Kenichi Yamazaki

Kenichi Yamazaki (山崎 賢一)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 8", Weight 165 lb.

• High School Tokorozawa Shogyo High School

• Born July 20, 1962 in Nerima, Tokyo Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Kenichi Yamazaki has played in Nippon Pro Baseball.

The Taiyo Whales signed Yamazaki in 1980, but he spent the first four season of his career in the NPB Farm Leagues. Yamazaki created a special type of bat, called "Kokeshi Bat" in the ni-gun, which helped the power-lacking Yamazaki improve his contact ability. Yamazaki debuted on April 24, 1985, and collected his first hit with the big club from Mitsunori Kakehata on September 12. He led the Eastern League in steals with 22, but only played 32 games in the major league in this season. The Shigi native gained some chances when Hirokazu Kato was injured in 1986. He was mainly used to pinch-hit or pinch-run in this year, in which batted .245/.295/.303 and played 97 games. Yamazaki struggled in 1987, as his batting line declined to .174/.191/.348. He bounced back soon, as he recorded a .297/.337/.396 batting line with 28 RBI in the 1988 season.

Yamazaki finally broke out in the 1989 season. In 1989 NPB All-Star Game 2, Yamazaki got a clutch 2-run single off Seiichi Sato in the 8th inning, and helped the Pacific League win the game. He batted .309/.341/.424 with 7 RBI, and won both the Best Nine and NPB Gold Glove Award. However, Yamazaki faced a waist injury in 1990 season, which caused his batting line to fall to .259/.315/.342. He still won the Gold Glove again. Yamazaki never played more than 65 games after the 1990 season due to the injury, and the Whales released him after the 1993 season. The Fukuoka Daiei Hawks picked him up. Yamazaki recorded a .242/.294/.321 batting line in 2 years with the Hawks, then announced his retirement after 1995 season. He was the assistant hitting coach for the Hawks in 1998.

Overall, Yamazaki had hit .265/.323/.354 in 11 seasons in NPB.