Yoshinori Tateyama

Yoshinori Tateyama (建山 義紀, Tateyama Yoshinori, born December 26, 1975) is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Texas Rangers, and in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters and the Hanshin Tigers.

Yoshinori Tateyama
Tateyama with the Texas Rangers in 2013
Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters – No. 81
Pitcher / Coach
Born: (1975-12-26) December 26, 1975
Daitō, Osaka, Japan
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
Professional debut
NPB: May 3, 1999, for the Nippon-Ham Fighters
MLB: May 24, 2011, for the Texas Rangers
Last appearance
MLB: September 26, 2012, for the Texas Rangers
NPB: August 14, 2014, for the Hanshin Tigers
NPB statistics
Win–loss record35–43
Earned run average3.43
Strikeouts491
MLB statistics
Win–loss record3–0
Earned run average5.75
Strikeouts61
Teams
As player

As coach

  • Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (2023-present)

Career

On November 30, 2010, Tateyama signed as a free agent with the Texas Rangers.[1] After starting 2011 in the minor leagues, he was called up to the Rangers on May 23, 2011, and made his major league debut on May 24, 2011. He struck out Carlos Quentin out swinging for his first major league strikeout. On May 28, 2011, Tateyama recorded his one and only MLB save during a 10-1 Rangers victory over the Royals.[2]

Koji Uehara was his teammate in high school. In that time, Tateyama was an ace pitcher and Uehara was an outfielder. In the 2011–2012 offseason, the Rangers signed Japan's best starting pitcher Yu Darvish to a 5-year deal. Tateyama and Darvish were previously teammates for 5 seasons on the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.

He became a free agent on October 30, 2012, when the Rangers declined his 2013 option. He was re-signed by Texas on December 20, 2012. He was then released in March 2013. He was traded to the New York Yankees in June 2013.

In May 2014, the Yankees released Tateyama,[3] and he returned to Japan to sign with the Hanshin Tigers on June 25, 2014.[4] On November 1, 2014, he announced his retirement from professional baseball[5] after making 8 appearances for the Tigers.[6]

After the retirement, he became Japan national baseball team pitching coach at the 2017 Asia Professional Baseball Championship,[7] 2018 exhibition game against Australia,[8] 2018 U-23 Baseball World Cup[9] and 2018 MLB Japan All-Star Series.[10]

Pitching style

A sidearm pitcher, Tateyama relied chiefly on a sinking fastball that averaged 87–88 mph and a curveball in the low 70s. He also featured two other off-speed pitches, a changeup (74–78 mph) and a screwball (68–71 mph), that were used mostly against left-handed batters.[11] The screwball is thrown with a "Vulcan" grip.[12] He was one of only two relief pitchers to have thrown even a single screwball in the 2012 MLB season.[13]

While his strikeout totals were average, he got hitters out with his control (career 2.11 BB/9 in NPB).

References
  1. Baer, Bill. (November 30, 2010) Rangers sign Japanese reliever Yoshinori Tateyama. Hardballtalk.nbcsports.com. Retrieved on 2016-10-03.
  2. "Kansas City Royals at Texas Rangers Box Score, May 28, 2011".
  3. Kuty, Brendan (February 27, 2014). "Yankees release Yoshinori Tateyama". NJ.com. Retrieved October 3, 2016.
  4. 建山義紀選手入団会見 (Tateyama signing press conference). Hanshintigers.jp. Retrieved on October 3, 2016.
  5. Baseball: Tigers right-hander Tateyama to retire Archived November 1, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  6. Player Profile: Yoshinori Tateyama. hanshintigers.jp Archived November 2, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  7. "「ENEOS アジア プロ野球チャンピオンシップ2017」コーチングスタッフについて". 野球日本代表 侍ジャパン オフィシャルサイト (in Japanese). September 11, 2017. Retrieved September 24, 2018.
  8. "「ENEOS 侍ジャパンシリーズ2018」日本 vs オーストラリアのコーチングスタッフ・出場選手について". 野球日本代表 侍ジャパン オフィシャルサイト (in Japanese). January 23, 2018. Retrieved September 24, 2018.
  9. "侍ジャパンU-23代表の監督・コーチが決定 「第2回 WBSC U-23ワールドカップ」に出場". 野球日本代表 侍ジャパン オフィシャルサイト (in Japanese). April 23, 2018. Retrieved September 24, 2018.
  10. "「2018日米野球」出場選手6名、コーチングスタッフが決定". 野球日本代表 侍ジャパン オフィシャルサイト. August 20, 2018. Retrieved September 24, 2018.
  11. "Brooks Baseball · Home of the PitchFX Tool – Player Card: Yoshinori Tateyama". Brooks Baseball. Retrieved September 27, 2012.
  12. Fast, Mike (June 16, 2011). "BP Unfiltered: A New Screwballer". Baseball Prospectus. Retrieved September 27, 2012.
  13. "PitchFX Leaderboards". Baseball Prospectus. Retrieved September 27, 2012.
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