Yonetoshi Kawamata

Yonetoshi Kawamata (川又 米利)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 10", Weight 173 lb.

• High School Waseda Jitsugyo High School

• Born August 4, 1960 in Setagaya, Tokyo Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Yonetoshi Kawamata played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 19 years.

Kawamata was signed by the Chunichi Dragons in 1978, and he hit .277/.382/.340 in 46 games in 1979. He went 3-for-25 in 1980, and he mainly stayed in the minors in the next four seasons; he never got more than 100 at-bats in a season in this period. Kawamata got the starting right fielder spot in 1985, and he crushed 9 homers with a .290/.380/.456 batting line. He then hit .277/.330/.413 in 1986, and he blasted a career-high 16 homers with a .253/.320/.444 batting line in 1987. Kawamata recorded a .280/.363/.406 batting line with 6 homers in 1988, and he shined in the 1988 Nippon Series. He crushed a 2-run home run against Taigen Kaku in Game 2, and he went 3-for-10 in the entire series; the Seibu Lions beat the Dragons in 5 games.

When Hiromitsu Ochiai was moved to first base, Kawamata lost his spot in 1990 and he hit .284/.374/.399 with 2 homers. He then batted .331/.427/.546 with 5 homers in 1991, and his batting line fell to .269/.364/.443 in 1992. Kawamata struggled in 1993 as his batting line was .236/.315/.356, and he played 85 games and batted .269/.409/.365 in 1994. He hit .232/.327/.312 in 1995, and he only got 58 at-bats in 1996 with a .267/.414/.356 batting line. Kawamata was 9-for-41 in 1997, and he announced his retirement. He was the batting coach for the Dragons from 2003 to 2004 and for their minor league team in 2002 and from 2012 to 2013.

Overall, Kawamata hit .266/.352/.409 with 771 hits and 74 homers in 19 seasons in NPB.

Sources

• Wiki Japan