As if that wasn’t enough, Otani then topped it by twice throwing pitches at 100 miles per hour in the second NPB All-Star Game on July 19, where he was the winning pitcher for the Pacific League. It was the fastest a Japanese pitcher has ever been clocked.
The trip to the All-Star Game was his second in his short two-season career. He made it last year as an outfielder, and by pitching this year, matched a feat achieved only once previously in the history of the game here (by Junzo Sekine of the Kintetsu Buffaloes back in the 1950s).
When Otani signed with the Fighters, the Sapporo-based club promised to let him bat and play the field as well as pitch and has stayed true to its word. The Iwate native has played the outfield in more than 50 games for the Fighters this season and is batting .286.