NPB Player Movement Database

Tomohisa Ohzeki entered professional baseball through the servants' entrance: the 2019 development draft, second round, the tier of players who begin without even a place on the official roster. From there the left-hander out of Sendai University worked his way into the rotation of Japan's wealthiest franchise, and by 2025 he was a fixture on a championship staff — a pitcher teammates describe as a craftsman, filling notebooks mid-game with observations about his own mechanics.

His 2026 has been a study in volatility: early knockouts and a demotion, then a one-hit shutout in his first game back, extending an almost comical mastery of interleague play — seven career interleague wins without a loss. The unevenness has persisted. As of September 4, Ohzeki is 3-4 with a 5.34 ERA over 57 1/3 innings in 10 appearances, with 36 strikeouts, 20 walks and 11 home runs allowed. The shutout remains the season's proof that the craft is intact; the broader line shows how hard it has been to summon consistently. At 185 centimeters with a deceptive crossfire delivery, he profiles as the kind of thinking-man's lefty that can age well. The development draft was designed for players nobody believed in. Ohzeki has spent seven years making that an accounting error.