Meet Kaima Taira - the Undersized Ace Taking Over Baseball

Since his call up to the Saitama Seibu Lions top team in 2019, reliever turned starter (turned reliever again... turned starter again!) Kaima Taira has rode a high-90s fastball and a nasty 7+ pitch arsenal to NPB success, despite being undersized for a fireballer. For some great sources on him, check out these links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VFMDRPsdzQ (NPB starting pitcher ranking by Yuri Karasawa/Yakyu Cosmopolitan of JapanBall) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6d7NPVf8AU ("Best Pitcher in NPB Right Now?" podcast episode from JapanBall) https://www.prospectslive.com/kaima-taira-npb-scouting-report/ (Kaima Taira scouting report by Brandon Tew) https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2026/09/14/baseball/japanese-baseball/kaima-taira-npb-data/ ("Kaima Taira uses data and science in pursuit of pitching perfection" japan times article) https://npbscholar.com/dashboard?player=p-da5cd66d7974&season=2026&range_mode=season&start_date=2026-03-27&end_date=2026-09-17 (Kaima Taira analytics page from NPB Scholar, a great website) https://yakyucosmo.streamlit.app/pitcher_percentiles (Kaima Taira analytics page from Yakyu Cosmopolitan's website/app, search "Taira Kaima") These are some great sources for following Japanese baseball: https://japanball.com/ https://www.yakyucosmo.com/ https://www.youtube.com/@JapanBall https://www.youtube.com/@GaijinBaseball https://x.com/GaijinBaseball https://www.youtube.com/@PacificLeagueTVofficial https://x.com/MOP_KNOWS https://x.com/ThomasLSeagull https://thomasloveseagull.substack.com/ https://x.com/PacificSwings https://npbbasement.com/ https://x.com/bouno05 https://x.com/Pitching606 https://x.com/lucasborjaNPB https://x.com/DarkMatter89 https://worldbaseball.com/ I'm 100% sure I'm missing some links here, but all of these should help provide you with the news and stats you may be looking for.