Kazushi Saeki

Kazushi Saeki (佐伯 和司)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 180 lb.

• High School Koryo High School

• Born June 5, 1952 in Miwa, Yamaguchi Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Kazushi Saeki pitched for eleven seasons in Nippon Pro Baseball, making three All-Star teams.

Saeki struck out 18 in a high school tournament game as a senior. The Hiroshima Carp took him in the first round of the 1970 NPB draft. He was only 4-9 with a 4.32 ERA as a rookie in 1971. In 1972, he improved to 6-8, 3.07. He allowed a .222 opponent average but walked 66 in 132 innings. He was 10th in the Central League in ERA, .06 behind #9 Katsuji Sakai.

In 1973, the Miwa native had his busiest season, setting career highs in games pitched (45, 35 of them starts), innings (277 2/3), wins (19), losses (16), batters faced (1,112), strikeouts (166), shutouts (6) and walks (78). He held opponents to a .211 average and had a 1.04 WHIP. He was five wins behind leader Yutaka Enatsu and three losses behind leader Yoshiro Sotokoba. His 2.30 ERA ranked fifth, between Hiromu Matsuoka and Keishi Asano. He was one shutout behind co-leaders Kazumi Takahashi and Enatsu and made his first CL All-Star team.

The right-hander fell down to 2-7, 4.70 in 1974. He rebounded to 15-10, 2.91 with a .226 average against in 1975. He tossed three shutouts to tie Senichi Hoshino and Sotokoba for the league lead. He was 7th in the league in ERA, between Mitsuo Inaba and Sotokoba. In the 1975 Japan Series, his only Japan Series, he fared poorly. After a game one tie, he started game two and lost to Hisashi Yamada and the Hankyu Braves. He also started game five, another loss to Yamada, as Hiroshima fell in six contests. For the Series, he allowed seven runs in 7 2/3 IP and was 1 for 2 at the plate. The hit was unusual as he once had a stretch of 71 consecutive plate appearances without a hit, a CL record at the time, and his hit came off Yamada, a superstar hurler.

In 1976, he was far less effective (10-13, 4.37, .295 opponent average). He still made his second All-Star team. He moved to the Nippon Ham Fighters in a trade with Yukinobu Miyamoto and Toshimi Kubo for Yasuo Minagawa, Satoshi Niimi, Junzo Uchida and Toshihiko Kosaka in 1977 and was 6-8 with two saves and a 3.54 ERA. He went 13-13 with a 4.11 ERA in 1978. He made the Pacific League All-Star team but led the PL in both earned runs allowed (103) and homers surrendered (29).

Kazushi had a 11-11, 4.16 record in 1979 then was only 2-4 with a 5.36 ERA in 1980. He returned to Hiroshima for his final season, 1981, but was a shadow of his former self (0-1, 6.06, .328 opponent average in 6 games).

Overall, Saeki had gone 88-100 with two saves and a 3.62 ERA in 302 NPB games (256 starts). He had batted .073/.109/.079. After his career ended, he was a batting practice pitcher then a coach for the Carp.

Source: Japan Baseball Daily by Gary Garland