Hiroki Yamada (山田 大樹, born July 30, 1988) is a Japanese left-handed pitcher who is currently a free agent. He has played in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks and Tokyo Yakult Swallows.
| Hiroki Yamada | |
|---|---|
 Yamada with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | |
| Free Agent | |
| Pitcher | |
| Born: July 30, 1988 Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan | |
Bats: Left Throws: Left | |
| debut | |
| June 10, 2010, for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | |
| NPB statistics (through 2020 season) | |
| Win–loss record | 29–33 |
| Earned run average | 3.73 |
| Strikeouts | 276 |
| Teams | |
Career
editYamada played his first season in the NPB with the Hawks going 4-4 and a 4.60 ERA, striking out 44 over 59 innings.[1] At the end of the season he joined the Brisbane Bandits inaugural roster and was reported to try to learn a slow curve during the season.[2] Throughout the 2010-11 Australian Baseball League season, Yamada had been impressive for the Bandits with a 2-1, 3.00 ERA record, including 30 strikeouts over as many innings until in his last game against the Melbourne Aces where he let in 8 earned runs over 3 innings at the very batter friendly Royal Melbourne Showgrounds, blowing out his ERA to 4.91.[3]
Yamada pitched his first shutout for the Hawks on May 20, 2011 over the Hanshin Tigers, letting in only 4 hits over 9 innings of work. He finished the 2011 regular season 7-7 with a 2.85 ERA. In the 2011 postseason, Hiroki picked up the win in Game 5 of the Japan Series, throwing 6 shutout innings. The Hawks would go on to win the Series against the Chunichi Dragons 4-3.
On November 11, 2017, the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks traded Yamada to the Tokyo Yakult Swallows for free of charge.[4]
On December 2, 2020, he become free agent.[5]
References
edit- ^ "Hiroki Yamada (Fukuoka Softbank Hawks)". NPB.
- ^ Softbank Hawks Hiroki Yamada To Add a Slow Curve Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine - Yakyubaka
- ^ "Hiroki Yamada". Brisbane Bandits. Archived from the original on 2012-03-29. Retrieved 2010-12-14.
- ^ "Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 2017/11/11 Press release (Japanese) トレードについて". Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks Official web site. November 11, 2017. Retrieved November 18, 2017.
- ^ "2020年度 自由契約選手". NPB.jp 日本野球機構 (in Japanese). Retrieved January 8, 2021.
External links
edit- Career statistics from Baseball Reference (Minors)
- NPB stats