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.