Ryota Igarashi #18

Ryota Igarashi...Wife's name is Orie...Has two children; daughter Kotone (8/25/03) and son Haruki (7/2/07).

2011

Began season with Buffalo (Mets' AAA)...Made two appearances with the Bisons before being selected by New York on 4/11...Made four scoreless appearances (3.0ip) before surrendering a pair of runs in 0.2ip on 4/19 vs. Houston...Was charged with only loss on 5/16 vs. Florida after allowing one run in 1.0 inning of work...Was scored upon in back-to-back appearances on 5/14 and 5/16 and was optioned to Buffalo on 5/16...Went 0-1 with four saves and a 0.52 ERA (17.1ip/1er) in 12 appearances during the month of June with Buffalo...Was recalled on 7/14 and remained with New York for the rest of the season...Allowed two hits and a pair of runs in a career-high 2.1ip on 8/22 at Philadelphia...Tossed 7.0 consecutive scoreless innings in his final six appearances from 9/15-27...Held lefties to a .208 (10-for-48) batting average while pitching with the Mets.

2010

Made his major league debut on April 8 vs. Florida with a scoreless frame...Became the 11th Japanese-born player to appear in a game for the Mets...Began the year with 5.2 scoreless innings before surrendering a two-run home run to Ryan Ludwick on April 18 at St. Louis...Stranded the bases loaded when he struck out Washington's Justin Maxwell in the seventh inning on October 2 to collect his first major league victory...Allowed three of 17 (82 percent) inherited runners to score...Went 1-0 with a 2.87 ERA (five earned runs/15.2 innings) in 17 games at Citi Field...Opponents hit .154 (8-52) against him at home...Held the opposition to a .174 (4-23) batting average with runners in scoring position and two outs...Was placed on the 15-Day Disabled List on April 21 with a moderate injury to his left hamstring...Was activated on May 23...Returned to action that evening and allowed three runs to the Yankees in 0.1 of an inning...After returning from the DL, he yielded 16 runs over his next 12.2 innings (11.37 ERA), spanning 15 outings...Was optioned to Buffalo (AAA) of the International League on July 9...Recalled on August 12 after not allowing a run in 12 of his 15 outings with the Bisons...Optioned back to Buffalo on August 14...Recalled for a final time on August 17...Constructed a 5.73 ERA (seven earned runs/11.0 innings) in 12 games after August 17...Converted both save opportunities with Buffalo: July 27 at Columbus and August 8 vs. Columbus.

2009

Was with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of the Japanese Central League for his 11th consecutive season...Broke a franchise record with his 21st consecutive scoreless appearance on June 21st at Tokyo...Extended his own record to 25 straight before finally allowing a run on July 11th for the first time in more than two months...Made his 500th career Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) appearance on August 29th vs. the Chunichi Dragons at Tokyo...Posted a 3-2 record with a 3.19 ERA in 56 games...In 53.2 innings, he allowed only 42 hits, 19 runs, with 44 strikeouts.

2008

Pitched for the first time in 18 months on March 28th and threw 1.0 scoreless inning...Hit 98.12 mph on the stadium's radar gun during a game on September 20th vs. the Yokohama Bay Stars at Tokyo...Rebounded from Tommy John surgery to post a 3-2 record with a 2.47 ERA and three saves in 44 contest...He recorded 42 strikeouts in 43.2 innings...Earned domestic free agency at mid-season, but declined to file for it during offseason with the subsequent goal of moving to the major leagues.

2007

Missed the entire season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in December, 2006.

2006

Bounced between the top club and the farm team during the second half of the season due to right elbow discomfort...Decided to undergo elbow ligament replacement ("Tommy John") surgery after the season.

2005

Chosen in the fan balloting to be a Nippon Professional Baseball All-Star for the second consecutive season, the fifth time in his career.

2004

Took over as the Swallows closer and posted a league-best 37 saves...Named to the NPB All-Star Game in fan balloting...Hit 98.75 mph vs. Akihiro Yano of the Hanshin Tigers, which is the record for fastest pitch by a Japanese pitcher in an NPB game...The average speed of his pitches over the course of the season was 96.6mph, which is another NPB record...Made 66 appearances, the third consecutive season he pitched in at least 60 games.

2003

Made his second consecutive trip to the All-Star Game, his third overall selection...Pitched in over 60 games for the second consecutive season.

2002

Earned his second career All-Star Game nod...Posted career-bests with a 2.02 ERA and 97 strikeouts...Appeared in 64 games and went 8-2 with 0.86 WHIP.

2001

Pitched in 41 games, despite multiple injuries he suffered over the course of the season...Made his Japan Championship Series debut vs. the Kintetsu Buffalos on October 21st.

2000

Named an All-Star for the first time in his career...Won a career-high 11 games.

1999

Made his top team debut on April 20th vs. the Chunichi Dragons at Tokyo...Hurled 1.0 scoreless inning to pick up his first career NPB win on May 27th vs. the Yokohama Bay Stars at Tokyo...Finished his second professional season with six wins.

1998

Spent his entire first professional season with the Swallows farm team...Won the MVP in the Japanese Minor League Championship Game.