is a Japanese former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

. Monna was part of the

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 h ...

Nippon Professional Baseball is a professional baseball league and the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning simply ''Professional Baseball''; outside of Japan, NPB is often referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league ...

(NPB) from 1993 to 1999. He later played in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

, representing the Croatian national baseball team from 2003 to 2005.

Early career

Monna was born on 30 May 1970 in

Hamamatsu is a Cities of Japan, city located in western Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. In September 2023, the city had an estimated population of 780,128 in 340,591 households, making it the prefecture's largest city, with a population density of over the t ...

in the

Shizuoka Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Shizuoka Prefecture has a population of 3,555,818 and has a geographic area of . Shizuoka Prefecture borders Kanagawa Prefecture to the east, Yamanashi Pref ...

and graduated from

Nihon University , abbreviated as , is a private research university in Japan. Its predecessor, Nihon Law School (currently the Department of Law), was founded by Yamada Akiyoshi, the Minister of Justice, in 1889. The university's name is derived from the Ja ...

, where he played baseball. He was the

’ second pick in the 1992 Nippon Professional Baseball draft, following

Hideki Matsui , nicknamed "Godzilla", is a Japanese former professional baseball outfielder and designated hitter. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Oakland Athletics, Tampa Bay Rays, and in Nipp ...

Career

Yomiuri Giants

Monna made his professional debut with the

in 1993, appearing in 33 games during the season and finishing the season with a 1–2 record. In 1994, he appeared in six games, recording one loss. In 1996, he pitched in six games. He was released by the Giants after the 1999 season.

European career

In 2000, Monna joined

SV ADO SV ADO was a baseball club based in The Hague, the Netherlands. The club's top men's team was a regular participant in the Honkbal Hoofdklasse, the highest level of Dutch baseball. It won the league title in 1992 and the European Cup in . The orga ...

of the Dutch

Honkbal Hoofdklasse The Honkbal Hoofdklasse ( Dutch for ''Major League Baseball'') is the highest level of professional baseball in the Netherlands. It is an eight-team league overseen by the Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softball Federation (KNBSB). Games are pl ...

, where he played for three seasons, until 2002. In 2003, Monna joined Nada Split of the Croatian league. He rapidly became the best pitcher in the league and acquired Croatian citizenship in order to play for the Croatian national team.

International career

Monna represented

in the

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

and

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

editions of the

European Baseball Championship The European Baseball Championship is the main championship tournament between national baseball teams in Europe, governed by the Confederation of European Baseball (CEB). History Italy won the inaugural European Baseball Championship in , and ...

. In 2003, he appeared in three games, recording two wins, against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. He finished the tournament with 26 strikeouts and an ERA of 1.80 over 20.0 innings pitched. He received the Best Pitcher Award for having the best win-loss record of the tournament, sharing the award with Patrick Beljaards, who earned it based on ERA.

References

External links

Career statistics – NPB.jp (in Japanese)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monna, Tetsuhiro 1970 births Living people Baseball people from Shizuoka Prefecture Japanese baseball players Japanese expatriate baseball players in the Netherlands Japanese expatriate sportspeople in Croatia Nihon University alumni Nippon Professional Baseball pitchers Yomiuri Giants players 20th-century Japanese sportsmen 2003 European Baseball Championship players 2005 European Baseball Championship players