Shō Kusaka

is a professional Japanese baseball player. He plays pitcher for the Chunichi Dragons.

Kusaka was the first-round draft pick for the Chunichi Dragons in the 2023 Nippon Professional Baseball draft.

Early career Kusaka started playing baseball from year while at Wake Municipal Fujino Elementary School. At Wake Municipal Middle school, he played for a rubber-ball team.

He would enter Sōshi Gakuen Senior High School, and make the bench in his sophomore year. Kusaka's fastest speed at this point was 146 km/h, but his teammate from the same grade, Junya Nishi, was the absolute ace. As a result, Kusaka never pitched in an official summer game during his three years in high school.

After graduating high school, Kusaka would enter Asia University. Until spring of his sophomore year, he had only one league appearance to his name, but in fall of his senior year he was given more opportunities to pitch where he posted a 0.29 ERA receiving a valuable player award. while in fall of the same year, he threw a personal best high velocity of 153km/h. On 28 September, he submitted his intention to turn pro with NPB.

On 26 October at the 2023 Nippon Professional Baseball draft, Kusaka was selected in the first round by the Chunichi Dragons and Chiba Lotte Marines after each team had missed out on Ryūki Watarai, with the Dragons prevailing in the lottery. On 14 December he was officially unveiled with the other 2023 draftees being presented with the 14 previously worn by former team aces Shinji Imanaka and Eiji Bandō.

Professional career On 16 January 2024, it was reported that Kusaka had a ulnar collateral ligament sprain preventing him from throwing. On 30 January, it was confirmed that Kusaka would undergo Tommy John surgery ruling him out of the 2024 season.

Pitching Style Kusaka throws a fastball that tops out at 153km/h. aspires to master a 'fireball fastball' akin to Kyuji Fujikawa,