Iwasada Utah

Left-handed pitcher for the Hanshin Tigers . He was a starter until 2019, but after changing his position to a relief pitcher in 2020, he became a sure-to-win pitcher.

Born in Kumamoto City, he started playing baseball in the 4th grade of elementary school. He started out as an outfielder, but after high school he became a first baseman and pitcher, eventually settling down as a pitcher. He has been on the bench since he was in first grade, but he has never advanced to the Koshien tournament . Even after going to Yokohama University of Commerce, his skills were recognized enough to be benched from the first year, and he participated in the US-Japan University Baseball Championship. In the 2013 rookie draft, Hanshin and Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters made multiple selections in the first round, and Hanshin won the lottery, becoming a Hanshin player. He became a teammate with Ryutaro Umeno and Suguru Iwazaki .

In 2014, the first professional season, he had to start in the 2nd team due to overlapping elbow pain during spring camp. However, during his death expedition he managed to break into the first team. On August 10, he made his professional debut as a starting pitcher in a Kyocera Dome Osaka match against the Hiroshima Toyo Carp . On August 17, in an away game against the Yokohama DeNA Baystars at Yokohama Stadium, he earned his first professional win and first start.[1] In the end, he went 1-4 with an ERA of 4.60.

In 2015, he competed with Iwazaki for the 6th starting spot, but eventually started the season in the 2nd team. However, when Iwazaki, who was first dropped as the 6th starter, fell into sluggish performance, he came up to the first team as a substitute starter, and on June 4, in a Koshien home game against Chiba Lotte Marines, he won his first win of the season and his first Koshien win. This year, he recorded an average ERA of 4.35 with 1 win and 1 loss in 5 appearances, and was sent to the Taiwan Winter League after the season.

In 2016, he succeeded in entering the opening lineup, and played as a starter in 25 games, recording 10 wins, 9 losses, 2 complete pitches, 2 shutouts, 158.1 innings, 156 strikeouts, and an ERA of 2.90. In particular, the 10th win was the first and last victory in a traditional match at Hanshin Koshien Stadium in 2016 . In the traditional game on May 27, he also succeeded in pitching his first professional complete game . He became the first pitcher in club history to pitch his first shutout, a 1-0 win over Kyojin.[2] Based on his performance this season, he was selected as a preliminary Japan representative for the 2017 World Baseball Classic , but did not make the final selection. However, 2017 was quite poor, with the number of games reduced to 18 appearances, and the number of games played at Tokyo Dome in August. In a traditional game , he showed poor ball discipline, giving up five outs and outs until the middle of the fourth inning, and was ordered by then coach Tomoaki Kanemoto to substitute him mid-game and go to the second team . He performed poorly with a final ERA of 4.96 and 5 wins and 10 losses, hitting 4 home runs in 1 game.

Even in 2018, he was sluggish with an average ERA of 3.48 in 132 innings with 7 wins and 10 losses. In a match against the Tokyo Yakult Swallows this year , he threw a beanball at Norichika Aoki and was ejected in the bottom of the first inning.[3] In 2019, he only appeared in 8 games in the 1st team, such as being infected with influenza, and in 2020, he started a few games and switched to relief during the season.

In 2021, he took on the role of an iron-clad bullpen team consisting of Suguru Iwazaki , Yuta Iwasada, and Robert Suarez , and recorded 4 wins, no losses, and 12 holds, but his average ERA was actually quite high at 4.66. The number of innings played was 38.2 innings. In 2022, he took on the role of a solid bullpen consisting of Atsuki Yuasa , Masumi Hamachi , Yuta Iwasada , Suguru Iwazaki, and Kyle Keller , and achieved 2 wins, 1 loss, and 11 holds in 42 innings in 53 games. After the season, number 17 was handed over to Koyo Aoyagi , and he took on number 14, which had previously been worn by Atsushi Nomi and Weiyin Chen . At the same time , he was eligible for free agency, but along with Yuki Nishi and Suguru Iwazaki, he declared that he would not exercise his free agency rights and remain. The club responded with a three-year, 300 million yen multi-year contract.

The four-seam fastball velocity has reached up to 154 km/h. Considering that he is a left-handed pitcher, this is a huge advantage. Other than that, he throws a 130km cut fastball that hits every corner of the strike zone. He also said that he occasionally throws breaking balls such as curveballs, sliders, and forkballs. However, it is said that in his early days as a professional, he often suffered from lack of control.

After the 2015 season, he married a non-celebrity woman.

During the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake, the main house was damaged. However, a few days after the earthquake, the Nagoya Dome He went out against the Chunichi Dragons as a starter and had a good pitch with 4 hits and 10 strikeouts in 7 innings, winning the game and becoming the winning pitcher. In an interview, he said that he couldn't concentrate until right before the game, but he threw it with the thought that if he was shaken, he would cause trouble to everyone around him . Since then, he has been involved in social contribution activities, such as participating in fundraising activities .

As an aside , it is said that in Korea, there was a case where Iwasada was read as I WAS ADA on the uniform.