Hideki Okajima

Hideki Okajima is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher.

Okajima pitched for the Yomiuri Giants, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, and Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Nippon Professional Baseball, and the Boston Red Sox and Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball.

The selection was the result of the 49th annual Topps balloting of Major League managers.

Okajima's performance really returned in Game 2 of the World Series against the Colorado Rockies, in which he pitched 2⅓ perfect innings in relief of Curt Schilling, striking out four at Fenway Park.

Okajima was drafted in the third round in 1993 by the Yomiuri Giants of the Nippon Professional Baseball League.

Okajima attended Higashiyama High School and pitched in the 1994 Koshien National High School Tournament.

Okajima pitched mostly as a setup man, but sometimes played the role of a starter until 1999.

When he played with the Giants in Japan, Okajima chose to go by the nickname "Okaji" instead of "Hideki" because Hideki Matsui had preceded him on the Giants.

Okajima became the team's closer in 2000–2001, before returning to his setup role in 2002.

Okajima was traded to the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters right before the start of the 2006 season for two position players, and was a valuable lefty setup man for the team, pitching in 55 games, with a 2.14 ERA.

The Fighters won the championship that year.

In Japan, Okajima had a career record of 34–32 with a 3.36 ERA.

Okajima became a free agent in 2006, and signed a two-year, $2.5 million deal with the Boston Red Sox.

The deal included a $1.75 million club option for a third year.

Okajima was elected to the 2007 Major League Baseball All-Star Game as a first time All-Star via the All-Star Final Vote.

He became the first Japanese-born pitcher to play in the World Series in Game 2 of the 2007 World Series.

During spring training in 2007, Okajima was asked what he felt about being relatively anonymous while his teammate and countryman Daisuke Matsuzaka's every move was scrutinized.

Okajima stated, "I'm willing to be a hero in the dark."

Okajima allowed a home run to John Buck on his very first pitch in the major leagues.

It was the eleventh time in MLB history a pitcher gave up a home run on his first pitch.

However, Okajima then proceeded to hold opponents scoreless for nearly two months until the Yankees scored a run off of him via a fielder's choice on May 22.

At the start of the 2007 Red Sox season, injuries and poor performances limited the effectiveness of anticipated setup relievers Mike Timlin and Joel Piñeiro.

Okajima stepped into the role of primary setup man for closer Jonathan Papelbon and quickly became one of the most dominant relievers in the major leagues.

Through the first two months of the season, Okajima cemented himself as the top setup man in the Red Sox bullpen garnering the American League Rookie of the Month for April.

Okajima's scoreless streak from April to May 2007 was the longest by a Red Sox left-hander since Bruce Hurst 20 years prior.

Okajima earned his first MLB save on April 20, 2007, against the New York Yankees.

After getting a save in his first appearance during a Red Sox–Yankees series, Okajima compared the experience to winning the pennant.

For all of his early success, Okajima remained relatively anonymous in his forays around Boston.

While Okajima was taking a cab ride with his wife to a local restaurant, his cab driver gushed about the amazing performance of the Red Sox's newly acquired lefty without knowing that the reliever was in the cab with him.

In Japan, Okajima was known as a gloomy man.

However, Okajima revealed more of his humorous side in the United States.

On May 17, 2007, Okajima faced the heart of the Detroit Tigers order for the second time in one day to earn his second major league save.

When Japanese reporters asked him about facing the same three batters in both games of the doubleheader, he answered with a smile, "I did?"

Okajima made the All-Star team as the winner of the final vote, but did not play in the game; he is the third Red Sox player to make the team this way.

Following the All-Star break, Okajima continued to pitch solid and reliable relief innings occasionally closing games for the Sox as they held their place at the top of the AL East.

However, the rigors of the MLB season began to catch up with Okajima in the later stages of the season and he began to struggle culminating in a career-high four-run meltdown in a game against the Yankees on September 14, 2007.

Red Sox management decided to shut him down following this outing to allow Okajima to relieve the physical and mental fatigue of the longer American season.

On his return during the final stages of the regular season, Okajima regained his sharp early season form, pitching scoreless frames to establish himself again as an integral part of the dominant Red Sox bullpen as they headed into the postseason.

He was selected to the 2007 Topps Major League Rookie All-Star Team.

On July 18, 2016, Okajima announced his retirement.