The , commonly known as the Sawamura Award, is an honor bestowed upon the top starting pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball each year, when deemed necessary.
The award was originally established by Japanese magazine "Nekkyū" in 1947 to honor the career of Eiji Sawamura, a power pitcher who enjoyed an illustrious career for the Tokyo Giants before being killed in combat during World War II. It is a special award that is independent of the official Most Valuable Pitcher award that is presented to one pitcher in each league (Central and Pacific) each year.
Overview
Selection process One starting pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball is chosen at the end of each season based on the following selection criteria. Games started: 25 or more Wins: 15 or more Complete games: 10 or more (1947–2025), 8 or more (2026–) Winning percentage: .600 or higher Innings pitched: 200 or more (1947–2025), 180 or more (2026–) Earned run average (ERA): 2.50 or lower Strikeouts: 150 or more
The selection criteria were established in ; prior to this, a pool of journalists voted on the pitcher they thought was most deserving of the award without any particular criteria. These simply serve as guidelines; while the pitcher who fulfills the most criteria has the most likelihood of winning, pitchers who do not fulfill all seven criteria have often been presented the award.
In the rare event that another pitcher has a season that is deemed more outstanding, a pitcher may, in turn, fulfill all seven criteria and not win the award. In , Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters starting pitcher Yu Darvish (16–4 win–loss record, 1.88 ERA, 208 strikeouts) fulfilled all seven criteria, but Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles starting pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma won the award despite meeting only six criteria because it was deemed that Iwakuma (21–4, 1.87 ERA, 159 strikeouts) had the better season overall.
The selection committee usually consists of five former pitchers.
Other notes Because it began as an independent award by Nekkyū, a magazine catered towards Giants fans, only Central League pitchers were eligible to win the award from (the first year the NPB employed the current two-league format) to . The first pitcher to be bestowed the honors from the Pacific League was Hideo Nomo for the Kintetsu Buffaloes in .
No pitcher was found to be sufficiently deserving of the award in , , , , , and . The award has been presented to two pitchers in the same season twice (, ).
Winners Bold names indicate pitchers who met all seven criteria (limited to 1982 and later winners)
Year Player TeamRef 1947 Nankai Hawks 1948 Yomiuri Giants 1949 Yomiuri Giants 1950 Shochiku Robins 1951 Chunichi Dragons 1952 Chunichi Dragons 1953 Yomiuri Giants 1954 Chunichi Dragons 1955 Yomiuri Giants 1956 Kokutetsu Swallows 1957 Kokutetsu Swallows 1958 Kokutetsu Swallows 1959 Hanshin Tigers 1960 Yomiuri Giants 1961 Chunichi Dragons 1962 Hanshin Tigers 1963 Yomiuri Giants 1964 Hanshin Tigers 1965 Hanshin Tigers 1966 Hanshin Tigers Yomiuri Giants 1967 Chunichi Dragons 1968 Hanshin Tigers 1969 Yomiuri Giants 1970 Taiyo Whales 1971 Not awarded 1972 Yomiuri Giants 1973 Yomiuri Giants 1974 Chunichi Dragons 1975 Hiroshima Toyo Carp 1976 Hiroshima Toyo Carp 1977 Yomiuri Giants 1978 Yakult Swallows 1979 Hanshin Tigers 1980 Not awarded 1981 Yomiuri Giants 1982 Hiroshima Toyo Carp 1983 Yokohama Taiyo Whales 1984 Not awarded 1985 Chunichi Dragons 1986 Hiroshima Toyo Carp 1987 Yomiuri Giants 1988 Hiroshima Toyo Carp Starting this year, pitchers from the Pacific League also became eligible for selection. 1989 Yomiuri Giants 1990 Kintetsu Buffaloes 1991 Hiroshima Toyo Carp 1992 Seibu Lions 1993 Chunichi Dragons 1994 Chunichi Dragons 1995 Yomiuri Giants 1996 Yomiuri Giants 1997 Seibu Lions 1998 Yakult Swallows 1999 Yomiuri Giants 2000 Not awarded 2001 Seibu Lions 2002 Yomiuri Giants 2003 Hanshin Tigers Fukuoka Daiei Hawks 2004 Chunichi Dragons 2005 Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 2006 Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 2007 Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 2008 Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 2009 Saitama Seibu Lions 2010 Hiroshima Toyo Carp 2011 Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 2012 Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 2013 Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 2014 Orix Buffaloes 2015 Hiroshima Toyo Carp 2016 Hiroshima Toyo Carp 2017 Yomiuri Giants 2018 Yomiuri Giants 2019 Not awarded 2020 Chunichi Dragons 2021 Orix Buffaloes 2022 Orix Buffaloes 2023 Orix Buffaloes 2024 Not awarded 2025 Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
See also
List of Nippon Professional Baseball earned run average champions Cy Young Award (MLB) Choi Dong-won Award (KBO League)
References