Baseball

Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters Ace Hiromi Ito Wins Sawamura Award as Japan Pro Baseball’s Top Pitcher

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters ace Hiromi Ito

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:30 JST, October 28, 2025

Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters ace Hiromi Ito was named on Monday as the winner of the prestigious Sawamura Award, presented annually to the top starting pitcher in Japan pro baseball.

“As a pitcher, this is an award I have long admired,” said the 28-year-old right-hander, a recipient of the award for the first time in his five-year career. “I’m really honored to received it.”

Ito became the first Fighters pitcher to receive the award since Yu Darvish, now with the San Diego Padres, won it in 2007.

The winner of the award, established in 1947 and named for legendary Yomiuri Giants hurler Eiji Sawamura, is determined by selection panel of five former pitchers based on criteria set in seven categories. There have been years, most recently in 2024, when there were no pitchers deemed worthy.

Although Ito’s 14 wins fell short of the established standard of 15, he did meet the criteria in three other categories — appearances (27), winning percentage (.636) and strikeouts (195).

Still, the 14 wins, as well as Ito’s six complete games and 196⅔ innings pitched, carried weight with the panel members, who met Monday in Tokyo.

With no pitcher reaching 15 wins, the candidates were narrowed down to Ito and three other pitchers who had 14 victories — Shoki Murakami of the Hanshin Tigers, Katsuki Azuma of the Yokohama DeNA BayStars and Kohei Arihara of Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.

Ultimately, Ito was the unanimous choice of the panel because he exceeded the others in five of the seven criteria.

The Orix Buffaloes’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto, currently pitching in the World Series with the Los Angeles Dodgers, was the most recent Sawamura Award winner, earning it for three consecutive seasons from 2021 to 2023.

Among other notable past winners were the Tohoku Rakuten Eagles’ Masahiro Tanaka (2011 and 2013), the Seibu Lions’ Daisuke Matsuzaka (2001), and the Kintetsu Buffaloes’ Hideo Nomo (1990).