"Pitching high and playing low" has been a trend in Japanese professional baseball in recent years, and there are different opinions on whether it is good or bad. At first glance, it seems that the pitchers have the advantage, but in 2024, the "Sawamura Award" has not been selected for the first time in five years, what is the problem? Recently, Masaji Hiramatsu, a member of the Yokohama Taiyo team, who is a member of the selection committee, did not shy away from saying bluntly, "Today's pitchers are too unproductive."

The Sawamura Prize, which has a long history and high status in Japan, is a medal of honor for countless strong pitches, and the seven selection criteria are: (1) 25 games, (2) 10 complete pitches, (3) 15 wins, (4) 6 wins, (5) 200 rounds, (6) 150 strikeouts, and (7) defense rate of 2.50. To put it simply, the more you achieve, the higher your chances of winning, but if you don't qualify, you won't be picky.

Compared to today, there are diversified advanced data on the quality of a pitcher, and Sawamura still has a high level of emphasis on the number of innings. However, since 2013, no one has been able to "sweep seven times" for more than ten years, and even Yushin Yamamoto, who dominated the Sawamura Prize, can't touch the two high walls of 200 rounds and 10 complete shots, so it can be seen that it is no longer a matter of strength or not to meet the standards, but in terms of scheduling and thinking, so is such a standard still suitable for today's baseball world? This issue has repeatedly set off a debate between two factions, including Tsuneo Horiuchi, Kudo Koyasu, Hiramatsu Masaji, Yamada Hisashi and other committee members have their own ideas and experiences, which has further created a generational gap on this issue.

Masaki Hiramatsu, who is 77 years old this year and was active in the 1970s and 80s, with a career average of 201 wins and 145 pitches, mentioned in an interview the impact of the pitcher's division on Sawamura. First of all, he believes that the sense of protection is not wrong for the "100 balls", which is generally considered to be the threshold of whether to switch pitches or not, but overprotection invisibly makes the starting pitcher lose the opportunity to win the pitch and fight for honor.

Hiramatsu mentioned that the average of six innings and 100 balls to let the starting pitcher off the court is another aspect of stifling the ability to do more good pitchers, resulting in the gradual loss of "starting and finishing" talent. For example, he said that finishing pitches is another matter, even if Tomoyuki Kanno's 15 wins, Arihara Kohei and Ito's 14 wins are "too weak", and the defense rate is beautiful, it is still difficult to be called an ace, and Orix and Yakult even "no one meets the required number of innings", which can be traced back to the pitcher leaving the game too early and losing the opportunity to compete for the winning shot and lead the team to victory. The general environment is not so much about throwing high and playing low, but simply "the pitcher's ability has declined", since it is said to be "throwing high", the pitcher should show higher value and fighting spirit.

Hiramatsu, who is known for his ability to invest and has broken 3,000 rounds, said with his own example, "I have not been asked by the coach for more than 600 consecutive rounds, "Do you need to change hands?" It is a sense of trust and responsibility. On the other hand, now, every time they see about 100 balls, the coaching staff starts to get nervous, sometimes holding water and towels to "go up to the pitcher's mound to serve" and ask if the pitcher is okay? This scene is too unseemly and unproductive. ”

Compared with those iron-blooded first-of-the-road starters in the Showa era, the current starting pitchers end early in 5 or 6 innings per game, and they still receive more than ten times higher salaries, and they can only sigh that "Reiwa is really a beautiful era".