Yukiharu Shibuya

Yukiharu Shibuya (渋谷 幸春)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 9", Weight 170 lb.

• High School Naruto High School

• Born April 15, 1947 in Tokushima Prefecture Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Yukiharu Shibuya was a two-time All-Star in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Shibuya played for Shikoku Denryoku in the industrial leagues after high school. The Chunichi Dragons took him in the 8th round of the 1969 NPB draft. He was very good (9-9, 2.55) as a rookie in 1970. He was 10th in the Central League in ERA. He posted a 10-14, 3.91 record in 41 games (26 starts) in 1971. He made the Central League All-Star team and finished among the league leaders in wins (tied for 10th), losses (tied for second with Keishi Asano and Yutaka Enatsu, one behind Hiromu Matsuoka), innings (186 2/3, 9th, between Hidetake Watanabe and Tomoo Wako), runs allowed (69, 9th, between Enatsu and Shizuo Shiraishi), earned runs (64, 8th, between Yoshiro Sotokoba and Yataro Oishi), walks (61, 8th, between Enatsu and Wako) and hit batsmen (a league-high 19, 6 more than #2 Watanabe).

The right-hander was 6-5 with a 3.86 ERA in 1972. He was an All-Star in 1973, when he went 11-12 with a 2.86 ERA and .236 opponent average. He finished among the CL leaders in shutouts (6, tied for 3rd with Kazushi Saeki), homers allowed (26, 3rd behind Kazumi Takahashi and Tsuneo Horiuchi) and hit batters (12, 2nd, one behind Jiro Ueda. He was 5-5 with a 4.49 ERA in 1974 and tied Jun Misawa for the league lead with 12 hit batsmen. He struggled in the 1974 Japan Series with two homers and three runs in two innings over games 1, 2 and 4 (in which he took the loss) as Chunichi fell to the Lotte Orions in six. He was atrocious (0-1, 10.29, .339 opponent average, 6 HR in 14 IP) in 14 relief outings in 1975 while battling shoulder pain. Moving to the Nippon Ham Fighters in a deal for Yoshiyuki Suenaga, he was 1-1 with a 4.67 ERA and .320 opponent average in 1976. Despite his light workload (52 IP), he still was 5th in the Pacific League with 9 hit batsmen.

Overall, he was 42-47 with a 3.49 ERA, 1.25 WHIP and .259 opponent average in 818 1/3 IP and 214 NPB games (110 starts). He hit .140/.152/.158. Through 2011, his 76 hit batsmen were tied for 44th in NPB history with Masumi Kuwata and Sotokoba.

He later was a scout for the Fighters.