Kazuki Kamizato

Kazuki Kamizato (神里 和毅)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 10", Weight 178 lb.

• School Chuo University
• High School Itoman High School

• Born January 17, 1994 in Shimajiri-gun, Okinawa Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Outfielder Kazuki Kamizato has played for the Japanese national team and in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Kamizato won the Best Nine in the Tohto University Base Ball League, but went undrafted in the 2015 NPB draft. After college, he played for Nippon Life Insurance in the industrial leagues, and made it onto the Japanese roster for the 2017 Asian Championship. He hit .545/.583/.1.182 with a homer, 5 runs and an event-leading 9 RBI in first four games. In the Gold Medal Game, he replaced Asahi Sato late, and went 0-for-1 in a 6-1 win over host Taiwan. Kamizato was named as the All-Star outfielder alongside Tzu-Chieh Lin and Min-hyeok Kim.

Kamizato was picked by the Yokohama BayStars in the 2nd round of the 2017 NPB draft. He debuted on Opening Day, starting in right and hitting 7th. He collected his first career hit from Masanori Ishikawa the next day, and became the 11th NPB rookie to record his first NPB homer as a leadoff homer, off Kan Otake on April 1. Kamizato hit .251/.312/.393 in his rookie year, but he left the game because of a hit-by-pitch from Kosuke Baba on August 12, and missed the rest of the season. The Okinawa native came back in 2019, hit .279/.323/.407 with 6 homers, and attended the 2019 NPB All-Star Game for the first time in his career. He was 0-for-2 in the All-Star Games, retired by Rei Takahashi and Tatsushi Masuda. He shared the starting spot with Takayuki Kajitani in 2020, and recorded a .308/.370/.420 batting line with 3 homers. When Kajitani transferred to the Yomiuri Giants, Kamizato was expected to take his spot. However, he slumped to .191/.231/.327 in the 2021 season. He still couldn't find back his condition, and hit .189/.274/.326 in 2022.