NPB Starting Pitcher Rankings (August 14)

Rakuten Eagles righty Kosei Shoji has a 28.3 K% since returning from an injury in late July.

Here are my updated NPB starting pitcher rankings as of August 14, 2025. These are essentially rest-of-season rankings, not power rankings. In other words, I’m ranking pitchers based on where I believe they truly belong moving forward, not just on season-to-date results. Recent performance is a major factor, but track record, underlying metrics, and overall stuff carry more weight in projecting the future. Click here for the full 2025 NPB pitching stats leaderboard.

August 24 Update: I added Natsuki Takeuchi to the injuries list because I forgot to include him.

The Top 25
Player Tags
Key Injuries
Prospects Coming Soon
Complete Rankings

Player Tags

TagDescription
#WhiffMachineWhiff rate over 25%
#GroundballMerchantGroundball rate over 51%
#ConsistentQuality Start rate over 75%
#HomerProneHome Run rate over 2.0%
#WildWalk rate over 7.5%
#LoadedMultiple qualified pitches with CSW rate over 32%
#FlamethrowerAverages over 94.0 mph on fastball
#WorkhorseAverages over 7 IP per start
#DeepMixThrows 7 or more pitches
#PlatoonGodFIP- under 65 against same-handed hitters
#InjuryProneReputation for getting injured often
#RookieRookie of the Year Award eligible

The Top 25

#1 Livan Moinelo (SoftBank)

#WhiffMachine, #Consistent, #Loaded, #Workhorse, #PlatoonGod

August 10 Start: 9.0 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 13 K, 28 Whiffs
IPERA+FIP-K%BB%GB%CSW%
128.12486427.75.843.631.2

#2 Tatsuya Imai (Seibu)

#WhiffMachine, #Loaded, #Flamethrower, #PlatoonGod

August 7 Start: 7.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 11 K, 18 Whiffs
IPERA+FIP-K%BB%GB%CSW%
117.21646629.17.249.132.2

#3 Jon Duplantier (Hanshin)

#WhiffMachine, #Loaded, #PlatoonGod

June 19 Start: 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 12 K, 17 Whiffs
IPERA+FIP-K%BB%GB%CSW%
90.22004732.45.747.033.2

#4 Hiroya Miyagi (Orix)

#WhiffMachine, #Consistent, #Loaded, #PlatoonGod

July 9 Start: 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 11 K, 22 Whiffs
IPERA+FIP-K%BB%GB%CSW%
116.21116925.75.150.331.7

#5 Foster Griffin (Yomiuri)

#WhiffMachine, #Consistent, #Loaded, #DeepMix, #PlatoonGod

June 28 Start: 7.0 IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, 13 Whiffs
IPERA+FIP-K%BB%GB%CSW%
76.02395626.15.449.230.9

#6 Chihiro Sumida (Seibu)

#Consistent, #Loaded, #Workhorse, #PlatoonGod

August 9 Start: 7.2 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 12 Whiffs
IPERA+FIP-K%BB%GB%CSW%
120.21387422.94.448.630.7

#7 Hiromi Itoh (Nippon-Ham)

#HomerProne, #Workhorse, #DeepMix

August 3 Start: 6.0 IP, 7 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 10 Whiffs
IPERA+FIP-K%BB%GB%CSW%
138.21147924.43.741.929.0

#8 Iori Yamasaki (Yomiuri)

#GroundballMerchant

July 4 Start: 8.0 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 10 K, 16 Whiffs
IPERA+FIP-K%BB%GB%CSW%
120.21897921.65.153.828.0

#9 Haruya Tanaka (Lotte)

#WhiffMachine, #Wild, #Loaded, #Rookie

June 29 Start: 6.0 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 11 K, 22 Whiffs
IPERA+FIP-K%BB%GB%CSW%
76.11208224.48.545.430.8

#10 Koki Kitayama (Nippon-Ham)

#Consistent, #DeepMix

August 6 Start: 8.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 13 Whiffs
IPERA+FIP-K%BB%GB%CSW%
105.12087123.96.138.628.2

#11 Shoki Murakami (Hanshin)

#Consistent, #DeepMix

IPERA+FIP-K%BB%GB%CSW%
127.21368519.54.237.727.6

#12 Haruto Takahashi (Hanshin)

#GroundballMerchant, #InjuryProne

IPERA+FIP-K%BB%GB%CSW%
24.21906419.14.363.829.8

#13 Haru Matsumoto (SoftBank)

