Hundreds of major league players' careers come and go every few years. Occasionally, they are phenomenal and sure-fire Hall of Fame journeys, like Derek Jeter's; others aren't as successful and end up going the way of Andy Phillips. There are some players, however, who are quite good, but unfortunately not well-known enough to be remembered by most fans. The seven-year MLB career of Hiroki Kuroda undoubtedly falls into that category.
On Friday, it was revealed that the soon-to-be 40-year-old decided that seven seasons of baseball away from his native Japan were enough, and he agreed to return to Japan for the 2015 season. Kuroda will be signing with his original NPB team, the Hiroshima Carp, the club with which he first rose to prominence over 11 seasons from 1997-2007. Since coming stateside in 2008 with the Dodgers, Kuroda has been a model of consistency and excellent pitching, yet one who was constantly overlooked, even among his Japanese peers:
In 2008, the Dodgers signed veteran starter Hiroki Kuroda from the Hiroshima Toyo Carp. He wasn't as flashy a signing as Hideo Nomo and he didn't come with the rumor of a gyroball like Daisuke Matsuzaka. He didn't throw the roughly 1,000 pitches that Yu Darvish came bearing and he wasn't as young and full of promise as the 25-year-old Masahiro Tanaka... But at the age of 33 and after posting a 3.69 ERA in 11 seasons in the NPB, the Dodgers could expect a steady contributor.
Kuroda was who he was: a healthy mid-rotation starter who the Dodgers and Yankees could trust to keep them in the game almost every time he took the rubber. He was a manager's dream, not wasting much time on the mound and rarely walking people (2.0 BB/9). He wasn't a big strikeout pitcher, but his splitter could miss bats when it needed to do so.
Perhaps best of all for his skippers, Kuroda was able to just take the ball and pitch several quality innings. After missing about 15 starts over his first two seasons due to a shoulder impingement, an oblique strain, and a concussion following a scary line drive to the head, Kuroda almost never missed any time again. From 2010-14, just ten other pitchers in baseball threw more innings than Kuroda's 1,018 1/3, and only eight made more starts than Kuroda's 161. Even going back to 2008 and including that brief time missed in '08 and '09, he's still in the top 20 for both categories. If only he was more popular, State Farm could really have used him in their lame "Like a good neighbor" commercials.
There was something else admirable about Kuroda's performance during his seven-year career--he was wonderful, and he was doing it all in his mid-to-late thirties, a time when most starters would be winding down their careers. Kuroda pitched in 1,700 1/3 innings in Japan, a total that is higher than the current career innings pitched by over-30 veterans like Adam Wainwright, Jered Weaver, and Jeremy Guthrie. And yet look at how his age 33 through 39 seasons compare to other righthanded starters in the Expansion Era:
Rk | Player | WAR | From | To | Age | G | GS | CG | SHO | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | IBB | HBP | Tm | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Kevin Brown | 145 | 31.9 | 1998 | 2004 | 33-39 | 195 | 186 | 18 | 5 | 1261.2 | 1094 | 461 | 402 | 307 | 1124 | 2.87 | 3.07 | 90 | 11 | 41 | SDP-LAD-NYY |
2 | Roger Clemens | 137 | 43.5 | 1996 | 2002 | 33-39 | 225 | 225 | 22 | 9 | 1533.2 | 1335 | 634 | 580 | 571 | 1576 | 3.40 | 3.31 | 122 | 10 | 54 | BOS-TOR-NYY |
3 | Curt Schilling | 134 | 42.4 | 2000 | 2006 | 33-39 | 219 | 197 | 25 | 6 | 1418.1 | 1350 | 562 | 553 | 234 | 1444 | 3.51 | 3.14 | 173 | 8 | 19 | PHI-ARI-BOS |
4 | Gaylord Perry | 127 | 46.3 | 1972 | 1978 | 33-39 | 259 | 258 | 150 | 29 | 2063.2 | 1787 | 744 | 660 | 540 | 1395 | 2.88 | 2.99 | 148 | 53 | 34 | CLE-TEX-SDP |
5 | Greg Maddux | 126 | 26.6 | 1999 | 2005 | 33-39 | 240 | 240 | 19 | 7 | 1557.0 | 1579 | 674 | 604 | 253 | 1028 | 3.49 | 3.63 | 157 | 52 | 49 | ATL-CHC |
6 | Dennis Martinez | 126 | 29.6 | 1987 | 1993 | 33-39 | 220 | 218 | 40 | 12 | 1511.0 | 1336 | 576 | 497 | 379 | 910 | 2.96 | 3.47 | 115 | 31 | 49 | MON |
7 | Phil Niekro | 125 | 49.9 | 1972 | 1978 | 33-39 | 286 | 264 | 109 | 17 | 2040.2 | 1861 | 832 | 718 | 669 | 1317 | 3.17 | 3.32 | 151 | 37 | 56 | ATL |
8 | Bob Gibson | 122 | 36.4 | 1969 | 1975 | 33-39 | 214 | 206 | 117 | 18 | 1675.2 | 1469 | 622 | 560 | 570 | 1267 | 3.01 | 2.87 | 99 | 64 | 36 | STL |
9 | Charlie Hough | 115 | 25.6 | 1981 | 1987 | 33-39 | 232 | 215 | 76 | 9 | 1594.0 | 1381 | 740 | 636 | 588 | 1023 | 3.59 | 4.02 | 164 | 13 | 57 | TEX |
