Hirokazu Sawamura
34-Year-Old
2022 Stats
W-L
0-1
ERA
3.27
WHIP
1.18
K
8
SV
0
Rest-of-Season Projections
2022 Fantasy Outlook
Sawamura made his way to the majors in 2021 after a 10-year professional career in Japan with 75 career saves. Armed with a mid-90s fastball (45% pitch %), effective split finger (39%) and slider (15%), the 33-year-old primarily pitched in middle relief for the Red Sox. The right-hander went 5-1 with a 3.06 ERA, 1.45 WHIP and 11 holds over 53 innings, though his 4.24 xERA and 4.99 FIP suggests he was a bit lucky. Long balls were a concern (1.5 HR/9) as a result of Sawamura throwing his fastball too far down in the zone, though he did compensate for it with a 51.8% groundball rate. Sawamura will need a strong spring to earn a higher-leverage role with Boston. There's a possibility he enters the mix for saves if manager Alex Cora deploys a closer committee again, but he'll likely need to cut his 13.7% walk rate in half to draw consideration. Read Past Outlooks
RANKSFrom Preseason
#601
ADP
Takes loss in 10th inning
Sawamura (0-1) was tagged with Saturday's extra-inning loss to Baltimore without getting an out. He gave up one unearned run on a walk and his own throwing error.
ANALYSIS
Sawamura came on in the bottom half of the 10th inning and intentionally walked the first batter, putting runners at first and second. He then fielded a bunt and airmailed a throw to third base that produced the winning run. He'd been effective in seven previous appearances, but the sequence of events following Nathan Eovaldi's seven scoreless innings was a microcosm of the team's performance in the month of April -- strong starting pitching, a lack of hitting/runs and the need for a reliable closer.
Sawamura came on in the bottom half of the 10th inning and intentionally walked the first batter, putting runners at first and second. He then fielded a bunt and airmailed a throw to third base that produced the winning run. He'd been effective in seven previous appearances, but the sequence of events following Nathan Eovaldi's seven scoreless innings was a microcosm of the team's performance in the month of April -- strong starting pitching, a lack of hitting/runs and the need for a reliable closer.
Pitching Stats
Loading Pitching Stats...
2022
2021
2022 MLB Game Log
Loading Pitching Game Log...
Minor League Game Log
Calculate Stats Over Time
Just click on any two dates.
Loading Minor League Pitching Game Log...
Pitching Appearances Breakdown
Average Pitch Count
13
Last 10 Games
11
Last 5 Games
11
How many pitches does Hirokazu Sawamura generally throw?
1-10
11-20
21-30
31-40
41-50
51-60
61-70
71-80
81-90
91-100
101-110
111-120
121+
What part of the game does Hirokazu Sawamura generally pitch?
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th
Extra
% Games Reaching Innings Threshold
% Games By Number of Innings Pitched
Left/Right Pitching Splits
Since 2020
-12%
BAA vs LHP
2022
-41%
BAA vs LHP
| BAA | K | BB | H | HR | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Since 2020vs Left | .206 | 21 | 15 | 14 | 3 | |||
| Since 2020vs Right | .235 | 48 | 21 | 40 | 7 | |||
| 2022vs Left | .154 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |||
| 2022vs Right | .259 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 0 | |||
| 2021vs Left | .218 | 18 | 14 | 12 | 2 | |||
| 2021vs Right | .231 | 43 | 18 | 33 | 7 | |||
| 2020vs Left | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 2020vs Right | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| More Splits→ | View More Split Stats | |||||||
Home/Away Pitching Splits
Since 2020
-23%
ERA at Home
2022
-100%
ERA on Road
| ERA | WHIP | IP | K/9 | BB/9 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Since 2020Home | 2.70 | 1.44 | 33.1 | 10.0 | 4.9 | ||||
| Since 2020Away | 3.52 | 1.37 | 30.2 | 9.4 | 5.3 | ||||
| 2022Home | 4.91 | 1.36 | 7.1 | 7.4 | 2.5 | ||||
| 2022Away | 0.00 | 0.82 | 3.2 | 4.9 | 4.9 | ||||
| 2021Home | 2.08 | 1.46 | 26.0 | 10.7 | 5.5 | ||||
| 2021Away | 4.00 | 1.44 | 27.0 | 10.0 | 5.3 | ||||
| 2020Home | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| 2020Away | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| More Splits→ | View More Split Stats | ||||||||
Stat Review
How does Hirokazu Sawamura compare to other relievers?
