Suguru Egawa

is a Japanese former pitcher and current baseball analyst. Despite being one of the best pitchers of his generation, Egawa's perceived arrogance and non-conformist ways earned him the media nicknames "Dirty Egawa," "The Giant Devil," and "The Enemy of the People." This was because Egawa was single minded for the team he wanted to play for, which was the Yomiuri Giants. High school career Egawa entered Sakushin Gakuin High School. In his high school career, he recorded two perfect games, nine no-hitters, 20 shutouts, and 30 complete games in 44 games pitched. He closed out his high school career with an earned run average of 0.41, which was significantly lower than Daisuke Matsuzaka (1.12) and Masahiro Tanaka (1.31). In the spring of 1973, he set a still-standing record of 60 strikeouts in National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament. He was nicknamed "The Monster", a nickname that Matsuzaka later received as well. However, he was different from Matsuzaka in not having strong teammates. His team had never won the championship at the Koshien Stadium. College career At Hosei University, Egawa was also a dominant pitcher, setting a number of school records. Professional career Egawa was drafted by the Crown Lighter Lions in 1977, but turned down the team's offer because he wanted only to play for the Yomiuri Giants. Instead, he played semi-pro ball, and 12 months later, he signed a contract with the Giants — despite the fact that the Hanshin Tigers had drafted him number one in the 1978 draft. On November 21, 1978, Egawa was traded to the Giants. Because there was no reverse-draft, this act was regarded as unfair by the other Japanese professional baseball teams, and they protested. Nonetheless, Egawa officially joined the Giants before the 1979 season. (The trade, however, brought Hanshin pitcher Shigeru Kobayashi, who won 22 games that season.)