Masato Yoshii

Masato Yoshii (吉井 理人, Yoshii Masato, born April 20, 1965), nicknamed "Oiyan",[1] is a retired Japanese professional baseball player, former pitching coach and current manager for the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He pitched in Major League Baseball from 1998 to 2002.

Masato Yoshii
吉井 理人
Yoshii with the Chiba Lotte Marines
Chiba Lotte Marines – No. 21
Pitcher / Coach / Manager
Born: (1965-04-20) April 20, 1965
Aridagawa, Wakayama, Japan
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
Professional debut
NPB: September 16, 1985, for the Kintetsu Buffaloes
MLB: April 5, 1998, for the New York Mets
Last appearance
NPB: 2007, for the Chiba Lotte Marines
MLB: September 11, 2002, for the Montreal Expos
NPB statistics
Win–loss record89–82
Earned run average3.86
Strikeouts763
MLB statistics
Win–loss record32–47
Earned run average4.62
Strikeouts447
Teams
As player

As coach

As Manager

  • Chiba Lotte Marines (2023–present)

Career

Yoshii played in the Koshien high school baseball tournament twice and joined the Kintetsu Buffaloes as the second round pick in the 1983 draft after graduating from the same elementary, middle, and high schools as former Seibu Lions manager, Osamu Higashio. After spending some time in the minors, he marked his first victory in 1987, and in 1988, he won 10 games and saved 24 games, which won him the Pacific League relief pitcher title. He won five games and marked another 20 saves his next year. In 1993, he became a starter. In 1995, he was traded to the Yakult Swallows and won more than 10 games a year for three straight years.

1998 New York Mets #21 Masato Yoshii road jersey

In the 1997 off-season, he became a free agent and signed with the New York Mets.[2] Yoshii agreed to a two-year extension worth $5 million with the Mets in November 1998.[3] He was traded to the Colorado Rockies in 2000, for Bobby Jones.[4][5] In September, Yoshii underwent surgery to remove bone spurs from his elbow.[6] Two months later, he agreed to a new contract with the Rockies for the 2001 season.[7] The team tried to trade him before the season started,[8] but eventually released Yoshii, who then signed with the Montreal Expos in March 2001.[9] He had surgery on his left shoulder in September 2002.[10]

In 2003, Yoshii returned to Japan, joining the Orix BlueWave.[11] He was the team's opening-day starter that year but had surgery on his left ankle in August; he ended the season with only two wins. He played in only three games in 2004 and was cut from the team at the end of the year. The Orix BlueWave merged with the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes during the off-season to form the Orix Buffaloes, and Yoshii ended up joining the Buffaloes for spring training and won six games in the 2005 season.

In 2006, Yoshii marked a win against the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, becoming the fifth player in to have recorded victories against 12 Japanese professional baseball teams. On April 1, 2007, he gave up two grand slams in one inning against the Rakuten Eagles, but the third baseman, Greg LaRocca, had committed an error before loading the bases, giving Yoshii the irregular record of 8 runs given up, but no earned runs. On April 25, 2007, the 42-year-old Yoshii started the game against the Rakuten Eagles with 18-year-old Masahiro Tanaka as the opposing pitcher and recorded a win giving up 1 run over 5 innings of pitching. This made him the sixth Japanese pitcher to have recorded a win at or above age 42, after Shinji Hamasaki, Tadashi Wakabayashi, Yoshinori Sato, Yutaka Ohno, and Kimiyasu Kudoh.

He continued to pitch during the season as a starter but was demoted to relief duty by manager Terry Collins after several poor performances. Yoshii requested to be traded to another team where he could continue to start and was sent to the Chiba Lotte Marines on June 28 in exchange for an outfielder. His pitching continued to decline, and he ended the season with a 1–9 record before being demoted to the minors. He was released by the Marines on November 13, and announced his retirement to become a pitching coach for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters under manager Masataka Nashida.[12]

On October 7, 2022, the Chiba Lotte Marines announced that Yoshii would manage the team for the upcoming season.[13]

See also

References
  1. "ニックネーム". 千葉ロッテマリーンズ オフィシャルサイト 「マリンフェスタ」特設サイト (in Japanese). Retrieved April 23, 2019.
  2. Olney, Buster (15 January 1998). "Mets Pleased By Maturity Of Pitcher From Japan". New York Times. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  3. Madden, Bill (13 November 1998). "White: Make me a Yankee". Daily News. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  4. Kepner, Tyler (29 April 2000). "No Payoff in Yoshii Trade". New York Times. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  5. Hermoso, Rafael (29 April 2000). "Yoshii has same air about him". Daily News. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  6. Klis, Mike (23 February 2001). "Yoshii not out of picture". Denver Post. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  7. Henderson, John (4 November 2000). "Rockies retaining Yoshii". Denver Post. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  8. Kils, Mike (13 March 2001). "Yoshii hopes one team wants him". Denver Post. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  9. "Les Expos signent Masato Yoshii" (in French). Réseau des sports. 13 April 2001. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  10. "Ex-Major Leaguer Yoshii Signs in Japan". Huron Daily Tribune. 6 January 2003. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  11. "BlueWave to sign Yoshii to one-year deal". Japan Times. 8 January 2003. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  12. Lefton, Brad (29 February 2008). "Hoping to Become the Next Hot Baseball Export From Japan". New York Times. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  13. "Baseball: Former MLB pitcher Yoshii to manage Marines". The Mainichi. 7 October 2022. Retrieved 18 October 2022.


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