Daiki Kiyohara

Daiki Kiyohara (清原 大貴)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 185 lb.

• High School Joso Gakuin High School

• Born June 11, 1989 in Ryugasaki, Ibaraki Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Daiki Kiyohara pitched in Japan, the US and Australia and for the Japanese national team.

Kiyohara was taken by the Hanshin Tigers in the 4th round of the 2007 NPB draft's high school phase. He struggled in ni-gun in 2008 (7.20 ERA). Assigned to the Hawaii Winter League, he was 1-1 with a 5.79 ERA for the West Oahu CaneFires but with 15 K:1 BB in 14 IP. He had a 4.26 ERA in ni-gun but missed significant time with injuries.

He replaced the injured Ren Nakata on Japan's squad for the 2010 Intercontinental Cup after missing the whole summer. He did very well, going 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA and tying David Bergman, Dalier Hinojosa, Orlando Yntema, Petr Minarik and Marco Grifantini for the Cup lead in wins. He struck out two of three batters he faced in a scoreless 8th against Nicaragua. He got the win against the second-place Dutch national team with another 1-2-3 8th with 2 K, with the save being provided by Yusuke Uemura. Against Taiwan, he was a bright spot for Japan in a 12-5 loss, pitching 2 1/3 shutout innings (1 H, 1 BB, 3 K). Finally, in the 5th/6th place game, he got the win against South Korea with 1 1/3 shutout innings (1 H, 2 K), relieving Hideki Sunaga with two outs in the 5th and being replaced by Uemura in the 7th. Shigeru Kaga saved the 2-1 win for him.

Back in health, he had a 4-4, 2.24 record in the minors in 2011 and got his only start in Nippon Pro Baseball, allowing one run in five, losing a duel with the Hiroshima Carp's Kan Otake. He struggled with the Canberra Cavalry in the 2011-2012 Australian Baseball League (9.82 ERA, 12 H, 4 WP in 7 1/3 IP). He missed most of 2012 with illness. In 2013, he finished his NPB career with 4 IP (7 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 3 K).

He then went to college and became the coach at Kokoku High School. His repertoire as a pitcher included a curveball, forkball, shuuto, change-up, slider and fastball (peak 92.5 mph).