Suguru Iwazaki is a Japanese Nippon Professional Baseball pitcher for the Hanshin Tigers in Japan's Central League. Iwazaki is a 6-foot tall left-handed pitcher, and wears jersey No. 67. His surname is often misread as "Iwasaki" rather than "Iwazaki".
Early baseball career
Suguru is a native of Shimizu, Shizuoka. During his younger years, his mother who was an active member of the local softball team, assigned him to assist in picking up balls during her teams' practices. This eventually led to his interest in baseball. His father wanted to prioritize the proper development of his shoulders, so he was made to join the swimming club during grade school. He practiced all types of swimming styles that enabled him to train his legs, and at the same time, improved the flexibility of his arms and shoulders. Breaststroke was his forte. He joined the school's softball team when he entered Shimizu Municipal Junior High School. Even though he entered Shimizu Higashi High School afterwards, a school known for producing notable football players, he still declared his wish to join its baseball team. He entered Kokushi University and participated in the Tohto University Baseball League, mostly as a relief pitcher up to his second year. He recorded an overall ERA of 0.94 during his 3rd year, the League's second best. For his senior's thesis, he broke down the advantages and disadvantages of left and right-handed pitchers. Despite his coach's recommendations for him to play in the industrial leagues after graduation, he still opted to join the 2013 NPB draft.。
Hanshin Tigers
Iwazaki was the Hanshin Tigers' sixth pick during the 2013 autumn draft. The Tigers originally intended to pick only five players during the draft, but upon the advice of Takayoshi Nakao, a scout for the Tigers who has been following Iwazaki since his junior year in Kokushi, they added him to their roster.
2014
He started the March 9 exhibition game with the Yomiuri Giants at Koshien. He pitched in ni-gun games in the Western League afterwards. During the March 23 Western league game with the Orix Buffaloes, he pitched 6 scoreless innings, giving up only 1 hit, and earned his first victory. He debuted as a starting pitcher on April 2 against the Chunichi Dragons, where he pitched 5 scoreless innings, allowing 3 hits and a walk, while striking out three batters. The Tigers scored 15-0 that day, giving Suguru his first win on his first official match as a starter, the 8th rookie to do so in franchise history. He joined Masahide Higasa as the only pitchers drafted in the sixth round or later to record a victory in their first outing on their first year. Hanshin commemorated this feat by producing 99 serialized photo panels of Iwazaki that went on sale from April 8 for 16,200 yen. He was given the 100th panel with serial number 67 – his jersey number. He again won another game against the Dragons on April 24. He formed a battery with fellow rookie Ryutaro Umeno on May 7, the first time since both rookies Yuya Ando and Ryo Asai started an official game in 2002. But he failed to get another win that day when he gave up 6 earned runs, and the Tigers lost 0-7 to the Dragons. He went for five more starts without securing a win until July 5, where he pitched 131 throws with Umeno in 7 shutout innings against the Baystars. This was the first time in 31 years that a Hanshin rookie battery won an official game since rookies Susumu Mikoshiba and Katsuhiko Kido did so in 1983. After a bad outing with Hiroshima, he was removed from the register on July 26 and spent about a month in the second squad. He returned on September 4, and recorded his first home victory at Koshien against the Baystars. He again won on his next outing against the Swallows at Meiji Jingu Stadium. He finished the season with 5 wins and 4 losses, with an ERA of 3.50. With this, he became the first Hanshin rookie drafted as 6th pick to record 5 wins in his first year and season. On November 21, he was given a raise of 8.4 million yen for an annual salary of 15 million yen for the 2015 season.
Pitching style
With a three-quarters delivery, his fastest pitch was clocked at. With almost exactly the same form, he can throw fastballs, breaking balls such as sliders and curves, and forkballs for changeups. His unique delivery makes it difficult for the batters to assess the origin of the pitch, and his balls to have a later release point. Upon seeing him pitch for the first time, 2nd squad manager Takashi Yamaguchi and pitching coach Katsuo Hirata praised his abilities and compared him to fellow lefty Yoshihisa Naruse of the Chiba Lotte Marines who was also a 6th pick in the rookie draft.
