Yutaka Yanagida

Yutaka Yanagida (柳田 豊)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 9", Weight 143 lb.

• High School Nobeoka Shogyo High School

• Born August 31, 1951 in Nobeoka, Miyazaki Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Sidearm hurler Yutaka Yanagida was a three-time All-Star in a 18-year career.

Yanagida was a 8th-round pick of the Nishitetsu Lions in the 1969 NPB draft. He was 3-6 with a 4.41 ERA as a rookie in 1970, 3-8 with a 4.90 ERA in 1971 and 0-1 with a 4.84 ERA in 1972. The team became the Taiheiyo Club Lions in 1973 and he improved to 4-4, 2.93 with only 24 walks in 116 2/3 IP. He slipped to 6-7 with two saves and a 3.99 ERA in 1974, again showcasing control (27 BB in 140 IP).

He was then dealt with Hiroaki Shibaike for Masahiro Doi to the Kintetsu Buffaloes and would spend the remainder of his career there. He became a mainstay of their staff. In 1975, he was 8-11 with 3 saves and a 3.19 ERA. He tied Hajime Kato for 10th in the Pacific League in losses, tied Koji Ota for 9th in complete games (12), tied for 5th in shutouts and tied Mitsuhiro Adachi and Choji Murata for 9th in innings (191 2/3). In 1976, he walked only 24 in 206 2/3 innings and was 9-9 with five saves and a 2.57 ERA in 22 starts and 20 relief appearances. He was 8th in ERA (between Adachi and Keishi Suzuki), tied Hisashi Yamada and Osamu Higashio for 5th in saves, was 6th in appearances and 9th in innings (between Adachi and Takashi Yamaguchi); he did not throw a wild pitch all year.

In 1977, he was 6-6 with a save and a 3.75 ERA. He made his first PL All-Star team the next year. He allowed one run in two innings against the Central League in 1978 NPB All-Star Game 1 and closed out Game 3's 8-5 loss by going 1-2-3 against Koji Yamamoto, Adrian Garrett and Daisuke Yamashita. He finished the 1978 13-9 with two saves and a 3.60 ERA. He tied for 6th in wins, was 7th in games pitched (38), ranked 7th in complete games (13), was 8th in IP (202 2/3, between Yamada and Yoshinori Sato) and was 7th with 113 K (between Sato and Kazushi Saeki).

The right-hander was excellent in 1979 NPB All-Star Game 1, allowing only one hit in three shutout innings while fanning four; Shinichi Yamauchi took over but Takenori Emoto matched him zero for zero and his bullpen allowed 11 runs in 6 innings. In Game 3, he was not as sharp. Replacing Takashi Imoto in the 9th with the score 5-5, he allowed a hit to Sadaharu Oh and a sayonara homer to Yamamoto. He was 11-13 with four saves and a 4.09 ERA in 1979. He was among the leaders in wins (tied for 8th), losses (tied Higashio for 6th), games pitched (37, tied Murata and Naoki Takahashi for 9th), complete games (12, tied Saeki for 4th), saves (tied for 7th), IP (187, 10th, between Imoto and Tomotaka Sugiyama), homers allowed (34, the most) and whiffs (102, tied Masumitsu Moriguchi for 7th). He did not start in the 1979 Japan Series but made three relief appearances. He lost Game 3 to the Hiroshima Carp and Kojiro Ikegaya in relief of Tatsumi Murata. He also lost Game 7 to Kazuo Yamane after replacing Suzuki. He had a 4.91 ERA for the Series.

The Miayazaki native posted a 13-9, 4.05 record with 7 saves in 46 games (23 starts) in 1980, with a career-high 150 strikeouts. He tied Hideyuki Okue and Yamada for 6th in the PL in wins, was second to Tamotsu Nagai in appearances (10 back), tied Imoto and Suzuki for 7th in complete games (12), was second with three shutouts (two shy of Tokunari Nishina) while also tying Shigekazu Mori for third in saves, trailed only Isamu Kida and Higashio in innings and was second in strikeouts (though 75 behind Kida). He became the 99th NPB hurler to 1,500 IP. The Buffaloes and Carp again met in the Japan Series. He again was used solely in relief, but fared better in record though not in ERA (5.40). In Game 1, he relieved Imoto and got the win over Yutaka Enatsu. Hiroshima topped Kintetsu again, though.

Relieving Yamada in the 5th inning of 1981 NPB All-Star Game 1, he went 1-2-3 and got the win over Akio Saito; Nagai took over in the 6th. In Game 2, he relieved Enatsu in the 10th with a 3-3 tie but allowed hits to three of five batters, including the only sayonara homer of Masayuki Kakefu's glorious career, for his second rough All-Star loss. He was not as sharp as in the past, going 10-13 with four saves and a 4.54 ERA for 1981. He tied for second in defeats, two shy of Yutaro Imai, tied Nagai for 10th in saves and served up 27 gopher balls (2nd to Imai's 30; Imai worked 66 2/3 more innings, though). He slipped further to 2-8 with two saves and a 5.70 ERA in 1982.

When he whiffed Koichi Tabuchi on July 13, 1983, he became the 66th NPB hurler to 1,000 career strikeouts. He also hit Tabuchi that year, fracturing his hand and ending his bid to become the first player to win home run titles in each of Japan's top leagues. He was 6-14 with a 4.79 ERA for the season, tying Takanori Yamauchi and Norihiro Mizutani for the league lead in losses. He was also 4th with 29 homers allowed. In 1984, he became the 61st NPB hurler to 2,000 IP and the 86th to 100 wins. He was 10-9 with a 4.06 ERA, finishing 10th in IP (159 2/3, between Masayuki Matsunuma and Masaru Ishikawa) and tying for 3rd in homers allowed (31).

The veteran was 2-7 with a 4.30 ERA in 1985 and was the 55th pitcher to appear in 500 games in NPB history. He went 4-6 with a 5.22 ERA in 1986 and finished on a bright note, with 9 1/3 shutout innings in 1987.

He was 110-140 with 30 saves and a 3.97 ERA in 531 career games (300 starts). In 2,357 2/3 IP, he allowed 2,282 hits (359 homers) and 588 walks while striking out 1,201. Through 2023, he ranked 41th in losses, 48th in hit batsmen, 26th in earned runs allowed, 78th in games pitched, 76th in complete games, 77th in shutouts and 56th in innings.

He later ran a restaurant.