Win-Loss record 35-32 Role Baseball player Parents Sanae Ono Name Yudai Ono Salary 17.5 million JPY (2013) | Strikeouts 433 Spouse Myuna Ono (m. 2012) ERA 3.05 Height 1.83 m | |
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Current team Chunichi Dragons (#22 / Pitcher) Similar People Ryosuke Hirata, Masato Matsui, Motonobu Tanishige, Hayato Sakamoto, Kenta Maeda | ||
Yudai Ono (大野 雄大, born September 26, 1988 in Kyoto, Japan) is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher for the Chunichi Dragons in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball.
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Early career
As a junior, Ono played for Kyoto Gaidai Nishi High School where he was part of the school team that faced a young Masahiro Tanaka in the 2005 Summer Koshien. Upon watching the current New York Yankees pitcher play, Ono was inspired and remarked "so this is the kind of guy that goes pro."
He made his Koshien debut in the Spring Senbatsu tournament where his team lost 4-1 against Tokai University Sagami Senior High in the first round where Ono took 3 strikeouts for one earned run in 3 2/3 innings.
Ono played for the Bukkyo University team where in his 3rd year he was touted along with Yuki Saito, Tatsuya Oishi and Hirokazu Sawamura as the "University Big 4."
In the 2010 NPB draft, he was the first round pick for the Chunichi Dragons despite being injured in the lead-up.
2011
Ono spent the beginning of his Chunichi career rehabbing his left arm during Spring training. From March 2011, he began proper training and made his playing debut in a pro-am match where he conceded a grand-slam homerun. Despite the set-back, he was put to work on the farm to be trained as a starting pitcher.
On October 14, he would make his first team debut against the Yomiuri Giants as a starter. It would however be an innocuous debut as Ono gave up 6 earned runs in 4 innings against 22 batters.
2012
On July 11, Ono made his second start, this time against the Hanshin Tigers at Koshien Stadium where he would get his first victory after pitching 5 1/3 innings, conceding one earned run and 7 hits. He would break into the starting rotation and finish his first real season as a pro with 4 wins and 3 losses in 8 games started with an ERA of 2.62. In the off-season Ono was named for the Samurai Japan team to face Cuba.
2013
He solidified himself as a starter with the Dragons in 2013 and would post enough innings to be considered for ERA champion honors. Ono would end the season with a 10-10 record having thrown 146 innings in 25 starts with an ERA of 3.81. In November, Ono would once again be selected for the Samurai Japan team this time to face Taiwan.
2014
He would pitch well in the pre-season games but would ultimately lose out on opening day honors to veteran Kenshin Kawakami. On 26 April after conceding 5 runs in his first inning against the Yakult Swallows he was yanked from the mound, earning the ire of the senior management team and was promptly dropped to the second team. On 5 June, he would unfortunately, once again experience the same fate after giving up 5 runs in 5 innings against the Chiba Lotte Marines.
On 25 July, Ono would mark a comeback to form against the Giants as he recorded his first full game without a walk. He would end the year with a consecutive 10 win season losing only 8 with an ERA of 2.89.
2015
In 2015, he led both leagues in innings pitched with 207.1. His career-best 2.52 ERA ranked sixth in the Central League and his six complete games were second only to the seven recorded by the Hanshin Tigers' Shintaro Fujinami.
Ono posted his highest career wins to date with an 11-10 record in 27 starts.
He would also earn a call up to the preliminary Japanese national squad for the first edition of the Premier 12 tournament. On 9 October, he was selected in the final squad
2016
On March 25, Ono was selected as the starting day pitcher against the Hanshin Tigers at Kyocera Dome where he pitched a winning 5-2 game, striking out 3 and walking 2 for 2 earned runs in 7 2/3 innings. Ono went on to win one more game and lose one for an ERA of 2.66 before April 15 where he was deactivated from the first team roster due to concerns regarding elbow discomfort.
On June 4, he would however make his return in a 0-3 loss against the Rakuten Eagles where he pitched a 7 innings striking out 3 batters and walking 3 after giving up 3 runs in the first inning.
On 28 June, Ono pitched a 3-hit shutout against the Yomiuri Giants, striking out 7 in a 5-0 win at the Tokyo Dome claiming his 5th win of the season.
Pitching Style
Ono pitches with an over-arm action and throws a four-seam fastball that reaches speeds of around 88 mp/h on average and tops out at 95mp/h. In addition, he throws a fork, a 62 mp/h curveball, two types of sliders and a dipping two-seam fastball.
Personal life
Due to the influence of his grandfather, Ono grew up as a Hanshin Tigers fan. During his university playing days, Ono had attached a Torakki strap to his mobile phone, however, once he was selected by the Dragons, he promptly removed it.
The players that Ono looks up to the most for inspiration are current Tigers pitcher, Kyuji Fujikawa and former Dragon and current Miami Marlins starter, Wei-Yin Chen.