Hisanori Yokota

Hisanori Yokota (横田 久則) (George)

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 185 lb.

• High School Naga High School

• Born September 8, 1967 in Wakayama, Wakayama Japan

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Hisanori Yokota was a long-time pitcher in Asia.

Yokota was picked by the Seibu Lions in the 6th round of the 1985 NPB draft. They farmed him out to the 1986 San Jose Bees, where he was 9-10 with a 4.77 ERA. Known by the nickname of George in the US, Yokota led the California League with 10 complete games and won more games than any other San Jose hurler. He made his Nippon Pro Baseball debut with Seibu in 1987 and was dominant at 5-2, 1.64. Despite that performance, it was his only NPB appearance of the 1980s.

In 1991, Yokota resurfaced with a 2-2, 3.02 record in 24 outings for the Lions. He allowed 7 runs in 10 1/3 IP and went 0-1 in 1992 and tossed four shutout innings in 1993 but walked seven. He did not pitch in NPB in 1994. He went 6-7 with a 3.81 ERA and 99 K in 101 2/3 IP as a solid member of the rotation in 1995.

Hisanori went 4-7 with a 3.58 ERA in 1966 but battled control issues with 55 walks in 88 innings. He fell to 0-6, 7.30 in 1997 with 40 hits in 24 2/3 IP. In 1998, he rebounded to go 6-9 with a 3.35 ERA. Had he qualified, he would have ranked 4th in the Pacific League in ERA. He started and lost game five of the 1998 Japan Series, bombed for five hits and three runs in two innings as Seibu fell in six to the Yokohama BayStars and their "machine gun" offense. Game 5 was the worst, a 17-5 affair.

Yokota fell to 1-4, 6.65 in 1999 in another turnaround, with 34 hits in 21 2/3 IP. He did not pitch for Seibu in 2000. Moving to the Chiba Lotte Marines in 2001, he had a 1-4, 4.70 record. He went 1-1 with 8 runs in 9 innings for the 2002 Hanshin Tigers.

Yokota also won ERA titles in both of Japan's minor leagues over the years.

In 2003, Yokota signed with the Brother Elephants in Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League. The 35-year-old veteran went 16-3 with a 2.90 ERA and led the CPBL in both wins and winning percentage while finishing 9th in ERA. He fanned 162 in 164 2/3 IP. During the 2004 campaign, he was a bit less effective at 9-8, 3.34 with 160 K in 140 1/3 IP.

Yokota was pitching coach for the Elephants in 2005 and 2006.

Overall, the right-hander had gone 26-43 with a 3.57 ERA in 130 NPB games, 25-11 with a 3.10 ERA in the CPBL and 9-10 with a 4.70 ERA in the US minors.

His fastball peaked at 91 mph.

Sources

• Japan Baseball Daily by Gary Garland
• Chinese Wiki Baseball
• 1988 Baseball America Statistics Report
• 2004 Baseball Almanac