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Shinnosuke Ogasawara's early life and NPB career

Shinnosuke Ogasawara's early life, childhood and career in Japan

Shinnosuke was the best pitcher in high school!

Shinnosuke Ogasawara(小笠原慎之介 in kanji) was born on October 8, 1997 in Fujisawa City, Kanagawa Prefecture. When he was in kindergarten, he often watched pro-wrestling videos with his father, who was a pro-wrestling fan. The future dream of kids around his age was to be a hero, but his kindergarten dream was to be a pro-wrestler.

Shinnosuke started playing baseball in the first grade of elementary school with the Zengyo Baseball Youth Sports Club. It all started when someone from the same building in the same apartment complex told him to play baseball because of his size. He later recalled that he would not have played baseball without that invitation.

He still keeps the glove his grandmother bought him when he was in the second grade of elementary school. His baseball career began with that dark blue glove with a red leather strap. He was so happy to have his own glove that he ran around the field every day. Many professional baseball players donate gloves that have completed their missions to charity or give them to acquaintances. However, he keeps all the gloves he has used so far and displays them carefully in his room.

When Shinnosuke was in the upper grades of elementary school, his father also started coaching on the team. His father had experience in track and field and basketball during his school years, but not baseball. He remembers well his father reading the rule book and helping him practice. With the support of his family, he steadily improved his baseball game, but back then he was not the kid with a strong pitching style like he is today. His mother, Michiko, remembers the moment when his mound courage was born. She recalled, "When he was in the fifth grade, the other team taunted him at a game, calling him a no-contest pitcher, and he went back to the bench crying. After that game, he honed his control and changed his fighting style."

After graduating from elementary school, Shinnosuke went on to Zengyo Junior High School, where he was a member of the Shonan Boys. As a junior high school student, he sometimes practiced from 5:00 a.m. He would get up at 3 a.m. and ride his bicycle 40 minutes to the riverbed field to practice. By the time he got home and went to bed in the evening, he was exhausted. He later said it was a good experience because he never played baseball from such hours.

Then, in the summer of his second year of junior high school, he made the top four in a national tournament, and in the summer of his third year, he won the national tournament (known as the Giants Cup). He was also selected as a player for the U-15 Japanese national team and won the U-15 Asia Challenge Cup.

After graduating from junior high school, Shinnosuke went on to Tokai University Sagami High School. He was benched in his first year of high school, and in the summer of his sophomore year, his team competed in a national tournament, but lost in the first round. Using his frustration as a springboard, he practiced hard. In his last summer in high school, he made it to the national tournament with a dominating performance in the prefectural tournament, striking out 30 in 27 innings and posting a 0.00 ERA.

In the national tournament, he pitched in relief in the first game and hit 152 km/h. In the final game, with the score tied, he hit a solo home run in the top of the 9th inning to win the game. In the national tournament, he totaled 26 1/3 innings with 23 strikeouts and a 3.08 ERA. He was also selected as a player for Japan in the 2015 WBSC U-18 World Cup, where he pitched 8 innings in 2 games and contributed to a runner-up finish with a 0.00 ERA.

Shinnosuke was selected first by the Chunichi Dragons and the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters at the professional baseball draft meeting on October 22, 2015. As a result of the lottery, the Chunichi Dragons won the right to negotiate, and he signed a contract for 100 million yen plus 50 million yen in piecework, the highest contract in the team's history for a high school graduate. He inherited the number 11 from Kenshin Kawakami, who had left the team the previous year.

After the draft, he left the dormitory and returned home, where he tasted his mother's cooking for the first time in a long time. He liked his mother's homemade cooking of dumplings called Gyoza and hamburger steak. He talked about his mother's homemade cooking: "It's just an ordinary hamburger steak, but it's definitely the best special menu since I was a little boy. When I put my chopsticks in it, the juices come out. When I eat with my family, only my hamburger steak is twice the size and super thick."

In his first year as a professional, Shinnosuke was promoted to the first team on May 31, 2016. In his first professional appearance and first start, he pitched well, allowing one run in five innings, but did not get the white star. He continued to pitch as a starter and a reliever, but his first professional win was hard to come by. On August 20, he was also the losing pitcher and suffered his fifth consecutive loss since the opening day of the season. This was the first time since 1952 that a high school graduate rookie had lost five or more games in a row since the opening day of the season. His long-awaited first professional win came on September 4. He gave up three runs in seven innings while striking out ten and finally getting the winning ball. In his first year as a pro, he finally finished with a 2-6 record and a 3.36 ERA in 15 appearances.

Shinnosuke made his first appearance on May 6, 2017, and ultimately finished with a 5-8 record, a 4.84 ERA, and 119 innings pitched. He pitched his first season opener in 2018 and continued his strong performance after the opener. He pitched his first professional complete game on July 28, but in August he underwent surgery for discomfort in his left elbow. He was set to return from left elbow surgery in 2019, but his return was delayed, ultimately posting a 3-1 record with a 2.56 ERA.

He suffered from poor conditioning in 2020, partly due to COVID 19, and made only four starts, his fewest in his professional career, with only one win and a 7.11 ERA, his worst in his career. However, he did manage to hold onto his rotation spot for a full year the following year in 2021, going 8-10 with a 3.64 ERA and 143 innings pitched. He continued his good form in 2022, earning MVP of the month and ultimately finishing the season with a 2.76 ERA, a 10-8 record, and 142 strikeouts, second in the league. He threw a career-high 160.2 innings in 2023 and again in 2024 with 144 innings pitched for a 3.12 ERA.

He applied for posting in the offseason of 2024 for an MLB challenge. He then signed a two-year contract with the Washington Nationals and his number became 16. After signing he said, "The team appreciated my curveball and changeup. The Nationals are the best for me."

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