58 Facts About Masahiro Tanaka

Masahiro Tanaka is a Japanese professional baseball player for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles of the Nippon Professional Baseball.

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

Masahiro Tanaka was the Eagles' first-round pick in the 2006 NPB amateur player draft.

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

Masahiro Tanaka 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.

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Masahiro Tanaka 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.

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

Now given the uniform number 1 and officially appointed the team's ace pitcher, Masahiro 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.

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

Masahiro 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.

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

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

Masahiro Tanaka was named the Pacific League Most Valuable Rookie, the first player out of high school to win the award since Matsuzaka.

In 2008, Masahiro Tanaka was penciled into the front end of the Eagles' starting rotation for the second straight season.

Masahiro Tanaka was able to make only 24 starts, missing playing time because of both a brief rehab stint in the minors due to inflammation in his shoulder and his participation in the 2008 Beijing Olympics as a member of the Japanese national team.

Masahiro Tanaka entered the last game of the regular season against the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks with nine wins, looking to both earn his tenth win of the season and prevent the Eagles from finishing in last place.

Masahiro Tanaka got off to an utterly dominant start to the 2009 season, pitching a four-hit complete game shutout against the Hawks in his first start on April 7, a one-run complete game win against the Chiba Lotte Marines on April 14, a three-hit complete game shutout against the Marines on April 22, and an 11-strikeout, one-run complete game win against the Fighters on April 29.

Masahiro Tanaka became the second post-war starting pitcher with an undefeated season with minimum innings required for an ERA title since Shigekuni Mashiba.

Masahiro Tanaka went on to win his second Sawamura Award as the Golden Eagles competed for their first Japan Series title.

Masahiro Tanaka was repeatedly scouted by MLB representatives during the 2013 season.

On January 22,2014, Masahiro Tanaka signed a seven-year contract worth $155 million with the Yankees.

Masahiro Tanaka made his Major League debut on April 4,2014, against the Toronto Blue Jays and gave up a home run to the first batter he faced, ex-Yankee Melky Cabrera.

Masahiro Tanaka became the first Yankees rookie to win 12 games by the All-Star break and was selected to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game as a reserve for the American League.

The next day, Masahiro Tanaka was placed on the disabled list due to right elbow inflammation.

At the behest of several doctors, Masahiro Tanaka received a PRP shot from Yankees' head team physician Dr Christopher Ahmad and rested his elbow for 6 weeks instead of having Tommy John surgery to repair his UCL.

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Masahiro Tanaka was chosen by Joe Girardi to be the Opening Day starter for the Yankees.

Masahiro Tanaka made the Opening Day start on April 6,2015, against the Blue Jays, surrendering five runs in the third inning, including a home run by Edwin Encarnacion, as the Yankees lost.

The injury combined with his poor first outing led many in the sports media to speculate that Masahiro Tanaka should undergo Tommy John surgery against the wishes of his doctors.

Masahiro Tanaka was named the Yankees' Opening Day starter in 2016 for the second consecutive season.

Masahiro Tanaka earned the win, allowing two earned runs in seven innings and striking out six, while Iwakuma took the loss.

In 2016, Masahiro Tanaka made a career-high 31 starts and avoided a disabled list stint for the first time in his MLB career.

Masahiro Tanaka finished tied for seventh in the voting for the American League Cy Young with Aaron Sanchez.

Masahiro Tanaka's shutout was notable in that he only threw 97 pitches, pitching what is colloquially referred to as a "Maddux", the first by any pitcher in the 2017 season.

Masahiro Tanaka allowed more than three earned runs only once in the six starts after his Opening Day debacle, lowering his ERA to 4.

Masahiro Tanaka rebounded against the Los Angeles Angels in a no-decision but then faltered again versus the Oakland Athletics, as he gave up three more home runs en route to his sixth consecutive loss.

Masahiro Tanaka took a perfect game into the sixth inning and allowed only one run on two hits in eight innings pitched.

On September 29 against the Blue Jays, his final start of the regular season, Masahiro Tanaka again set a new career-high by striking out 15 batters, tied with Stephen Strasburg for the most single-game strikeouts in 2017.

Masahiro Tanaka started Game 1 of the 2017 American League Championship Series against Dallas Keuchel and the Astros in a rematch of the 2015 AL Wild Card Game, taking the loss after allowing two runs in six innings.

On July 6, Masahiro Tanaka was named to the 2019 Major League Baseball All-Star Game as an injury replacement for Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Marcus Stroman.

Masahiro Tanaka allowed one run over five innings in the 2019 ALDS.

In Game 1 of the 2019 ALCS, Masahiro Tanaka allowed one hit over six innings against the Astros.

On July 4,2020, in a Yankees simulated game, Masahiro Tanaka was struck in the head by a line drive off of the bat of Giancarlo Stanton and suffered a mild concussion.

On January 28,2021, Masahiro Tanaka agreed to a two-year contract to return to the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles of Nippon Professional Baseball.

Masahiro Tanaka was the only player to be chosen to the national team to play in the 2008 Beijing Olympics from the Eagles, becoming the youngest Japanese baseball player to play in the Olympics as a pro in the history of the event.

Masahiro Tanaka pitched in relief in Japan's first game against Cuba in the group stage, throwing one scoreless inning and striking out three.

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Masahiro Tanaka played for Japan in the 2009 World Baseball Classic, coming on in relief for Satoshi Komatsu midway through the sixth inning of the seeding match against South Korea in the second round but surrendering a home run to Lee Bum-Ho.

Masahiro Tanaka pitched in the semi-finals against the United States, giving up a triple to Jimmy Rollins but striking out David Wright to end the inning, contributing to Japan's second consecutive championship in the tournament.

Masahiro Tanaka was highly expected to be the staff ace of Team Japan in the 2013 WBC, but poor form in the build-up to the tournament led to concern over his performance.

Masahiro Tanaka started the pool opener against Brazil and conceded an unearned run.

Masahiro Tanaka came on as a reliever against Cuba and again conceded a run, before appearing to return to his usual form by striking out 6 batters in 2 innings.

Masahiro Tanaka again came on as a reliever against Chinese Taipei and had 2 good innings, shutting out the side with 4 strike outs, before conceding the equalizer in his third inning at the bottom of the 8th.

Masahiro Tanaka is a right-handed pitcher who throws from a high three-quarter arm slot in a drop-and-drive motion.

Masahiro Tanaka has added a high-80s cutter to repertoire in his MLB career.

Post-UCL injury, Masahiro Tanaka has taken time to recover his fastball velocity, and he currently favors a two-seamer over the four-seam fastball he used to favor.

Masahiro Tanaka is often affectionately referred to as Ma-kun by both fans and the media.

Masahiro Tanaka has stated that he is an avid fan of Momoiro Clover Z, a popular female idol group in Japan.

Masahiro Tanaka is married to Mai Satoda, former member and former supervisor of the idol group Country Musume and television personality.

On 29 January 2020, Masahiro Tanaka announced on his Twitter feed that he had created a YouTube channel.