Kazuhiko Yamashita

Kazuhiko Yamashita (山下 和彦)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 202 lb.

• High School Yanagigaura High School

• Born November 29, 1962 in Usa, Oita Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Kazuhiko Yamashita has played in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Yamashita was drafted by the Kintetsu Buffaloes in the fourth round of the 1984 NPB draft. He spent the first year of his career in the NPB Farm Leagues, and made his NPB debut on April 4, 1986. He collected his first hit with the big club, off Masaru Ishikawa, on April 10. Yamashita hit .178/.230/.302 in his rookie year. Because of the degradation of their own catcher Masataka Nashida, Yamashita took the everyday catcher spot, and batted .217/.270/.308 in 1987. In 1987 NPB All-Star Game, Yamashita only had an at-bat in Game 3, and was struck out by Masumi Kuwata. He played 117 games in the 1988 season with a .226/.263/.337 batting line.

Yamashita had the best year of his career in 1989 season. He batted .262/.340/.404 with a career-high 20 doubles, and won the Best Nine award as the catcher. He batted .236/.275/.352 inthe 1990 season, and declined to .129/.235/.141 in the 1991 season. He mainly played backup of Hidekazu Mitsuyama after the 1990 season, and only got 180 at-bats over the next three years.

Yamashita announced that he would become a free agent after the 1994 season, and the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters signed him. The Usa native recorded a .205/.300/.205 batting line in 72 games in the first year with the Fighters. He still couldn't improve his batting, and had a .187/.219/.220 and .216/.279/.256 batting line in the next two years. The veteran announced his retirement after the 1998 season. He then became the battery coach for the Yokohama BayStars from 1999 to 2000, then came back to the Buffaloes from 2001 to 2004. He transferred to the Rakuten Golden Eagles and served as the same position from 2005 to 2006.

Overall, Yamashita had hit .218/.274/.306 in 13 seasons in NPB.