Selection process

One starting pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball is chosen at the end of each season based on the following selection criteria.

• Games started: 25 or more
• Wins: 15 or more
• Complete games: 10 or more
• Winning percentage: .600 or higher
• Innings pitched: 200 or more
• Earned run average (ERA): 2.50 or lower
• Strikeouts: 150 or more

The selection criteria were established in 1982; prior to this, a pool of journalists voted on the pitcher they thought was most deserving of the award without any particular criteria. These simply serve as guidelines; while the pitcher who fulfills the most criteria has the most likelihood of winning, pitchers who do not fulfill all seven criteria have often been presented the award.^{[citation needed][1]}

In the rare event that another pitcher has a season that is deemed more outstanding, a pitcher may, in turn, fulfill all seven criteria and not win the award. In 2008, Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters starting pitcher Yu Darvish (16–4 win–loss record, 1.88 ERA, 208 strikeouts) fulfilled all seven criteria, but Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles starting pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma won the award despite meeting only six criteria because it was deemed that Iwakuma (21–4, 1.87 ERA, 159 strikeouts) had the better season overall.^{[citation needed]}

The selection committee usually consists of five former pitchers.^[2]

Other notes

Because it began as an independent award by Nekkyū, a magazine catered towards Giants fans, only Central League pitchers were eligible to win the award from 1950 (the first year the NPB employed the current two-league format) to 1989. The first pitcher to be bestowed the honors from the Pacific League was Hideo Nomo for the Kintetsu Buffaloes in 1990.^{[citation needed]}

No pitcher was found to be sufficiently deserving of the award in 1971, 1980, 1984, 2000, and 2019.^[2] The award has been presented to two pitchers in the same season twice (1966, 2003).^{[citation needed]}