Shoki Hayashi vs Darrell Sanchez: The WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup World Championship Final pitching duel

Puerto Rico and Japan will meet in the WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup Final on Sunday, at 7 pm local time, at Edgar Renteria Stadium in Barranquilla, Colombia. Both managers have announced their pitchers for the game, with Shoki Hayashi taking the ball for Japan and Darrell Sanchez for Puerto Rico. Let's take a look at their performance and tendencies using data provided by Synergy Sports.

Shoki Hashashi has two appearances in the tournament, with a win and a 4.20 ERA. He has pitched 8.1 innings while striking out nine. His first appearance of the tournament was against the Dominican Republic, where he was not very effective. He worked 3.2 innings while giving up eight hits and six runs (five of them earned), with two walks and six Ks. He earned the win during this game. He was much better against Chinese Taipei, starting the game and going 4.2 innings with two hits and no runs, striking out three.

Using the data provided by WBSC partner Synergy, he finds the strike zone with the 59% of his pitches, with a swing rate of 42% and a miss rate of 23%. He relies on three different pitches, a mid 80s fastball (84.6 MPH average); a curveball (65.6 MPH average) and a slider (74.7 MPH average).

Hashashi has used the heater 56% of the time, clocking 88 MPH three times in the event, 70% of these pitches have been strike. He mixes this pitch with a curveball and a slider, throwing them 24% and 17% of the time respectively. This two pitches combined have landed in the strike zone 46% of the time, with a swing rate of 28%.

During this tournament he proved to be a ground ball pitcher. Hashashi has induced grounders on 60% of the balls in play. 

Darrell Sanchez made two starts in the tournament, against Guam and Italy. Against Guam, he pitched three innings, with no hits, no runs, one walk and six strikeouts. He faced the minimum nine batters in this game. Against Italy, he tossed 2.2 innings giving up five hits and three runs, walking three opponents and striking out three. Overall, he has a 3.71 ERA with one win.

According to Synergy, using the data of the Americas Qualifier and the World Cup, Darrell Sanchez has been a ground ball pitcher, inducing ground balls the 52% of the times the ball is in play. 

He has used his fastball 83% of the time, finding the strike zone on a regular basis. His average speed is 77.5, MPH topping 82 MPH. He has a high rate of swing and miss with this pitch, at 40%.

His secondary pitch is a curveball with good movement, which he’s thrown 14% of the time with a 67.5 MPH average. 62% of his curveballs have been a strike, with hitters swinging 52% and missing 18%.

Overall in the World Cup only, 57% of his pitches have been a strike, with a 44% swing rate and a high 45% miss rate.