Tatsushi Masuda

Tatsushi Masuda (増田 達至)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 176 lb.

• School Fukui University of Technology
• High School Soukai High School

• Born April 23, 1988 in Sumoto, Hyogo Japan

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Tatsushi Masuda was a two-time All-Star pitcher in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Masuda was a first-round pick of the Hiroshima Carp and Seibu Lions in the 2012 NPB draft; the Lions won the lottery. He soon became one of the most reliable relief pitchers in the Lions' bullpen, recording a 3.76 ERA in 42 appearances as a rookie in 2013. Masuda extended his stable pitching, notched 22 holds with a 2.82 ERA in 44 2/3 innings pitched in 2014.

The Hyogo native was selected into the 2015 NPB All-Star Game. He relieved Ken Togame in the 6th inning of Game 2, struck out Kosuke Tanaka then retired Tsubasa Aizawa and Yoshihiro Maru to complete a shutout inning. He ended up collecting a league-leading 44 holds in 72 appearances with a 3.04 ERA. The Hyogo native replaced Tomomi Takahashi to become the closer of the Lions in 2016, and got 28 saves with an elite 1.66 ERA. He still pitched well in 2017, when he notched 28 saves with a 2.40 ERA. He was part of Japan's designated pitcher pool for the 2017 World Baseball Classic but was not activated. However, his ERA rose to 5.17 in 2018, and Deunte Heath took the closer spot from him.

Masuda bounced back in 2019. He won the competition with Heath and Kyle Martin, then was named the closer of the Lions again. He attended the 2019 NPB All-Star Game, relieving Rei Takahashi in the 8th inning of Game 2. Munetaka Murakami hit a single after he retired Ryosuke Kikuchi and Maru, but Masuda then forced Kazuki Kamizato to hit a grounder to end this inning. He collected 30 saves with a 1.81 ERA in the 2019 season. 2020 was Masuda's career year. He had a league-leading 33 saves with a 2.02 ERA, and became the third pitcher in NPB history to lead the league in saves without any losses (after Kazuhiro Sasaki and Hisashi Takeda). He also broke the team record for most career saves held by Kiyoshi Toyoda with 136 saves on November 3. He got two second-place vote for the 2020 PL MVP.

The closer of Seibu slumped in 2021. Kaima Taira took the closer spot from him, and his ERA rose to 4.99 in 33 appearances. He was named the closer again in 2022, and notched 31 saves with a 2.45 ERA. Masuda ranked 2nd in saves, 1 behind Yuki Matsui. Originally, Masuda was selected into the 2022 NPB All-Star Game, but he was unable to pitch due to the coronavirus, and Keisuke Honda replaced him. He became the 18th player to reach 150 saves, on May 1, and became the 7th player to both record 100 saves and 100 holds, reaching those marks on August 10. Masuda struggled in 2023 as his ERA rose to 5.45 with 19 saves in 40 games, and he was 6th in saves (between Seigi Tanaka and Soichiro Yamazaki). He only pitched 13 games with a 4.09 ERA in 2024, and he announced his retirement.

Overall, Masuda was 31-40 with a 3.03 ERA, collected 194 saves and 106 holds in 560 appearances, struck out 482 and pitched 570 innings in 12 seasons in NPB. As of 2024, he was 11th in saves (between Masahide Kobayashi and Yutaka Enatsu), 38th in holds (tied with Tatsuya Sato) and 60th in appearances (tied with Tsuneo Horiuchi and Takehiro Hashimoto) in NPB history. His repertoire included a slider, curveball, forkball and fastball (peak 97 mph).