Orix Pitcher Yoshihisa Hirano to Retire at End of Season

Tokyo, Aug. 9 (Jiji Press)--Orix Buffaloes pitcher Yoshihisa Hirano, who has earned a total of 258 saves in Japanese and U.S. career, will retire at the end of this season, the Japanese professional baseball team said Sunday.

The 42-year-old right-hander has played mainly as a relief pitcher. This season, he also works as a pitching coach at the team in the Pacific League of the Nippon Professional Baseball Organization, or NPB.

After playing baseball at Kyoto Prefectural Toba High School and then at Kyoto Sangyo University, both in Kyoto Prefecture, part of the Kansai western Japan region, Hirano started to play for the Buffaloes, based in Kansai, in the 2006 season after joining the team through a system allowing each NPB club to secure one player from a university or corporate team before each year's draft. The Buffaloes obtained Hirano using the system before the 2005 draft.

In the debut year at the Buffaloes, Hirano played as a starter and picked up seven wins, including four shutouts.

He switched to a reliever in 2010 and was named the Pacific League's best reliever in 2011. In 2014, he led the league with 40 saves.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]