This section compares his stats with all relief pitcher seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 30 innings)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.
* Exit Velocity, Barrels/BBE %, Balls Hit 95+ MPH %, and Spin Rate are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 30 IP). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
* Exit Velocity, Barrels/BBE %, Balls Hit 95+ MPH %, and Spin Rate are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 30 IP). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
K/BB
2.00K/9
6.5BB/9
3.3HR/9
0.8Fastball
95.2 mphERA
3.27WHIP
1.18BABIP
.258GB/FB
1.67Left On Base
69.0%Exit Velocity
79.6 mphBarrels/BBE
6.4%Spin Rate
1975 rpmBalls Hit 95+ MPH
29.8%Swinging Strike
11.6%Advanced Pitching Stats
Loading Advanced Pitching Stats...
Defensive Stats
Loading MLB Defensive Stats...
Stats Vs Today's Lineup
Want more matchup stats?
Loading Matchup Stats...
Our full team depth charts are reserved for RotoWire subscribers.
Subscribe Now
Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Hirokazu Sawamura
Brad Johnson reviews AL bullpens with question marks as we dive into the 2022 season, including in Minnesota where Taylor Rodgers should be one of the more productive closers in the AL.
Todd Zola ranks players by position for fantasy playoff leagues. Chicago's Jose Abreu is tough to beat at first base.
Brad Johnson wraps up his bullpen series with a look at the American League East, where in Tampa, Tyler Glasnow leads the Rays pitching.
Erik Halterman details the top prospective free agents from the KBO and NPB, such as shortstop Ha-seong Kim, as well as the top prospects to monitor from across the Pacific.
2021 Fantasy Outlook
Sawamura spent the entirety of his professional career playing in the Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan, but he'll make his way to the majors in 2021. Sawamura had a 3.05 ERA and 42:28 K:BB over 41.1 innings last season and recorded 73 saves between the 2015 and 2016 campaigns. He figures to start out in middle relief for the Red Sox but could earn his way into a higher-leverage role.
More Fantasy News
Makes quick work in win
Sawamura threw a scoreless two-thirds of an inning in Tuesday's 5-3 win over the Tigers.
ANALYSIS
Subscribe now to instantly reveal our take on this news.
Subscribe now to instantly reveal our take on this news.
Expected to handle key bullpen role
Red Sox manager Alex Cora said Monday that he anticipates Sawamura (hamstring) filling a critical bullpen role in 2022, Chad Jennings of The Athletic reports.
ANALYSIS
Subscribe now to instantly reveal our take on this news.
Subscribe now to instantly reveal our take on this news.
Dealing with hamstring issue
Sawamura is dealing with a hamstring issue and may have be be replaced on the ALCS roster, Chris Cotillo of The Springfield Republican reports.
ANALYSIS
Subscribe now to instantly reveal our take on this news.
Subscribe now to instantly reveal our take on this news.
Rejoins Boston bullpen
Sawamura is on Boston's roster for the ALCS against Houston, Chris Cotillo of The Springfield Republican reports.
ANALYSIS
Subscribe now to instantly reveal our take on this news.
Subscribe now to instantly reveal our take on this news.
Not on wild-card team
Sawamura is not part of Boston's wild-card roster, Chris Cotillo of The Springfield Republican reports.
ANALYSIS
Subscribe now to instantly reveal our take on this news.
Subscribe now to instantly reveal our take on this news.