is a Japanese Professional baseball pitcher for the

Chunichi Dragons The are a professional baseball team based in Nagoya, the chief city in the Chūbu region of Japan. The team plays in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. They have won the Central League pennant nine times (most recently in 2011) ...

of the

Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

(NPB). He previously played for the Seibu Lions / Saitama Seibu Lions,

Chiba Lotte Marines The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region, and owned by Lotte Holdings Co., Ltd. History The Marines franchise began in 1950 as the Mainichi Orions, an inaugural ...

and

Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles The , often shortened as the , are a baseball team based in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. It has played in Nippon Professional Baseball's Pacific League since the team's formation in November 2004. The team is owned by the Internet shopping c ...

. Wakui pitched for the Japanese national team in the

2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

and

2009 World Baseball Classic The 2009 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was an international baseball competition. It began on 5 9 and finished 5 26. Unlike in 2006, when the round-robin format of the first two rounds led to some eliminations being decided by run-difference ti ...

. His wife is a Japanese model

Moe Oshikiri is a Japanese model best known her work with fashion magazine ''AneCan'' and its sister magazine ''CanCam'', which Oshikiri was a former top model for. She is also a designer, starting her own Kimono line branded under her name, as well as a hos ...

Early life and high school career

Early life

Wakui was born in

Matsudo 260px, Matsudo City Hall is a city in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 498,575 in 242,981 households and a population density of 8100 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Matsudo is loca ...

, a large city in

Chiba Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama Prefecture to the ...

. He played

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

and began playing

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

junior high A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...

for Matsudo Senior.

2002–2003

Wakui went on to

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

Senior High School, the alma mater of former

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

Daisuke Matsuzaka is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher, who pitched professionally for 23 seasons, 16 of them in NPB, 7 in MLB. He is currently a baseball color commentator, critic, reporter, and YouTuber. Daisuke is nicknamed in Japan and "Dice-K ...

and a baseball powerhouse that had sent more players to the pros than any other

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

in Japan except PL Gakuen Senior High. There, he played in the 75th

National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament The National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament (選抜高等学校野球大会 ''senbatsu kōtō gakkō yakyū taikai'') of Japan, commonly known as "Spring Kōshien" (春の甲子園 ''haru no kōshien'') or "Senbatsu" (センバツ ...

in alongside then-ace and current

left-hander In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...

Yoshihisa Naruse Yoshihisa Naruse (Japanese:成瀬善久, born, October 13, 1985 in Tochigi, Japan) is a Japanese baseball player. He is a pitcher for the Orix Buffaloes of Nippon Professional Baseball. He made his debut in the 2006 season. In 2007, Naruse ha ...

(who was a

year A year or annus is the orbital period of a planetary body, for example, the Earth, moving in its orbit around the Sun. Due to the Earth's axial tilt, the course of a year sees the passing of the seasons, marked by change in weather, the hou ...

older than Wakui) in the spring of his second year (the equivalent of

eleventh grade Eleventh grade, 11th grade, junior year, or grade 11 (called Year 12 in Wales and England and fifth form in Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the ...

in the United States). Wakui was chosen to start in the

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

finals Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

despite having pitched only in

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

up until then, but gave up six runs in just 3

inning In baseball, softball, and similar games, an inning is the basic unit of play, consisting of two halves or frames, the "top" (first half) and the "bottom" (second half). In each half, one team bats until three outs are made, with the other team ...

s to Koryo High School, who, led by current

Yomiuri Giants The are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They ...

pitcher

Kentaro Nishimura is a former Japanese Nippon Professional Baseball player. He played with the Yomiuri Giants in Japan's Central League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winn ...

, won in a 15–3 rout.

Summer 2004

In , Wakui led his team to another berth in a national tournament in his senior year, this time the 86th

National High School Baseball Championship The of Japan, commonly known as , is an annual nationwide high school baseball tournament. It is the largest scale amateur sport event in Japan. The tournament, organized by the Japan High School Baseball Federation and ''Asahi Shimbun'', t ...

held in the summer at

Koshien Stadium , commonly referred to as simply Koshien Stadium, is a baseball park located near Kobe, Hyōgo, Kobe in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. The stadium was built to host the High school baseball in Japan, national high school baseball tourn ...

