Yoshihisa Naruse is a Japanese

Japanese people

The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

 baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 player. He is a pitcher for the Chiba Lotte Marines

Chiba Lotte Marines

The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region, and owned by the Lotte conglomerate.-History:...

 of Nippon Professional Baseball. He made his debut in the 2006 season.. In 2007, Naruse had his best season as a professional in his short career. All season long he was competing with Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters

Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters

The are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Sapporo, Hokkaidō. They compete in the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball, playing the majority of their home games at the Sapporo Dome. The Fighters also host a select number of regional home games in cities across Hokkaidō,...

 superstar Yu Darvish

Yu Darvish

Yu Darvish is a Japanese starting pitcher for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.Darvish pitched in the 2008 Beijing Olympics as well as the 2009 World Baseball Classic as a member of the Japanese national team...

 for the Eiji Sawamura Award, the award for best pitcher in all of Japan. In 24 starts, Naruse was 16-1 with a 1.82 ERA, with 138 strikeouts and only 27 walks in 173 and 1/3 innings. Darvish, by comparison, was 15-5 in 26 starts, also compiling a 1.82 ERA, but not only did he throw more complete games than Naruse (12 for Darvish, 6 for Naruse), but Darvish also threw more innings (207 and 2/3), but he struck out more batters, with 210 punch-outs. The two ended up facing each other in the 2007 Pacific League Championship Series' deciding Game 5. Darvish triumphed over Naruse at Sapporo Dome

Sapporo Dome

The is a stadium located in Toyohira-ku, Sapporo, Japan, and is primarily used for baseball and football. It is the home field of the baseball team Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters and the football club Consadole Sapporo.-History:...

, and the Fighters won Game 5 and the series 3-2, setting up a rematch of the 2006 Japan Series with the Chunichi Dragons

Chunichi Dragons

The are a professional baseball team based in Nagoya, the chief city in the Chubu region of Japan. The team is in the Central League. They won the 2007 Japan Series and 2007 Asia Series.-History:...

. Naruse ultimately lost out to Darvish for the Sawamura Award in 2007.

Since that season, he has remained solid, and was selected to the 2008 Japanese National Olympic baseball team, where he was one of the best players of what turned out to be a disappointing tournament for Team Japan, as the heavily-favored Japanese failed to medal. Naruse gave up no earned runs over 12 innings, outperforming his more famous counterpart Darvish.

In 2007, Naruse's number was 60, but the next season he had it changed to 17.

Over his career, Naruse has a record of 63-40, with an ERA of 3.02.

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