#PlatoonGod, #Rookie

IPERA+FIP-K%BB%GB%CSW%
65.21197424.66.149.429.5

#14 Katsuki Azuma (DeNA)

#HomerProne, #Consistent, #Loaded

IPERA+FIP-K%BB%GB%CSW%
122.113210119.63.343.531.9

#15 Kota Tatsu (Nippon-Ham)

#Consistent, #Loaded, #Rookie

IPERA+FIP-K%BB%GB%CSW%
67.21897523.35.146.728.6

#16 Hiroto Saiki (Hanshin)

#Wild

IPERA+FIP-K%BB%GB%CSW%
121.11789019.37.941.226.9

#17 Haruto Inoue (Yomiuri)

#HomerProne, #Loaded

IPERA+FIP-K%BB%GB%CSW%
92.18510222.93.141.929.4

#18 Andre Jackson (DeNA)

#Consistent, #Wild, #Flamethrower

IPERA+FIP-K%BB%GB%CSW%
111.01449918.17.850.927.7

#19 Ryuhei Sotani (Orix)

No Applicable Tags

IPERA+FIP-K%BB%GB%CSW%
98.2769421.55.645.229.4

#20 Kosei Shoji (Rakuten)

#GroundballMerchant, #Loaded, #PlatoonGod

IPERA+FIP-K%BB%GB%CSW%
27.11038723.67.361.126.5

#21 Hiroto Takahashi (Chunichi)

#WhiffMachine, #GroundballMerchant, #Flamethrower

IPERA+FIP-K%BB%GB%CSW%
127.110210319.27.554.526.7

#22 Atsuki Taneichi (Lotte)

#HomerProne

IPERA+FIP-K%BB%GB%CSW%
109.08511520.07.347.727.1

#23 Anthony Kay (DeNA)

#GroundballMerchant, #Consistent, #Flamethrower

IPERA+FIP-K%BB%GB%CSW%
117.01469319.76.855.627.8

#24 Tomohisa Ohzeki (SoftBank)

#Consistent

IPERA+FIP-K%BB%GB%CSW%
117.21939617.85.741.526.9

#25 Takato Ihara (Hanshin)

#DeepMix

IPERA+FIP-K%BB%GB%CSW%
87.01417618.65.645.926.9

Key Injuries (relative rank if healthy)

Shunpeita Yamashita (Orix) – Back (1-10)
Injured in the spring. Now rehabbing on the farm.

Ruei Yang Gu Lin (Nippon-Ham) – Oblique (10-20)
Injured on June 3. Yet to make a rehab appearance.

Keiji Takahashi (Yakult) – Lower Body (30-40)
Injured on July 5. Yet to make a rehab appearance.

Natsuki Takeuchi (Seibu) – Leg (30-40)
Injured on August 5. Expected back in early September.

Carter Stewart Jr. (SoftBank) – Abdomen (30-40)
Injured in the spring. Yet to make a rehab appearance.

Kodai Umetsu (Chunichi) – Shoulder (30-40)
Injured in the spring and underwent surgery. Out for the season.

Yuji Nishino (Lotte) – Forearm (60-70)
Injured on June 11. Now rehabbing on the farm.

Taichi Yamano (Yakult) – Unspecified (70-80)
Injured on June 6. Now rehabbing on the farm.

Takahisa Hayakawa (40-50) and Shoma Kanemura (40-50) are not injured but were removed from the list. Hayakawa was demoted to the farm while Kanemura was moved to the bullpen.

Prospects Coming Soon (farm stats)

Ren Mukunoki (Orix) – Age 25, 114 ERA+, 22.2 K-BB% in 44.1 IP

Hayato Tsunehiro (Hiroshima) – Age 23, 69 ERA+, 5.8 K-BB% in 76.1 IP

Ren Fukushima (Nippon-Ham) – Age 22, 136 ERA+, 13.5 K-BB% in 67.0 IP

Yuta Matsukihira (Chunichi) – Age 22, 103 ERA+, 8.7 K-BB% in 76.0 IP

Yi-Lei Sun (Nippon-Ham) – Age 20, 205 ERA+, 18.5 K-BB% in 47.2 IP

Kyosuke Saito (Orix) – Age 20, 63 ERA+, 2.4 K-BB% in 56.1 IP

Kaisei Toumatsu (Orix) – Age 20, 146 ERA+, 16.1 K-BB% in 35.0 IP

Reo Shibata (Nippon-Ham) – Age 19, 176 ERA+, 23.5 K-BB% in 13.2 IP

Hibiki Shinohara (Seibu) – Age 18, 160 ERA+, 14.2 K-BB% in 59.1 IP

Here are 85 pitchers who have made at least two NPB starts in the past 30 days and/or currently hold a rotation spot, ranked. The change column indicates their movement from the previous list made on July 8.