. He pitched a 10-

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

complete game In baseball, a complete game (CG) is the act of a pitcher pitching an entire game without the benefit of a relief pitcher. A pitcher who meets this criterion will be credited with a complete game regardless of the number of innings played—pitche ...

win in Yokohama Senior High's first-round match against Hōtoku Gakuen High School; an 11-inning, 14-strikeout complete game

shutout In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

in a thrilling 1–0 win in

extra innings Extra innings is the extension of a baseball or softball game in order to break a tie. Ordinarily, a baseball game consists of nine regulation innings (in softball and high school baseball games there are typically seven innings; in Little Lea ...

over Kyoto Gaidai Nishi High School (an affiliate school of

Kyoto University of Foreign Studies (World Peace through Language) , established = May, 1945 , type = Private university , chancellor= Yoshikazu Morita , president=Takeshi Matsuda , city = Ukyō-ku, Kyoto , state = Kyoto , country = Japan , unde ...

) in the second round; and a 12-strikeout complete game win over Meitoku Gijuku Senior High School in the third round, clocking speeds as high as with his

fastball The fastball is the most common type of pitch thrown by pitchers in baseball and softball. "Power pitchers," such as former American major leaguers Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, rely on speed to prevent the ball from being hit, and have thro ...

. However, he was no match for Komazawa University Tomakomai High School in the quarter-finals, giving up 14

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014 - a British compilation album se ...

and six runs (five

earned Earning can refer to: * Labour (economics) *Earnings of a company *Merit Merit may refer to: Religion * Merit (Christianity) * Merit (Buddhism) * Punya (Hinduism) * Imputed righteousness in Reformed Christianity Companies and brands * Merit ...

) and allowing second baseman Yuya Hayashi to

hit for the cycle In baseball, hitting for the cycle is the accomplishment of one batter who hits a single, a double, a triple, and a home run in the same game. Collecting the hits in that order is known as a "natural cycle". Cycles are rare in Major League Ba ...

en route to a 6–1 loss.

Fall 2004

In the Sainokuni Magokoro National Sports Festival held that

fall Autumn, also known as fall in American English and Canadian English, is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September (Northern Hemisphere) or March (Souther ...

, the last national tournament of his high school career, Wakui avenged his earlier

loss Loss may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Loss'' (Bass Communion album) (2006) * ''Loss'' (Mull Historical Society album) (2001) *"Loss", a song by God Is an Astronaut from their self-titled album (2008) * Losses "(Lil Tjay son ...

against Tomakomai High by pitching a 14-strikeout complete game win in the first round. Yokohama Senior High went on to become the tournament champions.

Seibu Lions / Saitama Seibu Lions

Wakui was picked in the first round of the

NPB or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

amateur draft by the

Seibu Lions The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based north of Tokyo in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture. Before 1979, they were based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture in Kyushu. The team is owned by a subsidiary of Seibu Railway, wh ...

and later given the

uniform number In team sports, the number, often referred to as the uniform number, squad number, jersey number, shirt number, sweater number, or similar (with such naming differences varying by sport and region) is the number worn on a player's uniform, to ...

16. His repertoire at the time included a fastball and a hard

slider Slider or Sliders may refer to: Arts * K.K. Slider, a fictional character within the ''Animal Crossing'' franchise * '' The Slider'', a 1972 album by T. Rex * ''Sliders'' (TV series), an American science fiction and fantasy television series * ...

. Wakui was named to the Lions' ''ichigun'' (Japanese equivalent of "major

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

") roster for their

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

opener in his

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

season (), earning the first win of his professional career on June 18 in the last interleague game of the season against the

Yakult Swallows The Tokyo Yakult Swallows () are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Shinjuku, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Yom ...

. However, he finished the year with just a 1–6 record and a 7.32

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Compa ...

, giving up 11 home runs in 55

innings An innings is one of the divisions of a cricket match during which one team takes its turn to bat. Innings also means the period in which an individual player bats (acts as either striker or nonstriker). Innings, in cricket, and rounders, is bot ...

