Kaima Taira
平良 海馬
Profile
Career summary
Kaima Taira is built like a vending machine and throws like a catapult — 173 centimeters, nearly 100 kilograms, fastball reaching 160 km/h. He grew up on Ishigaki, a subtropical island closer to Taiwan than to mainland Japan, and arrived via the 2017 draft's fourth round as a project. The project matured fast: Rookie of the Year in 2020, an NPB-record streak of consecutive scoreless relief appearances, the 2022 award for best setup man, and the 2025 saves title.
What makes Taira singular, though, is his restlessness. He has publicly campaigned to start, gone back to closing, and in 2026 converted to the rotation again. The completed regular season made the argument emphatically: a 12-5 record and a Pacific League-leading 1.36 ERA in 23 appearances and 146 innings. It was his first ERA title, following the previous year's saves title. He struck out 141, walked 45 and allowed only four home runs, with one complete-game shutout.
He designs his own pitches with tracking technology and speaks openly about analytics. The final line matters because it answers a question the raw fastball cannot: whether the former closer can keep runs off the board over a starter's workload. In 2026 he did, and no qualifying pitcher in his league did it at a lower rate.