Nippon Ham Fighters right-hander Hiromi Ito has won the 2025 Eiji Sawamura Award, recognizing the most outstanding starting pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball, for a stellar season in which he led both the Pacific and Central leagues with 195 strikeouts and 14 wins.The 28-year-old was named a first-time winner of the award Monday after the selection committee shortlisted him with three others -- the Hanshin Tigers' Shoki Murakami, the DeNA BayStars' Katsuki Azuma and the SoftBank Hawks' Kohei Arihara.Ito went 14-8 with a 2.52 ERA in 27 games for the PL's Fighters, while also leading bo…READ FULL ARTICLE