Katsuki Yamazaki

Katsuki Yamazaki (山崎 勝己)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 196 lb.

• High School Hotoku Gakuen High School

• Born August 16, 1982 in Itami, Hyogo Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Katsuki Yamazaki played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 16 years.

Yamazaki was drafted by the Softbank Hawks in the 4th round of the 2000 NPB draft, and he stayed in the minors in his first four seasons. He hit .229/.279/.269 in 105 games in 2006 after Kenji Johjima left the team, and his batting line fell to .185/.219/.196 in 2007. Yamasaki had a .134/.175/.165 batting line in 2008, and he only played 30 games in 2009. He and Hidenori Tanoue split the catching for Softbank in 2010, and his batting line was .210/.256/.283. Yamasaki hit .189/.214/.236 in 2011 (going 1 for 3 with a walk when they won the 2011 Japan Series) and .198/.250/.267 in 2012, then he bounced back with a .252/.314/.345 batting line in 2013.

The Hyogo native announced he would become a free agent after the 2013 season, and the Orix Buffaloes signed him. He struggled in 2014 as his batting line was .108/.147/.123, then he had a .204/.302/.238 batting line in 2015. Yamasaki batted .152/.188/.167 in 2016, and he only got 18 at-bats in 2017. He replaced Hikaru Ito as Orix's backup catcher in 2018, and he played 81 games with a .207/.240/.250 batting line. He was hitless in the next two seasons, and he announced his retirement in 2020. He became the battery coach for the Buffaloes in 2021.

Overall, Yamazaki hit .196/.245/.244 with 300 hits and 4 homers in 16 seasons in NPB.

Sources

• Wiki Japan
• 2011 Japan Series