Atsushi Kita

Atsushi Kita (北 篤)

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 183 lb.

• High School Komatsu Technical High School

• Born November 26, 1988 in Komatsu, Ishikawa Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Atsushi Kita has played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 6 years.

Kita was drafted by the Yokohama BayStars in the first round of the high school phase as a pitcher in the 2006 NPB draft after they lost the lottery for the rights to Masahiro Tanaka. He was 2-4 with a 4.84 ERA in the NPB Farm League in 2007, then he became a third baseman then a second baseman. Kita hit .320/.383/.509 with 14 homers for the Shonan SeaRex in the minors in 2010, and he was 2nd in the Eastern League in batting average (.004 behind Ryosuke Morioka) and third in homers (after Yoshi Tsutsugo and Taishi Ohta). His 75 runs were second (four behind Kenshi Sugiya), he tied Sugiya for the double lead (25) and he trailed only Tsutsugo and Ohta in RBI. He was second to Fuminori Yokogawa in OBP, led in slugging (.007 ahead of future MLBer Tsutsugo) and led in OPS. He also played 8 games with the big club, and he went 3-for-14. Kita was 5-for-21 in 2011, but he only played one game with the big club in 2012; by this point, he was primarily an outfielder.

The BayStars then traded him to the Nippon Ham Fighters for Kenji Tsuchiya, and he hit .275/.373/.412 in 29 games in 2014 after staying in the farm league for a year. He spent most of his 2015 season in the minors, and he was traded with Toshiyuki Yanuki to the Yomiuri Giants for Hideki Sunaga and Kenji Yano. Kita only played 3 games for the Giants in 2 seasons, and he announced his retirement in 2016.

Overall, Nohara had hit .247/.330/.333 with 23 hits and 2 homers in 6 seasons in NPB.

Sources

• Wiki Japan