Masahiro Tanaka
P | Bats/Throws: R/R | 6' 3" 218LBS | Age: 34
W L ERA G GS SV IP SO WHIP
2018 12 6 3.75 27 27 0 156 159 1.13
2019 11 9 4.45 32 31 0 182 149 1.24
2020 3 3 3.56 10 10 0 48 44 1.17
7 Seasons 78 46 3.74 174 173 0 1,054.1 991 1.13
G W-L ERA IP SO WHIP
2018 27 12-6 3.75 156 159 1.13
2019 32 11-9 4.45 182 149 1.24
2020 10 3-3 3.56 48 44 1.17
7 Seasons 174 78-46 3.74 1,054.1 991 1.13
MLB Percentile Rankings
Pitch Distribution

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Statcast Statistics

Season Age Pitches Batted
Balls		 Barrels Barrel % Barrel/PA Exit
Velocity		 Max EV Launch
Angle		 Sweet
Spot %		 XBA XSLG WOBA XWOBA XWOBACON HardHit% K% BB% ERA xERA
2015 26 2290 441 34 7.7 5.6 89.3 113.6 9.9 30.6 .246 .438 .287 .310 .387 36.7 22.9 4.4 3.51 3.96
2016 27 2935 601 26 4.3 3.2 88.9 113.9 9.0 31.6 .250 .388 .278 .293 .350 36.3 20.5 4.5 3.06 3.59
2017 28 2810 509 44 8.6 5.9 88.0 110.3 8.8 34.6 .247 .444 .326 .315 .400 36.2 25.8 5.5 4.74 4.27
2018 29 2398 434 31 7.1 4.9 88.9 117.5 10.7 31.8 .242 .408 .307 .305 .381 38.1 25.0 5.5 3.75 3.92
2019 30 2787 568 34 6.0 4.5 89.0 113.0 11.0 32.6 .260 .430 .314 .314 .369 37.7 19.6 5.3 4.45 4.35
2020 31 769 143 13 9.1 6.6 88.5 113.7 12.9 32.9 .244 .437 .319 .309 .377 37.1 22.3 4.1 3.56 4.04
Player 13989 2696 182 6.8 4.8 88.8 117.5 10.0 32.3 .249 .422 .303 .307 .376 37.0 22.6 5.0
MLB 6.9 4.7 88.4 122.4 12.2 33.1 .245 .405 .316 .315 .369 36.3 22.1 8.4
! Note: All figures in this table cover the period 2015-present.

Statcast Pitch Arsenal

Tanaka relies on 5 pitches.
Slider
(37.7%) ,
Split Finger
(24.8%) ,
4-Seam Fastball
(24.1%) ,
Sinker
(7.5%) ,
Curveball
(5.9%) ,


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Pitch Tracking



Batted Ball Profile

Season GB % FB % LD % PU % Pull % Straight % Oppo % Weak % Topped % Under % Flare/Burner % Solid % Barrel % Barrel/PA
2015 47.8 23.4 22.7 6.1 39.0 37.9 21.8 2.9 37.4 23.6 19.5 5.4 7.7 5.6
2016 48.8 19.0 25.6 6.7 40.6 36.4 23.0 3.3 37.3 20.6 25.3 6.0 4.3 3.2
2017 50.1 21.2 23.4 5.3 40.7 41.5 17.9 4.9 36.9 19.3 23.2 6.3 8.6 5.9
2018 49.3 23.3 22.1 5.3 40.6 39.6 19.1 3.0 34.6 21.0 25.6 6.7 7.1 4.9
2019 48.2 21.3 22.9 7.6 43.1 35.0 21.8 2.6 37.3 21.0 24.6 7.2 6.0 4.5
2020 44.1 20.3 24.5 11.2 42.7 38.5 18.9 6.3 28.7 29.4 23.1 2.8 9.1 6.6
Player 48.6 21.4 23.5 6.5 41.0 37.9 20.7 3.5 36.4 21.4 23.7 6.2 6.8 4.8
MLB 44.6 23.4 24.9 7.0 37.0 37.6 25.3 3.9 32.8 24.7 24.4 5.8 6.9 4.7
! Note: All figures in this table cover the period 2015-present.

Pitch Movement

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How this works: Every pitch is affected by the forces of gravity, which means that every pitch drops on its way from the mound to the plate. These numbers are reported with gravity, which makes them larger and different than other pitch movement numbers you may have seen. Since gravity requires time, and slower pitches aren’t ‘better’ just because they have more time to move, the movement of a pitch is compared to ‘average’ movement by comparing it to other MLB pitch types within +/- 2 MPH and from within +/- 0.5 feet of extension and release.
Vertical Movement (inches) Horizontal Movement (inches)
Year Pitch Team Hand # MPH Inches of Drop vs Avg % vs Avg Inches of Break vs Avg % Break vs Avg
2020 Curveball NYY R 45 75.0 53.7 -5.5 -9 7.2 -3.4 -32
2020 4-Seamer NYY R 185 92.3 15.3 1.2 7 9.4 1.1 13
2020 Sinker NYY R 58 91.5 22.2 -2.1 -9 15.8 0.5 3
2020 Splitter NYY R 191 87.1 27.9 -3.7 -12 12.8 1.0 8
2020 Slider NYY R 290 84.0 35.6 -2.2 -6 2.9 -2.5 -46
2019 Slider NYY R 1,000 83.3 39.7 0.0 0 6.7 -0.3 -5
2019 Sinker NYY R 129 90.4 25.5 -0.7 -3 14.8 -0.8 -5
2019 Splitter NYY R 735 86.8 31.9 -1.7 -5 12.7 1.2 10
2019 Cutter NYY R 45 87.5 28.4 0.5 2 1.6 -3.8 -177
2019 4-Seamer NYY R 752 91.5 17.3 0.6 4 10.1 1.8 22
2019 Curveball NYY R 89 76.1 58.2 -0.2 0 9.2 -2.2 -19
2018 Sinker NYY R 129 90.6 24.9 -1.1 -4 15.4 0.3 2
2018 4-Seamer NYY R 541 91.8 16.3 1.4 8 8.8 0.5 7
2018 Cutter NYY R 97 89.0 23.0 3.8 14 1.4 -3.1 -183
2018 Splitter NYY R 739 86.8 34.0 0.1 0 10.4 -1.5 -13
2018 Curveball NYY R 94 76.9 55.9 -1.8 -3 7.5 -3.4 -31
2018 Slider NYY R 796 83.4 39.4 -0.8 -2 6.9 0.3 4
2017 Slider NYY R 893 84.6 36.1 -0.6 -2 3.6 -0.5 -13
2017 Cutter NYY R 146 89.5 24.0 1.9 7 1.9 -3.7 -203
2017 Splitter NYY R 697 87.6 33.0 0.0 0 12.8 -0.7 -5
2017 Curveball NYY R 166 76.8 55.7 0.4 1 8.1 -2.8 -26
2017 Sinker NYY R 512 91.4 23.8 -0.6 -2 16.4 0.9 6
2017 4-Seamer NYY R 392 92.3 16.5 0.5 3 9.4 0.0 0
2016 Curveball NYY R 159 76.1 53.8 -2.3 -4 9.2 -2.2 -19
2016 Slider NYY R 784 84.5 31.4 -3.5 -10 3.5 -1.5 -30
2016 Splitter NYY R 858 87.2 28.9 -1.5 -5 11.2 -1.2 -10
2016 4-Seamer NYY R 190 92.6 14.0 1.7 11 9.9 2.0 25
2016 Sinker NYY R 614 91.0 20.6 -1.6 -7 13.9 -0.5 -4
2016 Cutter NYY R 259 89.4 20.7 4.3 17 5.4 -7.9 -316
2015 Sinker NYY R 298 91.8 -- -- 14.8 0.1 0
2015 4-Seamer NYY R 451 92.7 -- -- 8.7 1.0 13
2015 Cutter NYY R 224 89.6 -- -- 0.9 -2.7 -150
2015 Slider NYY R 471 84.3 -- -- 4.4 -1.1 -20
2015 Curveball NYY R 161 77.1 -- -- 8.8 -1.7 -16
2015 Splitter NYY R 625 88.1 -- -- 10.1 -1.4 -12
! Note: Years are in reverse order.
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Run Values by Pitch Type

Year Pitch Type Team RV/100 Run Value Pitches % PA BA SLG wOBA Whiff% K% PutAway % xBA xSLG xwOBA Hard Hit %
2020 Slider 0.3 1 290 37.7 81 .260 .429 .315 40.6 35.8 30.5 .184 .309 .234 35.4
2020 Splitter 1.6 3 191 24.8 62 .207 .379 .282 23.0 12.9 10.7 .254 .409 .312 32.0
2020 4-Seamer -2.5 -5 185 24.1 39 .351 .649 .438 30.1 17.9 13.2 .346 .773 .474 56.7
2020 Sinker 0.1 0 58 7.5 14 .214 .429 .336 3.6 0.0 0.0 .279 .400 .291 21.4
2020 Curveball 1.7 1 45 5.9 1 .000 .000 .000 7.7 0.0 0.0 .000 .000 .000 0.0
2019 Slider 2.1 21 1,014 36.4 273 .193 .340 .247 33.7 29.3 24.0 .199 .339 .250 31.1
2019 4-Seamer -1.1 -8 767 27.5 171 .318 .623 .431 17.3 18.1 13.7 .295 .600 .398 46.3
2019 Splitter -0.5 -4 743 26.7 249 .260 .413 .316 18.4 12.9 13.5 .281 .406 .303 37.0
2019 Sinker -4.8 -6 129 4.6 39 .375 .656 .473 12.9 10.3 9.8 .329 .498 .428 53.3
2019 Curveball 0.7 1 89 3.2 12 .417 .583 .473 8.7 0.0 0.0 .360 .459 .350 16.7
2019 Cutter -2.8 -1 45 1.6 15 .500 .643 .513 25.0 13.3 33.3 .381 .458 .388 41.7
2018 Slider 1.8 15 796 33.2 195 .180 .348 .252 31.2 25.1 20.9 .185 .302 .237 29.1
2018 Splitter 1.1 8 739 30.8 247 .210 .318 .268 36.2 31.2 26.4 .217 .326 .261 37.2
2018 4-Seamer -1.2 -7 541 22.6 119 .327 .551 .412 17.5 18.5 15.3 .317 .569 .409 48.2
2018 Sinker -8.1 -10 129 5.4 38 .382 .765 .495 10.2 10.5 11.8 .364 .656 .465 50.0
2018 Cutter -1.5 -1 97 4.0 26 .308 .846 .473 30.0 19.2 55.6 .351 .853 .502 38.1
2018 Curveball -0.7 -1 94 3.9 9 .444 .556 .439 27.8 22.2 13.3 .386 .521 .390 57.1
2017 Slider 0.9 8 893 31.8 248 .207 .388 .279 39.3 34.7 27.6 .207 .379 .272 29.8
2017 Splitter 0.2 1 697 24.8 211 .225 .395 .292 38.1 32.7 27.3 .213 .360 .263 39.8
2017 Sinker -1.9 -10 512 18.2 160 .340 .674 .461 13.2 8.1 15.3 .337 .642 .442 39.5
2017 4-Seamer -1.4 -5 392 14.0 80 .361 .569 .431 15.6 18.8 12.0 .307 .550 .393 43.9
2017 Curveball 0.8 1 166 5.9 31 .161 .258 .210 24.5 29.0 25.0 .155 .290 .184 18.2
2017 Cutter 0.3 0 146 5.2 19 .333 .556 .445 32.1 10.5 22.2 .368 .530 .397 37.5
! Note: Years are in reverse order.
! Note: To better align with other values, positive numbers (red) are good, and negative numbers (blue) are poor.
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Spin Direction

Year Pitch Type Pitches MPH Active Spin % Total Movement (In.) Spin-Based Observed Deviation
2020 Curveball 43 74.9 58 10.9 7:30 7:30 0
2020 4-Seam Fastball 182 92.3 96 19.0 1:15 1:00 15
2020 Splitter 189 87.1 94 15.4 1:30 2:15 -45
2020 Sinker 57 91.5 93 19.0 1:15 2:00 -45
2020 Slider 284 84.0 14 4.6 10:00 10:00 0
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! Note: This table is showing data from the PITCHER perspective.
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Swing/Take

Runs
Year Team PA Pitches Heart Shadow Chase Waste All
2014 540 2,000 -5 19 4 -5 13
2015 629 2,372 1 20 -5 -7 9
2016 805 2,935 5 35 -3 -8 28
2017 821 3,091 -9 36 -10 -12 5
2018 653 2,474 -14 35 -5 -10 6
2019 810 2,986 3 33 -18 -8 11
2020 238 919 -6 9 -5 -3 -5
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Plate Discipline

Season Pitches Zone % Zone Swing % Zone Contact % Chase % Chase Contact % Edge % 1st Pitch Strike % Swing % Whiff % Meatball % Meatball Swing %
2015 2,290 45.6 64.5 84.3 36.7 60.6 45.0 62.7 49.4 24.5 7.3 67.9
2016 2,935 46.5 68.3 84.8 34.5 61.6 43.9 64.5 50.2 23.3 6.5 73.7
2017 2,810 46.7 71.0 79.5 33.6 47.9 43.6 64.8 51.2 31.1 5.8 74.2
2018 2,398 46.6 69.6 80.8 33.7 51.5 45.9 68.2 50.4 29.4 6.0 81.8
2019 2,787 47.1 68.1 86.4 34.7 58.8 46.5 68.8 50.4 23.2 4.7 79.1
2020 769 46.4 73.4 79.4 32.8 52.6 43.8 63.5 51.6 29.7 7.0 81.5
Player 13,989 46.5 68.7 82.9 34.5 56.0 44.9 65.7 50.4 26.5 6.1 75.3
MLB 48.6 67.0 82.0 28.5 58.0 42.6 60.9 47.1 24.8 7.3 76.1
! Note: All figures in this table cover the period 2015-present.

Percentile Rankings

Year xwOBA /
xERA 		xBA xSLG xISO xOBP Brl Brl% EV Hard
Hit% 		K% BB% Whiff% Chase
Rate 		FB
Velo 		FB
Spin 		CB
Spin 		Extension
2015 44 46 15 7 83 5 9 17 17 68 95 64 97 45 33 27 31
2016 71 46 56 68 81 27 80 37 32 47 94 51 94 26 18 32 23
2017 47 48 27 17 77 2 7 29 21 74 92 89 94 32 31 47 24
2018 54 47 37 34 73 16 37 32 27 65 89 77 95 30 29 44 20
2019 48 29 37 50 63 13 69 39 39 24 90 32 94 21 19 32 20
2020 56 45 32 28 79 11 25 47 49 44 94 71 87 32 39 31
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Expected Home Runs

Year Team Avg HR Trot Actual HR xHR HR-xHR Doubters Mostly Gone No Doubters No Doubter %
2016 22.1 22 20.8 1 13 19 7 31.8
2017 22.6 35 37.4 -2 10 21 22 62.9
2018 23.0 26 28.9 -3 9 19 14 53.8
2019 22.2 29 24.3 5 16 18 10 34.5
2020 22.8 11 11.9 -1 3 8 5 45.5
Player 22.6 123 123.3 0 51 85 58 47.2

Expected Home Runs by Park

Year HR
2016 22 26 20 22 22 18 23 19 21 12 21 26 19 19 19 21 11 15 24 23 20 15 29 24 18 17 22 31 24 26 18
2017 35 39 31 35 41 37 42 38 30 34 36 41 40 39 37 40 35 36 38 36 41 37 44 40 36 35 33 44 42 38 28
2018 26 34 24 24 29 25 30 28 24 23 28 35 34 28 27 31 28 26 30 32 32 31 35 33 25 25 26 31 33 30 26
2019 29 27 20 27 23 25 29 25 19 18 23 26 31 23 24 25 22 22 21 26 26 26 31 28 25 20 19 29 30 22 16
2020 11 12 11 12 11 13 12 13 8 10 10 12 14 12 12 11 14 13 11 13 13 12 14 11 11 11 12 12 14 12 10
Player 123 138 106 120 126 118 136 123 102 97 118 140 138 121 119 128 110 112 124 130 132 121 153 136 115 108 112 147 143 128 98
! Note: This tells how many of this player's home runs would have been out of other stadiums. This accounts for different wall heights, distances and environmental effects. For these purposes, the 2020 Blue Jays home field was still Rogers Centre, not Sahlen Field.
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Year to Year Changes

Metric 2015 2016 +/-   2017 +/-   2018 +/-   2019 +/-   2020 +/-  
Fastball Velocity 91.7 90.9 -0.8 ↓ 91.5 0.6 ↑ 91.2 -0.3 ↓ 91.1 -0.1 ↓ 92.1 1.0 ↑
Offspeed Velocity 88.1 87.2 -0.9 ↓ 87.6 0.4 ↑ 86.8 -0.8 ↓ 86.8 0.0 87.1 0.3 ↑
Breaking Velocity 82.4 83.1 0.7 ↑ 83.4 0.3 ↑ 82.7 -0.7 ↓ 82.7 0.0 82.8 0.1 ↑
Exit Velocity 89.3 88.9 -0.4 ↓ 88.0 -0.9 ↓ 88.9 0.9 ↑ 89.0 0.1 ↑ 88.5 -0.5 ↓
Launch Angle 9.9 9.0 -0.9 ↓ 8.8 -0.2 ↓ 10.7 1.9 ↑ 11.0 0.3 ↑ 12.9 1.9 ↑
Barrel % 7.7 4.3 -3.4 ↓ 8.6 4.3 ↑ 7.1 -1.5 ↓ 6.0 -1.1 ↓ 9.1 3.1 ↑
Hard Hit % 36.7 36.3 -0.4 ↓ 36.2 -0.1 ↓ 38.1 1.9 ↑ 37.7 -0.4 ↓ 37.1 -0.6 ↓
Sweet Spot % 30.6 31.6 1.0 ↑ 34.6 3.0 ↑ 31.8 -2.8 ↓ 32.6 0.8 ↑ 32.9 0.3 ↑
xBA .246 .250 0.004 ↑ .247 -0.003 ↓ .242 -0.005 ↓ .260 0.018 ↑ .244 -0.016 ↓
BA .221 .236 0.015 ↑ .257 0.021 ↑ .240 -0.017 ↓ .261 0.021 ↑ .257 -0.004 ↓
xwOBA .310 .293 -0.017 ↓ .315 0.022 ↑ .305 -0.010 ↓ .314 0.009 ↑ .309 -0.005 ↓
wOBA .287 .278 -0.009 ↓ .326 0.048 ↑ .307 -0.019 ↓ .314 0.007 ↑ .319 0.005 ↑
xSLG .438 .388 -0.050 ↓ .444 0.056 ↑ .408 -0.036 ↓ .430 0.022 ↑ .437 0.007 ↑
SLG .420 .373 -0.047 ↓ .467 0.094 ↑ .422 -0.045 ↓ .450 0.028 ↑ .455 0.005 ↑
K% 22.9 20.5 -2.4 ↓ 25.8 5.3 ↑ 25.0 -0.8 ↓ 19.6 -5.4 ↓ 22.3 2.7 ↑
BB% 4.4 4.5 0.1 ↑ 5.5 1.0 ↑ 5.5 0.0 5.3 -0.2 ↓ 4.1 -1.2 ↓
Swing % 49.4 50.2 0.8 ↑ 51.2 1.0 ↑ 50.4 -0.8 ↓ 50.4 0.0 51.6 1.2 ↑
Whiff% 24.5 23.3 -1.2 ↓ 31.1 7.8 ↑ 29.4 -1.7 ↓ 23.2 -6.2 ↓ 29.7 6.5 ↑
In Zone % 45.6 46.5 0.9 ↑ 46.7 0.2 ↑ 46.6 -0.1 ↓ 47.1 0.5 ↑ 46.4 -0.7 ↓
Out of Zone % 54.4 53.5 -0.9 ↓ 53.3 -0.2 ↓ 53.4 0.1 ↑ 52.9 -0.5 ↓ 53.6 0.7 ↑
Out of Zone Swing % 36.7 34.5 -2.2 ↓ 33.6 -0.9 ↓ 33.7 0.1 ↑ 34.7 1.0 ↑ 32.8 -1.9 ↓
First Pitch Swing % 28.9 32.0 3.1 ↑ 32.4 0.4 ↑ 32.4 0.0 32.1 -0.3 ↓ 31.0 -1.1 ↓
First Pitch Strike % 62.7 64.5 1.8 ↑ 64.8 0.3 ↑ 68.2 3.4 ↑ 68.8 0.6 ↑ 63.5 -5.3 ↓
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Statcast Fielder Positioning

vs RHHvs LHH
YearAlignment TypePAwOBAPATotal%PATotal%
2016 Shifts 778 .275 402 38 9.5 376 226 60.1
2017 Shifts 747 .322 430 32 7.4 317 191 60.3
2018 Shifts 634 .307 353 99 28.0 281 224 79.7
2019 Shifts 751 .309 373 144 38.6 378 315 83.3
2020 Shifts 197 .319 96 50 52.1 101 89 88.1
! Note: Shifts are through the 2022 season, Shaded starting from the 2023 season, Shift: three or more infielders are on the same side of second base, Shade: positioned outside of their typical responsible slices of the field.
Learn more about how positioning is defined here

Pitch Tempo

Bases EmptyRunners On Base
SeasonTeamPitchesTempoFast %Slow %PitchesTempoFast %Slow %
2014 599 18.8 7.5% 3.8% 275 25.9 0.0% 16.4%
2015 755 20.5 10.1% 7.9% 277 28.0 1.4% 40.4%
2016 906 19.4 16.0% 5.8% 387 28.1 3.6% 36.7%
2017 856 19.0 8.6% 4.2% 333 26.3 0.0% 20.7%
2018 736 18.5 10.7% 2.2% 281 27.4 0.0% 30.2%
2019 812 17.6 16.5% 2.1% 397 27.2 0.0% 27.0%
2020 236 18.6 5.9% 3.8% 96 26.9 0.0% 26.0%
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Pitch Distribution

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