Issei Endo

Issei Endo (遠藤 一星)

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 171 lb.

• School Chuo University
• High School Komaba Gakuen High School

• Born March 23, 1989 in Shinjuku, Tokyo Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Issei Endo has played in Nippon Pro Baseball and for the Japanese national team.

Endo played for Tokyo Gas in the industrial leagues after college, then played for Japan in the 2014 Asian Games. He hit .385/.500/.462 with 6 runs in 4 games, including 3 runs in a win over China in the Bronze Medal Game. He tied Ken Tanaka for 2nd on the team in runs, one behind Yuichi Tabata. He split first base with Shun Ishikawa (15 PO, 1 A, 0 E) and short with Toshihiko Kuramoto (1 A, 0 E). The Chunichi Dragons took him in the 7th round of the 2014 NPB draft.

He made his debut with the big club in 2015, pinch-hitting for Katsuki Matayoshi June 27 and drawing a walk from Shota Nakazaki. His first hit came off Shingo Hirata July 1 and his first dinger was off Masato Furuno later that month. He split the season between the Dragons (.271/.348/.386 in 41 G) and their farm team (.276/.363/.448 in 30 G). He backed up Anderson Hernandez at SS for Chunichi.

In 2016, he backed up Masahiro Araki and Hernandez at 2B and Naomichi Donoue at SS, hitting .180/.265/.230 in 27 games; on the farm, he hit .295/.341/.404 with 9 steals in 10 tries. He continued switching positions, moving to the outfield in 2017. He had 41 putouts, one assist and no errors for the top team while batting .225/.262/.333; in the minors, he was at .283/.348/.423 with 10 steals in 10 attempts.

Endo spent almost all of 2018 on the farm (.236/.208/.316 in 87 G), going 0 for 1 for the big team. He was not in the minors at all the next year, hitting .270/.314/.396 in 120 plate appearances over 108 games for the big club. He fielded .985 in the outfield.