Yasutomo Kubo

Yasutomo Kubo (久保 康友)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 175 lbs.

• High School Kansai University Daiichi High School

• Born August 6, 1980 in Kashihara, Nara, Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Yasutomo Kubo played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 13 years.

Kubo was drafted by the Chiba Lotte Marines in the first round of the 2004 NPB draft, and he soon joined the rotation as a rookie. He was 10-3 with a 3.40 ERA, led the Pacific League with 4 shutouts and won the PL Rookie of the Year Award. He got three 3rd-place votes in the PL MVP Voting, tying Daisuke Matsuzaka for 14th. However, Kubo couldn't repeat his solid performance and was 7-13 with a 4.55 ERA in 2006. He was hit by a comebacker on June 25 in the next season, and ended up 9-8 with a 4.00 ERA in 2007. Kubo struggled again in 2008 as his ERA rose to 4.95, then the Marines traded him to the Hanshin Tigers for Kentaro Hashimoto before the 2009 season.

The Nara native became the 17th NPB pitcher to got a win against all 12 teams on July 14, and he was the fastest to reach that milestone, only using 5 seasons (he benefited from interleague play having been introduced that decade). Kubo ended up 9-8 with a 3.75 ERA in 2009. The 2010 season was his career year. He was selected into the NPB All-Star Game, for the only time in his career, collected a shutout inning in Game 1 and pitched 2 shutout innings in Game 2 with 2 strikeouts (against Takahiro Okada and Tomohiro Nioka). The veteran ended up 14-5 with a 3.25 ERA, led the Central League in starts and winning percentage, ranked 2nd in wins (1 behind Kenta Maeda), 3rd in strikeouts (16 behind Maeda), 2nd in innings (13 1/3 behind Maeda) and 4th in ERA (1.04 behind Maeda). He won a 3rd-place vote in CL MVP voting.

Kubo slumped to 8-8 with a 3.78 ERA in 2011 due to a waist injury, and he came back as he recorded a 2.33 ERA in 108 innings in 2012. The Tigers then named him as their closer when Kyuji Fujikawa left the team in 2013. Kubo pitched well before May, as he collected 4 saves and 2 holds with a 0.64 ERA. However, he struggled in May and Shinobu Fukuhara took his place after he blew saves 6 times in a month. Kubo bounced back after leaving the closer spot, and ended up 3-4 with 6 saves and 11 holds with a solid 2.85 ERA.

After the 2013 season, Kubo announced that he would become a free agent, and the Yokohama DeNA BayStars signed him. He joined the rotation and went 12-6 with a 3.33 ERA, and ranked 2nd in the CL in wins in 2014 (1 behind Randy Messenger and Daisuke Yamai). He collected his 1,000th career strikeout on July 13 against Hisayoshi Chono the next season, but ended up 8-7 with a 4.12 ERA due to right shoulder injury in 2015. Kubo was 5-8 with a 3.55 ERA in 2016, but he only pitched 7 games with a 5.35 ERA in 2017. The BayStars released him after the 2016 season.

After leaving NPB, Kubo joined the Gary SouthShore RailCats of the American Association (3 R in 6 2/3 IP), and then he jumped to the Sugar Land Skeeters of the Atlantic League (5-2, 5.14) to complete 2018. He pitched for the Bravos de Leon of the Mexican League in 2019, going 8-14 with a 5.98 ERA. He led LMB in losses, one more than Alex Sanabia. He then joined the Hyogo Bravers of the Kansai Independent Baseball League in 2022. He was signed by the Hamburg Stealers in 2023 and had a 11-4, 1.62 record. He easily led the Bundesliga-1 south in complete games (13; next was 6) and innings (122, 17 2/3 ahead of fellow veteran Enorbel Marquez), edged Roldan Ochoa and Marquez for the K lead (104 to 101), tied Austin Hassani for the most pick-offs (3), led in wins (3 ahead of Marquez) and led in ERA (.36 ahead of Marquez).

Overall, Kubo was 97-86, collected 20 holds with a 3.70 ERA, struck out 1,130 and pitched 1,540 1/3 innings in 13 years in the NPB.

Related Sites

• Wiki Japan
• NPB.com Bio