. On March 26, , his first start of the season, Wakui earned a win against the

Orix Buffaloes The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team formed as a result of the 2004 Nippon Professional Baseball realignment by the merger of the Orix BlueWave of Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes of Osaka, Osaka Prefectur ...

with

Ginjiro Sumitani is a Japanese professional baseball player for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He previously played in NPB for the Saitama Seibu Lions and Yomiuri Giants. Career Seibu Lions/Saitama Seibu Lions In the 200 ...

behind the plate (an 18-year-old rookie

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

straight out of high school), marking the first time a pitcher and catcher both in their teens had won a game in Japanese professional baseball since Tadanori Ishii (now Takuro Ishii) and

Motonobu Tanishige Motonobu Tanishige (Japanese: 谷繁元信, born December 21, 1970, in Hiroshima) is a retired Japanese professional baseball player and manager. Tanishige played 27 seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), appearing in more games than any ...

accomplished the feat for the

Yokohama Taiyo Whales The are a professional baseball team in the Japan, Japanese Central League. Their home field is Yokohama Stadium, located in central Yokohama. The team has been known by several names since becoming a professional team in 1950. It adopted its c ...

in . The two combined for another win on April 23 against the

, the first complete game win as well as the first shutout of Wakui's career. Wakui finished his sophomore season with a respectable 12–8 record, 3.24 ERA and 136 strikeouts in 178 innings pitched. He went 3–1 in June, earning

Pacific League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the annual Japan Series. It currently consis ...

Most Valuable Player In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

honors for that month, and made his first

All-Star Game An all-star game is an exhibition game that purports to showcase the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or div ...

appearance via

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

selection. On April 3, , in the fifth inning of a regular season game against the

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks The are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture. They compete in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) as a member of the Pacific League. The team was formerly known as the Nankai Hawks and was based in Osaka. ...

, Wakui became just the 12th pitcher in NPB history to accomplish the unusual feat of striking out four batters in one inning. He finished the season with a 17–10 record, leading the league in wins for the first time. He also led both Pacific and

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

leagues in innings pitched (213) and hits allowed (199) and came second to only

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters The are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Kitahiroshima, Hokkaidō. They compete in the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball, playing the majority of their home games at ES CON Field Hokkaido. The Fighters also host a ...

ace

Yu Darvish , more commonly known as Yu Darvish (ダルビッシュ有), is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB). Darvish has also played in MLB for the Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Dodgers, and ...

in complete games (11). That year, Wakui was named to the Japanese national team to play in the

2007 Asian Baseball Championship The 24th Asian Baseball Championship was contested in Taichung, Taiwan in November and December 2007. The tournament is sanctioned by the Asian Baseball Federation. The winner of the tournament will gain automatic entry into the 2008 Olympic Games ...

(which also functioned as the Asian qualifying tournament for the

). He and fellow 21-year-old Darvish, who had both been chosen to the national team for the first time, were the youngest members of the team. Wakui started in the Japan's first game against the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

and held them to just one hit over six shutout innings (Japan won the game 10–0 in seven innings as per the

mercy rule A mercy rule, slaughter rule, knockout rule, or skunk rule ends a two-competitor sports competition earlier than the scheduled endpoint if one competitor has a very large and presumably insurmountable scoring lead over the other. It is called th ...

). In , Wakui was named the starter for the Lions' season opener for the first time in his career. He took the mound in their season opener against the Buffaloes on March 20, but incurred the loss despite throwing 140 pitches and holding the Buffaloes to two runs over eight innings. Wakui was selected to the national team to play in the Olympics, starting in the game against

Chinese Taipei "Chinese Taipei" is the term used in various international organizations and tournaments for groups or delegations representing the Republic of China (ROC), a country commonly known as Taiwan. Due to the One-China principle stipulated by th ...

in the

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concent ...

on August 14 and holding them to one run over six innings in earning the win. He followed up the effort with a two-hit, complete game (seven innings due to mercy rule) shutout against

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

on August 19. However, he had a down year overall, going just 10–11 in the regular season and posting an ERA (3.90) and

WHIP A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally e ...

(1.29) that were both worse than that of his 2007 season. Nevertheless, Wakui took the hill in Game 1 and Game 5 of the Pacific League

Climax Series The is the current annual playoff system implemented by Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). It determines which team from the Central League (CL) and from the Pacific League (PL) will advance to compete for the championship in the Japan ...

