Kazuki Inoue

Kazuki Inoue (井上 一樹) (Pinky)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 6' 0", Weight 176 lb.

• High School Kagoshima Commercial High School

• Born July 25, 1971 in Kirishima, Kagoshima Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Kazuki Inoue played 16 seasons in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Inoue once considered a sumo wrestling career as some relatives were sumo wrestlers. He was drafted by the Chunichi Dragons in the second round of the 1989 NPB draft. He began his career as a pitcher, going 0-1 with a 7.24 ERA in 8 outings in 1991, walking 15 in 13 2/3 IP. He was 1 for 2 at the plate, getting a hit off Yasuo Kubo. He tossed one shutout inning in 1992 but walked two batters. Back problems moved him off the mound and he became an outfielder in 1993.

Inoue was MVP of a minor league All-Star Game in 1994. He hit .255/.309/.392 in 55 plate appearances for the Dragons that year. He was 3 for 23 with a walk and nine whiffs in 1995 then did not appear the next year. In 1997, he batted .288/.297/.438 in 74 plate appearances, with his first two homers (his first came off Hiroki Kuroda).

A combination of factors opened a starting role for Inoue in 1998: OF Alonzo Powell left the team, as did 1B Yasuaki Taiho, with OF Takeshi Yamasaki moving to 1B to take his spot. Inoue hit .264/.332/.415 that year. In 1999, he improved his batting line to .296/.357/.424 with 10 homers and a career-high 65 RBI. He tied Toshio Haru and Jong-beom Lee for 4th in the Central League with five triples and missed the top 10 in average by 8 points. He had opened the season with a 21-game hitting streak. He also got the nickname "pinky" due to his preference of wearing pink wristbands. He went 0 for 13 with two walks and five whiffs in the 1999 Japan Series as Chunichi fell to the Daiei Hawks.

In 2000, the Kagoshima native hit .281/.330/.457 with a career-best 20 doubles and 11 home runs. He produced at a .259/.313/.355 clip in 2001, but only homered twice in 321 AB. He hit .245/.302/.412 in 2002. When Chunichi picked up Alex Ochoa for 2003, Inoue was moved back to the bench, where he hit .252/.317/.383 in 126 plate appearances over 75 games.

Ochoa replaced Takayuki Onishi in center in 2004 and Inoue again became a regular - .276/.354/.442, 11 HR. He was 7 for 17 with a double, home run and 8 RBI in the 2004 Japan Series as Chunichi lost in 7 games to the Seibu Lions; he was one RBI behind Motonobu Tanishige for the team lead. He won the Fighting Spirit Award as MVP of the losing club.

In 2005, Inoue hit .302/.335/.490 with 10 HR in 245 AB in a part-time role, his first time over .300. He improved to .311/.340/.476 with 11 HR and 39 RBI in 273 AB in 2006. He was 4 for 15 with a double, two walks and a RBI in the 2006 Japan Series; Chunichi lost to the Nippon Ham Fighters.

Kazuki was relegated to the pine once more in 2007, as Chunichi signed Byung-kyu Lee; he hit .292/.352/.427 in 71 games. He was 0 for 1 in the 2007 Japan Series as Chunichi beat Nippon Ham to give Inoue his lone Japan Series title. He homered three times in the 2007 Asia Series for an Asia Series record after only three homers all regular season in Japan. He also hit the 7,500th homer in franchise history, taking Lance Carter deep on June 5.

The veteran hit .291/.346/.397 as a solid bench player in 2008 but was only 3 for 46 with a double, triple, walk and 14 Ks in 2009. Overall, he had batted .275/.330/.421 with 79 home runs, 319 runs and 349 RBI in 1,215 games. He had a 0-1, 6.75 record in 9 games as a pitcher. He fielded .991 in 892 outfield games, with 44 assists.

After retiring as a player, Inoue coached and managed in the minors for Chunichi then was a coach for them in 2012-2013 before becoming a baseball commentator on the radio.

Sources

• Defunct Japanbaseballdaily.com website
• Japanese Wikipedia entry