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. At 185 centimeters with a deceptive crossfire delivery, he profiles as the kind of durable, thinking-man's lefty that ages well. The development draft was designed for players nobody believed in. Ohzeki has spent seven years making that an accounting error.