Ryo Kawashima

Ryo Kawashima (川島 亮)

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 174 lb.

• School Hachinohe University
• High School Chiba Keizai University High School

• Born September 9, 1981 in Chiba, Chiba Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Ryo Kawashima was a Central League Rookie of the Year who was later plagued by injuries.

Kawashima was the Yakult Swallows' first-round pick in the 2003 NPB draft. He was excellent (10-4, 3.17, .219 opponent average) as a rookie in 2004. He got his first hit off Tsuyoshi Shimoyanagi and his first RBI against Takashi Saitoh. He finished among the Central League leaders in ERA (3rd, behind Koji Uehara and Masahiro Yamamoto), wins (tied for 7th with Kimiyasu Kudoh, Domingo Guzman and Shinobu Fukuhara), strikeouts (128, tied for 9th with Guzman) and homers allowed (26, 4th behind Kei Igawa, Kenshin Kawakami and Kudoh). He won the CL's Rookie of the Year award. He had some shoulder pain early in 2005 but turned in another quality season (9-10, 2.81), once throwing 29 consecutive shutout innings. A two-hitter against the Rakuten Golden Eagles in interleague play was his only career shutout. He tied Masayuki Hasegawa for 9th in the CL in losses; had he qualified (he was fairly close), he would have ranked second to Daisuke Miura in ERA.

Kawashima began 2006 2-2 with a 3.83 ERA in 2006 before shoulder problems shut him down until late 2007; he returned that year to go 4-3 with a 3.43 ERA, still fairly effective. He had surgery that offseason. He was a regular in the Yakult rotation in 2008 (7-9, 4.70). He tied for 9th in the league in losses (with Yuya Ando, Seth Greisinger, Kenichi Nakata and Hayato Terahara), tied for 5th in homers (19, even with Kan Otake and Futoshi Kobayashi), 7th in walks (44, between Mike Wood and Kobayashi), 7th in runs allowed (67) and 7th in earned runs (60).

He could not get back on track in 2009 either (5-6, 4.81) and began to see fewer and fewer opportunities with Yakult. He was 1-0 with a 2.20 ERA in 7 games (1 start) in 2010, walking 10 in 16 1/3 IP. He was 0-1 with two runs in three innings in 2011. He was sold to Rakuten but spent all of 2012 struggling in the minors (1-2, 6.60) and retired the next spring.

Kawashima had gone 38-35 with a 3.66 ERA and 1.24 WHIP in 105 NPB games (97 starts). He walked 185 and struck out 424 in 587 2/3 IP. He had hit well for a pitcher (.235/.253/.241, 10 R, 6 RBI in 162 AB).

His repertoire featured a fastball (high in the 80s), slider, cutter, curveball and forkball.

Primary Source: Japan Baseball Daily by Gary Garland