Kazuki Sugiyama
杉山 一樹
Profile
Career summary
Kazuki Sugiyama is what scouts mean when they say the word "frame": 192 centimeters, 106 kilograms, and a fastball that sits in the upper 150s from a delivery that seems to arrive from somewhere above the scoreboard. He took the industrial route to Fukuoka — a corporate-league stint at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Hiroshima before the 2018 draft — and after years as a live arm without a job description, he seized the closer's role for the Hawks team that won it all in 2025.
He is also, famously, his own harshest critic. In April 2025, furious at one bad outing, he punched a dugout bench and broke his own left hand — a month-long lesson in the cost of caring too much, after which he returned to the late innings as if nothing had happened.
Sugiyama finished the 2026 regular season with 35 saves, sharing the Pacific League lead with Orix's Andres Machado and Lotte's Rikuto Yokoyama. It was his second consecutive saves title. Across 55 appearances and 53 innings he struck out 80, walked 23 and posted a 3.23 ERA, with a 1-2 record. The ERA explains why the year was not always tidy; the saves title and strikeout total explain why the Hawks kept handing him the ninth. His season was a reminder that closing can be both turbulent and effective, sometimes in the same inning.