Kazuhiko Ishimine

Kazuhiko Ishimine (石嶺 和彦)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 8", Weight 165 lb.

• High School Tomishiro High School

• Born January 10, 1961 in Naha, Okinawa Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Kazuhiko Ishimine has played and coached in Nippon Pro Baseball.

The Hankyu Braves and Hiroshima Toyo Carp both drafted Ishimine in the second round of the 1978 NPB draft, and the Braves won the lottery for his rights. Ishimine spent the first two years in his career in the NPB Farm League, and hurt his right knee before the 1980 season. Ishimine debuted on April 6, 1981, and collected his first major league hit from Kenji Tachibana on April 23. He batted .214/.283/.429 in his rookie season, then improved to .250/.313/.461 in 1982 season. When Shinji Sasamoto was traded to the Yomiuri Giants, Ishimine gained a chance to start as the catcher, but he then suffered the same knee injury and missed the season in August. He was turned into a pinch-hitter in 1984 season, and recorded a .231/.308/.454 batting line in 120 plate appearances. In the 1984 Nippon Series, he was 2 for 6 but became the last out for the Braves in Game 7. In 1985, Ishimine broke the Pacific League record for 6 pinch-hitting homers, and recorded a .302/.402/.631 batting line with 14 dingers in this year.

Ishimine secured the starting designated hitter spot in 1986, and he had the best performance in that spot. He broke the NPB record for 56 consecutive games to get on the bases, and was selected into the All-Star Game. He ended up batting .300/.369/.568 with 33 homers and 56 RBI, and ranked 5th in home runs and RBI. He also won his first Best Nine award as a designated hitter. Although troubling by Hepatitis before the season started, Ishimine still extended his elite batting in 1987. In the 1987 NPB All-Star Games, Ishimine was 3 for 8 between Game 1 and Game 2. He shined in Game 3, when he collected a double off Masumi Kuwata in 2nd, a single from Takamasa Suzuki in the 6th and blasted a 2-run dinger off Kiyoki Nakanishi. He became the fifth batter to hit a home run for 6 consecutive games in September 10. The Naha native ended up at .317/.372/.572 with 34 homers, and won the Best Nine Award again. He ranked 6th in batting average, 3rd in hits (157, 27 behind Hiromasa Arai), 4th in homers (9 behind Koji Akiyama), 4th in RBI (28 behind Greg Wells) and 5th in slugging. He batted .296/.350/.475 with 22 dingers in 1988

When Hiromitsu Kadota joined the team, Ishimine started to play outfielder starting in the 1989 season. His batting was influenced, as his batting line declined to .277/.335/.464 with 20 home runs. The Braves then decided to let him play full-time outfielder; his hitting returned. In 1990 NPB All-Star Game, Ishimine collected a hit from Masaki Saito in Game 1, but was retired three times - by Hiroki Nomura in 2nd, Masao Kida in 5th and Kazuhiko Endo in 8th inning. In Game 2, he singled off Tsuyoshi Yoda in the 2nd, then blasted a 2-run shot off Kenjiro Kawasaki in the 5th inning. He batted .273/.358/.529with a career-high 37 homers and 106 RBI in this year. He led the league in RBI, tied Yasuo Fujii for 2nd in homers (5 behind Orestes Destrade), and 9th in slugging. He also won the Best Nine award as an outfielder. In 1991, he was selected into the All-Star Game again, and recorded a 1-for-3 among the two games. He batted .269/.333/.467 with 21 dingers, and led the league in sacrifice flies with 11. The slugger recorded a .267/.321/.407 and .273/.339/.469 batting line respectively in the next two years.

Ishimine announced that he would become a free agent after the 1993 season, and signed a 102-million-yen contract with the Hanshin Tigers. He batted .246/.281/.396 with 17 homers in the first year with the Tigers, but declined to .240/.292/.401 in 1995 season. He suffered from the old right knee injury, ending a 894 consecutive games played streak on July 12. It was the fifth-longest streak in NPB history to that point, behind Sachio Kinugasa, Tokuji Iida, contemporary Katsumi Hirosawa and Fumio Fujimura.

After hitting .161/.257/.258 in 1996 season, Ishimine announced his retirement, and became a broadcaster. He then served as the hitting coach for the Chunichi Dragons from 2004 to 2011. He transferred to the Yokohama BayStars in 2013, then joined the Orix Buffaloes in 2014. He only coached the Buffaloes for one year.

Overall, Ishimine had hit .273/.335/.476 with 269 home runs in 16 seasons in NPB.