Just call Chihiro Kaneko a late bloomer.
The Orix Buffaloes hurler isn't usually mentioned alongside Yu Darvish, Toshiya Sugiuchi, Tsuyoshi Wada and others as one of Japan's top pitchers. Even so, none of the aforementioned pitchers can hold a candle to the numbers Kaneko has put up over the last two months.
Kaneko went 4-7 during the first three months of the season, including an 0-3 mark and a bloated 5.34 ERA over four starts in June.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.