10 | Hiroki Kuroda | 115 | 21.7 | 2008 | 2014 | 33-39 | 212 | 211 | 6 | 5 | 1319.0 | 1254 | 564 | 505 | 292 | 986 | 3.45 | 3.61 | 129 | 32 | 38 | LAD-NYY |
11 | Tom Candiotti | 114 | 21.8 | 1991 | 1997 | 33-39 | 221 | 193 | 21 | 3 | 1286.0 | 1207 | 567 | 486 | 402 | 885 | 3.40 | 3.70 | 103 | 18 | 43 | TOR-CLE-LAD |
12 | Luis Tiant | 111 | 27.4 | 1974 | 1980 | 33-39 | 230 | 229 | 85 | 21 | 1583.1 | 1541 | 690 | 644 | 429 | 875 | 3.66 | 3.66 | 155 | 16 | 19 | BOS-NYY |
13 | Mike Mussina | 111 | 28.0 | 2002 | 2008 | 33-39 | 215 | 214 | 8 | 5 | 1324.1 | 1363 | 636 | 589 | 276 | 1064 | 4.00 | 3.61 | 146 | 12 | 34 | NYY |
14 | Fergie Jenkins | 111 | 21.9 | 1976 | 1982 | 33-39 | 211 | 203 | 66 | 11 | 1431.1 | 1404 | 632 | 568 | 361 | 894 | 3.57 | 3.74 | 166 | 30 | 20 | BOS-TEX-CHC |
15 | Bert Blyleven | 110 | 27.8 | 1984 | 1990 | 33-39 | 232 | 231 | 77 | 18 | 1659.2 | 1607 | 762 | 697 | 428 | 1132 | 3.78 | 3.77 | 188 | 16 | 65 | CLE-MIN-CAL |
16 | Jim Bunning | 110 | 25.4 | 1965 | 1971 | 33-39 | 246 | 229 | 60 | 19 | 1608.2 | 1493 | 632 | 568 | 390 | 1230 | 3.18 | 2.88 | 126 | 64 | 73 | PHI-PIT-LAD |
That is the entire list of righty starters who managed to record at least a 110 ERA+ and 20 rWAR during their age 33 through 39 seasons, and Kuroda's right up there with both Hall of Fame names and others who are regarded among the best pitchers of their respective eras. That's some excellent work by #HIROK.
Kuroda averaged just under 6 1/3 innings per start, and he pitched at least seven innings 80 times out of his 211 starts. Basically, Joe Torre, Don Mattingly, and Joe Girardi could count on him to pitch at least seven innings at least once out of every three starts; hell, the actual frequency of 37.9% was even somewhat more than one out of three. He could sometimes go even deeper, pitching at least into the eighth 33 times and on five occasions, twirling a shutout. Kuroda was probably never better than in his rookie season, when he took a perfect game into the eighth inning and spun a one-hit shutout with just the one baserunner allowed. (Hopefully, when they became teammates, Mark Teixeira bought him something nice and not-kale related for ruining that.) With the Yankees, his best start came in the AL East-winning 2012 season, when he threw a two-hit shutout against the offensive powerhouse Texas Rangers on August 14th:
How was Kuroda in pressure situations? Generally superb, of course. One bad playoff outing in his comparatively shaky '09 campaign pollutes the rest of his numbers, but in the four other outings in 2008 & 2012, he was reliable as ever. He finished off the Dodgers' three-game NLDS sweep of the Cubs in his playoff debut with 6 1/3 scoreless innings, then shook off growing hostility between the Dodgers and Phillies to win his start in Game 3 of the NLCS.
Back in the postseason picture in 2012 with the Yankees, he was excellent. Raul Ibanez was the star of ALDS Game 3 against the Orioles, but it was Kuroda who was the unsung hero. He threw 8 1/3 innings of two-run ball against a potent lineup to even keep the Yankees in a position to potentially win it. In desperate need of a starter in Game 2 of the ALCS, the Yankees asked him to pitch on three days' rest for the first time in his career, and he responded by pitching perfectly into the sixth and tying a career-high with 11 strikeouts. Unfortunately, the offense did nothing against the Tigers' Anibal Sanchez, and Kuroda defense betrayed him in the seventh, leading to the decisive three runs.
Games like his last playoff start became common over Kuroda's last two years in pinstripes. In both 2013 and 2014, he seemed to be the only healthy and capable starter available most of the time, and the meager offense rarely did much to support him. Such problems likely led to an All-Star snub in 2013, when Kuroda was absolutely deserving for his first-half performance. He pitched to a 2.65 ERA and 1.053 WHIP in 19 starts, but due to horrible run support, he had only an 8-6 record. Thus, AL manager Jim Leyland elected to take the Orioles' Chris Tillman, who had 11 wins but a much higher 3.95 ERA. Whatever, bro. #HIROK deserved to be an All-Star that year and I will hear nothing to the contrary.
Thank you for being the ever-consistent starter the Yankees needed over the past three seasons, Kuroda. Good luck in Japan and come back to an Old Timers' Day someday when you retire. You'll certainly get the ovation you deserved after your excellent final start but respectfully declined. You be you, #HIROK.