Yuji Iiyama

Yuji Iiyama (飯山 裕志)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 168 lb.
• High School Reimei High School

• Born July 13, 1979 in Ichikikushikino, Kagoshima Japan

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Biographical Information

Infielder Yuji Iiyama played 15 seasons in Nippon Pro Baseball, all as a back-up and all with the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters of the Pacific League. During most of his career he spent part of the year playing for Nippon Ham's ni-gun team in the Eastern League.

Iiyama was drafted in the 4th round of the 1997 NPB draft. He had cups of coffee at the top level in both 2001 and 2003, playing a total of 11 games before truly establishing himself in 2005, when he hit .226 in 42 games. He had been drafted in 1997 and played a number of years as the starting shortstop on Nippon Ham's ni-gun squad before making it to the top level. In only one of his seasons did he play 100 games at the top level, with 105 in 2007 but even then that only represented 49 at-bats as he was almost exclusively a defensive substitute and as a pinch-runner. In 2011, he got into 99 games and actually got to bat some, as he hit .183 in 169 at-bats in one of only two seasons in which he had as many as 100 at-bats at the top level. He retired after the 2017 season, having played 911 games but collecting just 743 at-bats with a slash line of .202/.235/.233. It is fair to say that such a career has no equivalent in Major League Baseball where players with such limited hitting skills cannot last more than a very short time due to smaller rosters in the US.

The highlight of his career came in one if the most famous games in modern Nippon Series history. In Game 4 of the 2012 Japan Series on October 31st, Nippon Ham played host to the Yomiuri Giants with both teams sending a 20-year-old to the mound - Ryosuke Miyaguni for the Giants and Masaru Nakamura for the Fighters. Both youngsters pitched very well with seven scoreless innings, and there were still no runs on the board in the bottom of the 12th inning when Yuji ended the game with a double off Giants closer Kentaro Nishimura that scored Takuya Nakashima from third base to give Nippon Ham a dramatic 1-0 walk-off win. However, they went on to lose the series, four games to two.

Following his retirement, he became the infield and baserunning coach for Nippon Ham.