Shōtarō Kasahara

Shōtarō Kasahara (笠原 祥太郎) is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher play for the Oisix Niigata Albirex Baseball Club. He has previously played in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Yokohama DeNA BayStars and Chunichi Dragons and in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) for the TSG Hawks.

Amateur career
Kashara was admitted to Niigata University of Health and Welfare without consideration for his baseball talent and was able to, over time, increase his velocity from throwing in the mid 130s (km/h) to throwing in the high 140s (km/h).In the 2016 university fall league, he achieved a 0.72 ERA, claimed the most wins title and was chosen in the Best 9.

Chunichi Dragons
Kasahara was the 4th pick for the Chunichi Dragons at the 2016 Nippon Professional Baseball draft.

Yokohama DeNA Baystars
On 9 December 2022, Kasahara was traded for Seiya Hosokawa in the 2022 Current Player Draft. He made only 2 starts for Yokohama in 2023, posting an 0–2 record and 4.50 ERA with 5 strikeouts in 6.0 innings of work.

TSG Hawks
On November 26, 2023, Kasahara signed with the TSG Hawks of the Chinese Professional Baseball League. In three starts for the Hawks, he compiled a 3.18 ERA with 13 strikeouts across 17 innings pitched. Kasahara was released by the Hawks on June 8, 2024.

International career
On October 10, 2018, he was selected Japan national baseball team at the 2018 MLB Japan All-Star Series.