Masaaki Iwashita

Masaaki Iwashita (岩下 正明)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 8", Weight 150 lb.
• High School Shonan High School

• Born January 14, 1955 in Minamikyushu, Kagoshima Japan

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Biographical Information

Masaaki Iwashita was an outfielder in Nippon Pro Baseball in the 1980s.

Iwashita played for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Yokohama after high school. The Yakult Swallows took him in the 4th round of the 1979 NPB draft. In his first at-bat in NPB, he pinch-hit for Toshio Kanbe and singled off Jun Misawa. His first home run, off Takamasa Suzuki, was also as a pinch-hitter. He had a fine rookie year: .296/.377/.454 in 122 plate appearances over 75 games. It would be his best season. In 1981, he was 18 for 81 with a double, homer and 3 walks. He batted .248/.354/.398 in 192 plate appearances and 92 games in 1982; despite his limited playing time, he did tie for the Central League lead with 10 times hit-by-pitch (even with Sachio Kinugasa). On April 6, he hit a sayonara pinch-hit grand slam.

He produced at a .244/.370/.256 clip in 108 plate appearances over 82 games in 1983; the lightweight center fielder stole six bases in six tries. He hit .237/.305/.361 in 226 plate appearances over 106 games in 1984. He was hit by 7 pitches, tying Ken Macha and Mitsuo Tatsukawa for third in the loop. 1985 was a very good season; he hit .316/.356/.416 with 37 runs and 34 RBI in 292 plate appearances and 112 games as Yakult's #4 outfielder behind Junji Ogawa, Tsutomu Wakamatsu and Toru Sugiura. Had he qualified, he would have been 7th in the CL in average, between Yutaka Takagi and Sugiura. In 1986, he slumped to .198/.252/.250 in 103 plate appearances over 73 games. After a year in the minors, he was dealt to the Taiyo Whales for another fading backup, Kaoru Hirata. He was 2 for 14 with a walk and 7 whiffs in 1988 then retired to go into the restaurant business, opening a steakhouse.

He had hit .261/.341/.350 in 1,149 plate appearances over 623 NPB games, with 14 home runs, 264 runs, 115 RBI and 22 steals in 28 tries. He was hit by 33 pitches.