Shingo Takatsu 高津 臣吾
Relief pitcher /Coach /Manager
Born: (1968-11-25)November 25, 1968 (age 57) Hiroshima,Japan
Batted: Right Threw: Right
Professional debut
NPB: April 24, 1991, for the Yakult Swallows
MLB: April 9, 2004, for the Chicago White Sox
KBO: June 24, 2008, for the Woori Heroes
CPBL: January, 2010, for the Sinon Bulls
Last appearance
MLB: October 2, 2005, for the New York Mets
NPB: October 9, 2007, for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows
KBO: October 1, 2008, for the Woori Heroes
CPBL: September 29, 2010, for the Sinon Bulls
NPB statistics
Win–loss record	36–46
Earned run average	3.20
Strikeouts	591
Saves	286
MLB statistics
Win–loss record	8–6
Earned run average	3.38
Strikeouts	88
Saves	27
KBO statistics
Win–loss record	1–0
Earned run average	0.86
Strikeouts	18
CPBL statistics
Win–loss record	1–2
Earned run average	1.88
Strikeouts	32
Stats atBaseball Reference
Teams
As player Yakult Swallows (1991–2003) Chicago White Sox (2004–2005) New York Mets (2005) Tokyo Yakult Swallows (2006–2007) Woori Heroes (2008) Sinon Bulls (2010) As manager Tokyo Yakult Swallows (2020–2025) As coach Tokyo Yakult Swallows (2014–2019)
Career highlights and awards
As player 4×Japan Series champion (1993,1995,1997,2001) 6×NPB All-Star selection (1994, 1996, 1999–2000, 2003, 2007) As manager Japan Series champion (2021) Matsutaro Shoriki Award (2021)
Member of the Japanese
Baseball Hall of Fame
Induction	2022
Medals Men'sbaseball Representing Japan Goodwill Games 1990 Seattle Team

Shingo Takatsu (高津 臣吾,Takatsu Shingo) (born November 25, 1968) is a Japanese former professionalbaseballpitcher andmanager. He had a short stint with theChicago White Sox where he was thecloser for two seasons until struggles closing games ultimately led to his demotion to the minors. Despite being demoted in the summer of 2005, he received aWorld Series ring with the White Sox. He was signed by theNew York Mets during the2005 season, and he pitched in nine games for New York. After the 2005 season, he returned to theNippon Professional Baseball.

He is known by the nickname "Mr. Zero" because he did not give up a single run in 11Japan Series games. In the 2004 season, his entrance in home games was accompanied by a video montage and a loudgong.

Shingo Takatsu, like many Japanese pitchers, has incorporated pauses into his pitching mechanics in order to throw off batters' timing. His arm angle varies from sidearm to submarine.

Takatsu was a fan of theHiroshima Toyo Carp during his childhood, and grew up wanting to play for the team. He attended Hiroshima Kogyo High School, and his team advanced to theKoshien tournament twice in his senior year. However, Takatsu was the backup pitcher, and never pitched in the tournament. He continued pitching forAsia University (Japan), but was the backup throughout his college years.

Takatsu was drafted by theYakult Swallows in the third round of the 1990 draft. Hewon only 6 games in his first two years as astarter, but became the team's closer in 1993, after marking his first save on May 2. He made 20 saves that year, contributing to his team's championship.

In 1994, Takatsu led the league in saves (19), and saved over 20 games in each of 1995 and 1996. In 1997, he blew several saves at the beginning of the season, and was demoted to relief duty for the rest of 1997 and 1998. He returned to his closing role in 1999, and led the league in saves (30) for the second time in his career. He repeated his performance in 2001, making 37 saves as his team won the championship again. In 2003, he passedKazuhiro Sasaki in career saves, and led the league in saves for the fourth time in his career.

In 2004, he signed with theChicago White Sox as afree agent, and marked a 2.31ERA in 56 games, along with 19 saves. His first major league appearance came againstHideki Matsui, whom he had faced numerous times in the JapaneseCentral League. Matsui's firsthome run in Japan had come off Takatsu in the same game in which Takatsu recorded his first career save. Takatsu finished second in ALRookie of the Year voting behindBobby Crosby. Takatsu did not pitch well the next season, and was demoted to the minors, and cut in August. He signed a minor league deal with the New York Mets, and made his way up to the majors, but was dropped at the end of the season.

Takatsu returned to his old team, the Yakult Swallows, in 2006. He was a reliever early in the season, but was given the closing job after injuries toHirotoshi Ishii andMasao Kida. On October 7, 2006, he saved his 300th game (combined number from the majors and Japan). The only other Japanese player to have made 300 saves is formerSeattle Mariners closer Kazuhiro Sasaki.

He has saved 8 games in 11 Japanese championship series games (the all-time record), and has not allowed a single run in those 11 games.

In 2008, Takatsu attempted to return to U.S. baseball and signed a minor league deal, with an invitation tospring training, with theChicago Cubs of the MLB.^[1] However, he was released midway through spring training.^[2]

Takatsu was signed to the Seoul-based,Woori Heroes on June 13, 2008.^[3] He recorded his first save on June 29, 2008, becoming the first pitcher to get saves in Nippon Professional Baseball, Major League Baseball, and Korea Baseball Organization.^[4] But he was released from Heroes in December 2008.

On June 15, 2009, he signed a minor league contract with theSan Francisco Giants ofMajor League Baseball.^[5]

In January 2010, Takatsu joinedSinon Bulls ofCPBL inTaiwan. He becomes the first Japanese professional player to have played in NPB, MLB, KBO, and CPBL. On November 26, 2010, he announced on his blog that Sinon will not renew the contract.

In 2020, Takatsu became the manager of theTokyo Yakult Swallows, replacingJunji Ogawa.

In 2022, he was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame.

On September 1, 2025, Takatsu announced that he would be stepping down as the Swallows' manager following the season.^[6]

Takatsu throws from the sidearm, and relies on three types of sinkers to mix up opponents. His fastball falls in the mid 80 mph range, and his sinkers have different speeds. Two fall in the 66-70 mph range (Takatsu pitches these with a screwball mechanics, and these pitches sometimes are described as a changeup), while the other can reach 80 mph. He occasionally throws a curve as well. When Takatsu first arrived in the major leagues, commentators called his sinkers changeups, since they were so slow compared to conventional sinkers. He is one of the few closers that does not throw a good fastball or a hard breaking pitch, relying on good control to make batters hit themselves into outs.

• Career statistics fromMLB · ESPN · Baseball Reference · Fangraphs · Baseball Reference (Minors) · Retrosheet · Baseball Almanac

• 1968 births
• Asia University (Japan) alumni
• Baseball player-managers
• Baseball players at the 1990 Goodwill Games
• Chicago White Sox players
• Goodwill Games medalists in baseball
• Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame inductees
• Japanese expatriate baseball players in South Korea
• Japanese expatriate baseball players in Taiwan
• Japanese expatriate baseball players in the United States
• Living people
• Major League Baseball pitchers
• Major League Baseball players from Japan
• Managers of baseball teams in Japan
• New York Mets players
• Nippon Professional Baseball pitchers
• Norfolk Tides players
• Kiwoom Heroes players
• Sinon Bulls players
• Baseball people from Hiroshima
• Tokyo Yakult Swallows managers
• Tokyo Yakult Swallows players
• Yakult Swallows players

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from July 2024