Kenta Ishida

Kenta Ishida (石田 健大)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 10", Weight 182 lb.
• School Hosei University
• High School Hiroshima Technical High School

• Born March 1, 1993 in Hiroshima, Hiroshima Japan

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Kenta Ishida started his career in Nippon Pro Baseball when he was drafted by the Yokohama BayStars in the second round of 2014 NPB draft. Between 2015 and 2022, he has spent part of every season but two with Yokohama's ni-gun team in the Eastern League. He was a star pitcher in college and played for the Japanese national collegiate team in a series against the United States in 2013.

His best season came in 2016 when he spent the entire year with the senior team, going 9-4, 3.12 in 25 games and struck out 132 batters in 153 innings. He played in the 2016 NPB All-Star Game, and started the second game for the Central League on July 16th, pitching two scoreless innings. He then played for the Japanese national team after the season in a tour of the Netherlands; he then was on the designated pitcher pool for the Japanese team that took part in the 2017 World Baseball Classic, but was not activated.

After his promising debut, he did not spend another full season in the Central League again until 2020, by which time he was a full-time reliever and went 1-4, 2.53 in 50 games for the Bay Stars. He had been Yokohama's opening day starter in 2017, before an elbow injury derailed his season, and he began to shuffle between the two levels. He did pitch in the 2017 Japan Series against the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks, starting Game 5 on November 2nd, but Yokohama ended up on the losing side in six games. He was again the opening day starter in 2018 but was saddled with a loss on his way to going 3-7, 4.97. By 2020, not only was he working strictly out of the bullpen, but he was a specialized lefty reliever, logging no saves and working just 42 2/3 innings. In fact, he has never recorded a save at either level during his career. An ERA of 5.73 in 2021 sent him back down to the ni-gun squad and he again shuffled between the two levels in 2022.

As a rookie in 2015, he was a footnote to history when Yokohama's closer, fellow rookie Yasuaki Yamasaki, saved his 2-1 win over the Yakult Swallows on August 20th, setting a new rookie record in NPB with 31 saves. Yamasaki would go on to save 37 games that year.