RankPitcherPrevChangeTTeam
1Moinelo Livan21LSoftBank
2Imai Tatsuya1-1RSeibu
3Duplantier Jon41RHanshin
4Miyagi Hiroya3-1LORIX
5Griffin Foster50LYomiuri
6Sumida Chihiro60LSeibu
7Itoh Hiromi70RNipponham
8Yamasaki Iori102RYomiuri
9Tanaka Haruya112RLotte
10Kitayama Koki8-2RNipponham
11Murakami Shoki9-2RHanshin
12Takahashi HarutoNRLHanshin
13Matsumoto Haru152LSoftBank
14Azuma Katsuki12-2LDeNA
15Tatsu Kota172RNipponham
16Saiki Hiroto215RHanshin
17Inoue Haruto14-3LYomiuri
18Jackson Andre13-5RDeNA
19Sotani Ryuhei190LORIX
20Shoji KoseiNRRRakuten
21Takahashi Hiroto221RChunichi
22Taneichi Atsuki5735RLotte
23Kay Anthony20-3LDeNA
24Ohzeki Tomohisa3410LSoftBank
25Ihara Takato18-7LHanshin
26Kanemaru Yumeto16-10LChunichi
27Hosono Haruki25-2LNipponham
28Tamamura Shogo26-2LHiroshima
29Lambert Peter4718RYakult
30Kuri Allen23-7RORIX
31Voth Austin27-4RLotte
32Arihara Kohei29-3RSoftBank
33Akahoshi Yuji24-9RYomiuri
34Espinoza Anderson32-2RORIX
35Morishita Masato28-7RHiroshima
36Tokoda Hiroki30-6LHiroshima
37Yanagi YuyaNRRChunichi
38Okugawa Yasunobu6123RYakult
39Muller Kyle35-4LChunichi
40Taira KentaroNRRDeNA
41Ohsera Daichi421RHiroshima
42Itoh Masashi5412LHanshin
43Yoshimura Kojiro31-12RYakult
44Maeda YugoNRLSoftBank
45Ishida Yutaro43-2RDeNA
46Takeuchi Natsuki33-13LSeibu
47Nishidate Yuhi38-9RYomiuri
48Togo Shosei5810RYomiuri
49Uwasawa Naoyuki48-1RSoftBank
50VerHagen DrewNRRNipponham
51Bauer Trevor41-10RDeNA
52Takahashi Kona608RSeibu
53Mori Shohei45-8RHiroshima
54Katoh Takayuki44-10LNipponham
55Nakamura Yuto39-16RYakult
56Yamasaki Sachiya637LNipponham
57Ohtake Koutaro46-11LHanshin
58Ohnuki Shinichi53-5RDeNA
59Higashihama Nao49-10RSoftBank
60Takanashi Hirotoshi7313RYakult
61Wakui Hideaki50-11RChunichi
62Ogawa Yasuhiro686RYakult
63Kimura Yuto52-11RLotte
64Watanabe Yutaro59-5RSeibu
65Avila Pedro749RYakult
66Koja Tatsuki7913LRakuten
67Tajima Daiki56-11LORIX
68Ohtsu RyosukeNRRSoftBank
69Ohno Yudai701LChunichi
70Ojima Kazuya65-5LLotte
71Matsuba Takahiro64-7LChunichi
72Morita ShunyaNRLYomiuri
73Yajure Miguel51-22RRakuten
74Kishi Takayuki66-8RRakuten
75Yoza Kaito69-6RSeibu
76Ishikawa Shuta62-14RLotte
77Fujii Masaru72-5LRakuten
78Takinaka Ryota802RRakuten
79Taka TaichiNRRHiroshima
80Sugai Shinya71-9LSeibu
81Sammons Bryan55-26LLotte
82Sato Ryunosuke75-7LHiroshima
83Teranishi NarukiNRRORIX
84Uchi Seiryu81-3RRakuten
85Tanaka MasahiroNRRYomiuri