Kazunari Abe

Kazunari Abe (阿部 和成)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 156 lb.
• High School Omuta High School
• Born May 19, 1989 in Omuta, Fukuoka Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Pitcher Kazunari Abe played Nippon Professional Baseball for 8 years.

He was taken by the Chiba Lotte Marines in the 4th round of the 2007 NPB draft. He had a 2-4, 3.29 record the next summer in ni-gun but struggled his next two years on the farm (5.00 in 2009, 6.56 in 2010). He improved in 2011, making the minor league All-Star game and getting called up to the big club for the first time. He was 0-2 with a 12.96 ERA, 17 hits and 7 walks in 8 1/3 IP for the Marines in NPB that year, a rough debut.

Abe was 0-2 with a 3.95 ERA in six games in 2012 and 2-0, 4.22 in five games in 2013. He spent all of 2014 with Chiba Lotte's farm club and struggled in the minors (5-9, 6.27). He returned to the Marines in NPB during 2015. Abe went 1-1 with a 1.50 ERA in the '15 season, and he pitched 13 games with a 4.67 ERA in 2016. He only had 11 more appearances with the big club until he announced his retirement in 2019.

Overall, Abe was 3-6 with a 4.92 ERA, struck out 38 and pitched 104 1/3 innings in 8 years in the NPB.