(

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

) against the Fighters, winning both starts and giving up just one run over 15 combined innings. In particular, he did not allow a single

baserunner In baseball, base running is the act of running from base to base, performed by members of the team at bat. Base running is a tactical part of the game with the goal of eventually reaching home base (home plate) to score a run. Batters strive to ...

until two outs in the seventh inning in the latter game, finishing with a three-hit, complete game shutout and clinching a berth in the

Japan Series The Japan Series ( , officially the Japan Championship Series, ), also the Nippon Series, :File:2014_JS_logo.png is the annual championship series in Nippon Professional Baseball, the top baseball league in Japan. It is a best-of-seven series ...

for the Lions. He was named the Pacific League Climax Series MVP. He pitched in three games in the

, starting Game 1 and Game 5 and even coming on in relief in Game 7 on two days' rest to a key role in the Lions' championship (though he gave up six runs in 16 innings). Wakui accepted the team's offer to change his uniform number from 16 to 18 during the

off-season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of Se ...

, a number that denotes the team's ace pitcher in Japan. The last player to wear the number for the Lions was Matsuzaka, who pitched for the team between and 2006.The number change also allowed teammate

Kazuhisa Ishii Kazuhisa Ishii (石井一久 ''Ishii Kazuhisa'') (born September 9, 1973) is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher and current manager and general manager for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He pl ...

to change from #61(which he wore in 2008) to the #16 he wore for his entire career with the Yakult Swallows. Wakui was named to the national team to play in the 2009

World Baseball Classic The World Baseball Classic (WBC) is an international baseball tournament sanctioned from 2006 to 2013 by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and after 2013 by World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) in partnership with Major Leagu ...

. He pitched in three games as a

middle reliever In baseball, a middle reliever or middle relief pitcher, is a relief pitcher who typically pitches during the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings of a standard baseball game. In leagues with no designated hitter, such as in the National League pri ...

, going 1–0 with a 2.70 ERA and contributing to Japan's second consecutive tournament title. He carried over his performance into the regular season, going 3–1 with a 2.10 ERA in the month of April. In particular, he held the Marines to one run while going the distance in a 12-strikeout, complete game win on April 24, striking out every batter in the Marines' lineup at least once and recording at least one strikeout in every inning (the first time in ''league history'' that a pitcher had accomplished the two feats in the same game). He allowed just four hits en route to his first complete game shutout in two years on May 15 against the Marines.

Chiba Lotte Marines

Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles

On December 19, 2019, the Marines traded Wakui to the

for cash. On December 23, 2019, the team held a press conference announcing his signing.

Pitching style

Wakui is a 185 cm (6 ft 1 in),

right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...

pitcher with a three-quarters delivery. While his mechanics are well-balanced and mostly conventional, one unique trait in his delivery is how he completely straightens his left leg in a diagonal direction after raising it (and before dropping and driving towards the

plate Plate may refer to: Cooking * Plate (dishware), a broad, mainly flat vessel commonly used to serve food * Plates, tableware, dishes or dishware used for setting a table, serving food and dining * Plate, the content of such a plate (for example: ...

). Wakui throws an only average fastball, a mostly four-seamer that usually sits in and tops out at . However, he complements it with a wide assortment of secondary pitches, including a

, cutter,

curveball In baseball and softball, the curveball is a type of pitch thrown with a characteristic grip and hand movement that imparts forward spin to the ball, causing it to dive as it approaches the plate. Varieties of curveball include the 12–6 curve ...

, splitter,

changeup A changeup is a type of pitch in baseball and fastpitch softball. The changeup is a staple off-speed pitch often used in a pitcher's arsenal, usually thrown to look like a fastball but arriving much more slowly to the plate. Its reduced speed ...

, and a solid

shuuto The or shootball is a baseball pitch. It is commonly thrown by right-handed Japanese pitchers such as Hiroki Kuroda, Noboru Akiyama, Kenjiro Kawasaki, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Yu Darvish and Masumi Kuwata. The most renowned ''shuuto'' pitcher in hist ...

(two-seamer/sinker)."Velocity Charts"
''NPB Tracker'' He also has decent command, posting a BB/9 (

walks per nine innings In baseball statistics, bases on balls per nine innings pitched (BB/9IP or BB/9) or walks per nine innings (denoted by W/9) is the average number of bases on balls, (or walks) given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. It is determined by ...

rate) of 2.7 in his NPB career.

References

External links

Career statistics - NPB.jp
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wakui, Hideaki 1986 births Living people Baseball players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Baseball people from Chiba Prefecture Chiba Lotte Marines players Olympic baseball players of Japan Nippon Professional Baseball pitchers People from Matsudo Saitama Seibu Lions players Seibu Lions players category:Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles players Chunichi Dragons players 2009 World Baseball Classic players 2013 World Baseball Classic players