Yuki Kawabata

Yuki Kawabata (川端 友紀) (listed as Yukiko in the 2016 Women's Baseball World Cup)

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 7", Weight 150 lb.

• High School Wakayama Shogyo High School

• Born May 12, 1989 in Kaizuka, Osaka Japan

Biographical Information

Yuki Kawabata won three batting titles in the Japanese Women's Baseball League. Her brother Shingo Kawabata is also a batting titlist in Japan; they were deemed the first brother-sister combo to play pro baseball in that country. Shingo said that their parents split their time between his game's and Yuki's games.

Kawabata played softball after high school. When the JWBL formed in 2010, she joined the Kyoto Asto Dreams and hit .393/.466/.520, leading the new league in average, OBP, OPS and hits (59). She improved to .406/.497/.516 in 2011, winning another batting title and leading in OBP, slugging, OPS, hits (63) and total bases (80) as well. She won the first Best Nine award as the loop's top shortstop. In 2012, she fell to .364/.465/.432.

Making the Japanese squad for the 2012 Women's Baseball World Cup, starting at shortstop before Ayaka Deguchi took over there and Kawabata wound up as the main DH. She was 3 for 4 with two runs against Cuba and 2 for 2 with two runs and two RBI versus Australia. In the title game, she was 0 for 2 but was hit by a Jennifer Hunter pitch to force in Ayako Rokkaku with the first (and thus winning) run of a 3-0 victory over Team USA. She hit .458/.536/.458 with eight runs in nine games and handled ten chances error-free.

In the 2013 JWBL, she moved to East Astraia and batted .431/.537/.631 with 32 runs and 34 RBI in 46 games. It was the best season of her illustrious career - she led the loop in average, OBP, slugging, OPS, runs, doubles (10), triples (8), total bases (82) and RBI. She won Best Nine and her lone MVP. She slumped to .275/.361/.392 in 2014, following her career year with her worst campaign. She was back with Japan for the 2014 Women's Baseball World Cup, moving to first base and hitting .357/.500/.429 with five runs in six games while making no errors in 30 chances. In the Gold Medal Game, she was one for two with a walk and a steal against [[Sarah Hudek][] in a 3-0 win over the US.

The Osaka native rebounded to .379/.471/.483 in the 2015 JWBL and .327/.419/.481 with a league-leading six triples and five sacrifice flies in '16. In the 2016 Women's Baseball World Cup, she played second base for Japan and batted .500/.577/.700 with eight runs, ten RBI, five walks and six steals (not caught) in seven games, fielding .933. She was 3-for-3 with a walk, two doubles, four runs and four RBI versus India. In the Gold Medal Game, she hit cleanup for Japan, going 0 for 1 with two walks, a steal and a RBI in a 10-0 rout of Canada. She was among the Cup leaders in runs (tied for 6th), hits (10, tied for 2nd, 3 behind Tamara Holmes), RBI (5th), total bases (tied Chia-Wen Shen and Brittany Gomez for 5th with 14), steals (tied Nilsa Rodríguez and Famke Gildemacher for 8th), average (tied Ayumi Terabe for 4th), slugging (tied Shen for 4th), OBP (6th) and OPS (6th, between Terabe and Shen). She was named All-World at second base.

She hit .397/.509/.539 to lead the 2017 JWBL in OBP and won Best Nine honors at 2B, also taking home the inaugural Gold Glove there. In her final season, she hit .339/.420/.473. At the 2018 Women's Baseball World Cup, she had a batting line of .476/.586/.619 with six walks and six runs in nine games, playing mostly 1B. She handled 47 chances error-free. In the Gold Medal Game, she singled off Ching-Wen Hu in the first to score Tomomi Nakada with the game-winner then later drove in Nakada again as Japan won their fourth world title in a row. She tied Nicole Luchanski, Diamilette Quiles and Ashley Stephenson for 9th in the Cup in hits (10).

Retiring as a player, she ranked among the JWBL career leaders in numerous categories - as of March 2022 (at which point the league appeared dead), she was among the career JWBL leaders in hits (tied Miri Iwaya for 3rd, 432), doubles (76, 4th, between Akane Nakamura and Miki Atsugase), walks (198, 3rd, behind Atsugase and Iori Miura), triples (35, 2nd, 4 behind Miura), RBI (192, 4th, between Miura and Atsugase), steals (98, 3rd, behind Miura and Atsugase), slugging (.505, 2nd, .011 beihnd Miura), average (.373, 2nd, .019 behind Miura) and OBP (.467, .008 behind Miura).

She was back in the news in 2022, coming out of retirement to help found a new team, the Honeys.