Masahiro Tanaka

Masahiro Tanaka (田中 将大) is a Japanese professional baseball player for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).

It was the first time in 37 years (since Matsuyama Commercial High School and Misawa High School met in the finals in 1969) that the tournament finals had resulted in a rematch.

In the rematch that ensued the next day, Tanaka again came on in relief in the bottom of the first, but Tomakomai High lost to Waseda Jitsugyo despite his pitching the remaining 7 innings of the game.

(Tanaka was the last batter, striking out to end the game.) The pitchers' duel between Tanaka and Saito in the finals and the rematch that followed became on the most defining moments in all of sports in Japan that year.

Tanaka, dealing with intestinal inflammation, threw 742 pitches in 52 innings (six appearances) in the tournament, striking out 54 and walking 20 with a 2.22 earned run average (ERA).

Both pitchers were chosen to play for Japan in the United States-Japan High School Baseball Tournament (organized by the Japanese Educational Resource Center in conjunction with the Major League Baseball Urban Youth Academy).

Tomakomai High and Waseda Jitsugyo High met one last time in the finals of the Nojigiku Hyōgo National Sports Festival, the last tournament of Tanaka's high school career, but Tomakomai High was shut out by Saito and lost (1–0) to Waseda Jitsugyo, finishing second yet again.

While his team was viewed as the favorite going into the 78th National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament to be held the following spring, Tomakomai High was forced to withdraw from the tournament because of allegations of misconduct of some of the players.

Armed with a fastball that sat in high-80s and a hard slider, he led his team all the way to a championship in the 87th National High School Baseball tournament held at Koshien Stadium in the summer of his second year (eleventh grade).

His very last pitch of the tournament was clocked at 150 km/h, the first time a pitcher had ever clocked that speed as a junior in the history of the tournament.

Tanaka, already a highly coveted talent by NPB scouts, was chosen to the Japanese team that would play in the IBAF AAA World Junior Championships following the tournament and contributed to the team's title.

Now given the uniform number 1 and officially appointed the team's ace pitcher, Tanaka led Tomakomai High to a regional title as well as a championship in the Meiji Jingu Tournament that fall, hitting home runs in four straight games in the latter himself.

Tomakomai High earned a berth in the 88th National High School Baseball Championship that summer.

Tanaka managed to lead them to their third consecutive appearance in the tournament finals despite being ill prior to the tournament.

The team's coach did not start Tanaka in the finals against Waseda Jitsugyo High School (an affiliate school of Waseda University), opting to rest him due to the number of innings he had thrown in the last few games, but he ended up sending Tanaka to the mound in relief midway through the third inning.

Tanaka held Waseda Jitsugyo to just one run and struck out 10, but the opponent's ace, Yuki Saito, held Tomakomai High to one run himself on seven hits.

The game remained tied 1–1 after 15 innings, forcing a rematch as per tournament regulations.

He also became the first pitcher since Daisuke Matsuzaka in 1999 to be voted the starter of the NPB All-Star Game (representing the Pacific League) as a rookie out of high school, starting in Game 2 on July 22 and clocking a personal-high 153 km/h (though he gave up six runs in two innings in that start).

Tanaka struck out 458 batters over the course of his high school career (2004–2006), surpassing Daisuke Matsuzaka's previous national high school record of 423 with Yokohama Senior High School.

He also hit 13 home runs during those three years.

After rival Yuki Saito announced that he would not be declaring for the upcoming draft, opting to go on to Waseda University instead, Tanaka became the single most highly touted high school player eligible to be picked.

On September 25, in the 2006 NPB high school draft, the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters, Orix Buffaloes, Yokohama BayStars and Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles all selected Tanaka with their first-round picks.

The Golden Eagles drew the winning straw, signing him to a base salary of 15 million yen, a signing bonus of 100 million yen and additional performance-based incentives, the equivalent of what a first-round college or industrial league-player would normally receive, on November 2.

He was also given the uniform number 18, which typically denotes a team's staff ace in Japanese professional baseball.

Tanaka was named to the Eagles' ichigun (Japanese equivalent of "major league") roster during Spring training of his rookie year, and made his professional debut on March 29,, against the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks as the starting pitcher, but gave up six runs on six hits and a walk in 1 innings.

Though he was not charged with a loss, as the Eagles made a furious comeback to tie the game up in the fourth, he was seen sitting in the dugout in tears after being taken out of the game.

On April 18, in a home game against the Hawks, he held the team to two runs and struck out 13 in a complete game win, the first win of his professional career.

He became the first pitcher since Yu Darvish to throw a complete-game shutout as a rookie out of high school on June 13 in an interleague game against the Chunichi Dragons.

From 2007 through 2013, he played for the Eagles in NPB.

From 2012 to 2013, he won 26 consecutive decisions, which set a new NPB record.

In MLB, Tanaka has earned selections to two Major League Baseball All-Star Games.

Tanaka was born in Itami, a city in Hyōgo, Japan.

He began playing baseball in the first grade as a catcher for the Koyanosato Tigers (a Little League team) alongside current Yomiuri Giants shortstop Hayato Sakamoto, who was then the team's ace pitcher and Tanaka's batterymate.

Tanaka and Sakamoto hit third and fourth in the lineup, respectively.

He went on to play for the Takarazuka Boys while attending Itami Municipal Matsuzaki Junior High School, being used at both pitcher and catcher because of his strong throwing arm.

He was chosen to the Junior All-South Kansai team in his third year of junior high—the equivalent of ninth grade in the United States.

Tanaka moved on to Komazawa University Tomakomai High School in Hokkaidō, now playing solely as a pitcher for the team.

Tanaka was posted by the Eagles after the 2013 season to be signed with the New York Yankees in Major League Baseball (MLB) and signed a seven-year, $155 million contract, the fifth-largest deal ever given to a pitcher at the time.

He made his major league debut in 2014 and played for the Yankees through the 2020 season, before deciding to return to Japan.

Tanaka was the Eagles' first-round pick in the NPB amateur player draft.