Kazuki Yoshimi

Kazuki Yoshimi
Chūnichi Dragons - No. 19
Pitcher
Born: September 19, 1984 Fukuchiyama , Japan
Strikes: Right	Throws: Right
Debut in the Nippon Pro Yakyū
September 10,  2006  with the Chūnichi Dragons
NPB statistics (until 2010)
Win- Loss	39-20
Earned Run Average	2.95
Strikeouts	368
Teams
Toyota Jidōsha Chūnichi Dragons (since 2005)

Kazuki Yoshimi ( Japanese 吉 見 一起 , Yoshimi Kazuki ; born September 19, 1984 in Fukuchiyama , Kyoto Prefecture ) is a Japanese baseball player on the position of the pitcher . The right-hander has played for the Chūnichi Dragons in the Japanese Central League since his professional debut in 2005 .

Yoshimi began in elementary school with baseball, with the Konkō-Osaka High School in Takatsuki , he took part in the spring Kōshien in 2002, but where his team was eliminated in the first round. After graduation, he worked for Toyota Jidōsha , where he played as shakaijin in the works team. In the 2005 draft he came to the Chūnichi Dragons via the kibō nyūdan waku seido , through which players could be signed up to 2006 before the actual draft.

In September 2006, Yoshimi made his first-team debut for the Dragons. In 2007 initially intended for the rotation, he was transferred back to the second team after poor performance and then played for the Estrellas Orientales in the 2007/08 season of the Dominicana de Béisbol Invernal League . In 2008, Yoshimi was part of the first team's squad from the start of the season and performed well: in his first complete game at the beginning of April, he threw a 4-hit shutout against Yakult . In total, he came to 35 missions in 2008, including 14 starts, where he achieved a win-loss record of 10-3 with an ERA of 3.23.

Yoshimi has been part of the Dragons' regular rotation since 2009, and in the same year he led the Central League with 16 wins together with Shōhei Tateyama . After the season, he signed a contract extension that increased his salary from 50 to 92 million yen . In 2010 he opened the season for Chūnichi, threw with an ERA of 3.50 weaker than in the previous year, but contributed to the team's league title with a winning record (12-9).

Web links

• Chūnichi Dragons : player profile (Japanese)
• Nippon Yakyū Kikō / Nippon Professional Baseball: Player Statistics (Japanese)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Sakamoto hits slam as Giants win rout. Dragons 6, Swallows 0. In: The Japan Times . April 7, 2008, accessed October 30, 2010 . 
2. ↑ Chunichi pitcher Yoshimi gets a hefty pay raise. (No longer available online.) In: Japan Today / Kyōdō Tsūshin . December 3, 2009, formerly in the original ; accessed on October 30, 2010 (English).  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )