13 with two doubles, 7 runs and 6 RBI in 3 playoff games.

At age 36, he hit .333/.431/.619 with 16 runs and 17 RBI in 12 games, fielding .975 and throwing one shutout inning. He got to play in his first European Championship in 2025 (Switzerland had played in 2023, but he had not made the team, though his brother had). He played half their games at third (Max Jung-Goldberg played the other 3 there). He smacked a two-run double off Vilius Paikovas in his first at-bat in a European Championship. He finished 4-for-9 with a run, four RBI, walk and steal; in the field, he had 7 assists and no errors. In the 11th/12th place game, he relieved Fynn Himmelsbach on the hill with a 1-0 deficit in the 4th against France. He retired Fabian Kovacs, walked Dorian Bouniol, got Léo Jiminian on a fly, walked Felix Brown and retired AAA hitter Ernesto Martínez Jr. to end the inning. Switzerland scored 7 in the bottom of the 4th, chasing Quentin Moulin. José Paula tripled to open the 5th then Oshima walked Daniel Patrice. James Sanders relieved and let one inherited run in but Oshima got the win over Moulin, giving Switzerland their best finish ever in a European Championship.