Daisuke Yamai

Daisuke Yamai (山井 大介)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 181 lb.

• School Nara Gakuen University
• High School Kobe Koryo Gakuen High School

• Born May 10, 1978 in Toyonaka, Osaka Japan

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Biographical Information

Daisuke Yamai was a pitcher for the Chunichi Dragons for 20 years. In the 2007 Nippon Series he threw eight innings of a combined perfect game in the deciding game.

Yamai attended Kobe Koryo Gakuen High School, and later went to Nara Sangyo University. After university, he went to play for Kawai Musical Instruments. At the semifinals of the 2001 Intercity Baseball Tournament, Yamai pitched a 1–0 shutout to reach the finals, which Kawai would win. In the 2002 NPB draft, Yamai was the sixth pick of the Chunichi Dragons, two picks after Kawai teammate Yuichi Hisamoto. After being drafted, he switched his pitching motion from overhand to sidearm. He made his debut start on May 8 at Nagoya Dome, allowing just a single infield hit for his first victory in a 2-0 game. Yamai would spend most of the season as a back-of-the-rotation starter for the Dragons. He appeared in 31 games, with 15 starts and 6 games finished. He had a 6-3 win-loss record with 2 save points. In 84⅔ innings pitched he had a 3.93 ERA, struck out 68 and walked 34.

In 2003, Yamai was plagued by arm issues and was sidelined for most of the season. He appeared in just four games, and pitched 5⅔ innings and had a 4.76 ERA. He faced 27 batters, giving up 11 hits, walking 1 and struck out 3. In 2004, Yamai did not make an ichi-gun appearance until late in the season late after returning to an overhand pitching motion. He won his first game in two years on September 12 against the Hiroshima Toyo Carp with a complete game shutout – his professional first. He would pitch in just eight games in the regular season – starting three – but made the Dragon's Nippon Series roster against the Seibu Lions. During the season, he struck out 31, and walked 16 with a 3.33 ERA in 27 innings. Yamai started game four of the Series, and pitched six strong innings to earn the win. He struck out six of the 26 batters he faced, walked two, gave up five hits, but did not allow a run in a 7–2 Chunichi victory. In the deciding game seven, he relieved Domingo Guzman in the third inning with the bases-loaded for Alex Cabrera. Cabrera promptly hit a grand slam, to break open the game. Yamai would face three more batters, giving up another hit and a walk before getting Hiroyuki Nakajima to ground out. Chunichi would lose the game and the series.

Yamai once again bounced between ichi-gun and ni-gun in 2005. He began the season in the rotation, and started 15 games, but was later moved to the bullpen. He had a 3-5 win-loss record, with a save and a 4.13 ERA. He threw 106⅔ innings, and in nearly 400 at-bats, opponents hit .256 against him, including 14 home runs. He struck out 90 batters and walked 31. Right shoulder pain forced Yamai to miss the the entire 2006 season. While rehabilitating, he got married. Yamai began the 2007 season with the ni-gun Dragons but was promoted to the first team on July 2 to replace the struggling veteran Masahiro Yamamoto in the rotation. He would remain in the rotation for the rest of the season. On August 21, against the Yomiuri Giants he pitched a complete game to win his first NPB game in two years. Over the course of the season he pitched in 14 games, with a 6-4 record and a 3.36 ERA. He did not strike out as many batters as before his injury, only 56 in 83 innings, and he walked more batters (42). He held opposing batters to a .240 batting average and gave up six home runs.

In September, with the Dragons battling the Giants and the Hanshin Tigers for first place in the Central League, Yamai pitched lights-out ball. He appeared in five games, won four, lost one and held a 3.00 ERA during the month. Still, the Dragons would finish second in the league, 1.5 games back of the Giants and would have to play in the first stage of the Climax Series against the Tigers. The Dragons swept both the first stage and the second stage – against the Giants – to advance to the Nippon Series against the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. Yamai did not appear in either stage as he had arm pain at the end of the season.

In the fifth game of the Nippon Series, Yamai was the surprise starter over team ace Kenshin Kawakami. He faced reigning Sawamura Award winner Yu Darvish with the Dragons needing a win for their first Nippon Series title in over fifty years. Yamai was perfect through eight innings, with six strikeouts and only 86 pitches. In the top of the ninth, manager Hiromitsu Ochiai took him out of the game in favor of closer Hitoki Iwase. Iwase would retire the side on 13 pitches for the first perfect game in Nippon Series history and a Dragons victory, 1–0. It was also the first combined perfect game in Nippon Professional Baseball history.

Yamai only pitched two games in 2008, going 0-1 with a 1.00 ERA before being placed on the disabled list. He would miss the remainder of the season. He slumped to 0-4 with a 6.23 ERA in 2009, and he also allowed 3 runs in 2/3 of a season for the Estrellas Orientales in the winter. He returned to the rotation in 2010, and he was 7-4 with a 3.75 ERA. He went 3-3 with a 4.34 ERA in 2011, and he pitched a shutout inning in Game 4 of the 2011 Japan Series. The Dragons named him their starter in Game 7, but Yamai allowed a run in 3 innings and Toshiya Sugiuchi got the win over him.

The Osaka native was moved to the bullpen in 2021, and he notched 15 saves and 13 holds with a solid 1.43 ERA in 56 appearances. He was 7th in saves in the Central League, between Kam Mickolio and Scott Mathieson. Yamai returned to the rotation in 2013, and he went 5-6 with a 4.15 ERA. He completed a no-hitter against the Yokohama BayStars on June 28. The 36-years-old Yamai had his career year in 2014, and he went 13-5 with a 3.21 ERA in 27 starts. He was the oldest player in NPB history to reach double-digit wins without having done so previously. Yamai also led the league in wins (tied with Randy Messenger) and winning percentage, and he was 8th in ERA (between Messenger and Yasutomo Kubo). He was selected into the 2014 NPB All-Star Game, but he allowed 5 runs in 1 2/3 innings including a 2-run shot to Yuki Yanagita in Game 2.

Yamai was 4-12 with a 3.92 ERA in 2015, and he tied Messenger for 2nd in losses. He went 1-8 with a 4.52 ERA in 2016, and he only pitched 2 games in 2017. Yamai had a 3-6 record with a 4.04 ERA in 2018, and his ERA was 4.85 in 13 starts in 2019. He only pitched 2 more games for the top team before he announced his retirement in 2021. The Dragons named him their minor league pitching coach in 2022, and he coached their top team in 2023. He returned to the minors in 2024, and he became their big club pitching coach again in 2025. He wears sunglasses similar to that of is the fictional superhero Ultra Seven featured in a Tokusatsu TV show of the same name.

Overall, Yamai went 62-70 with 20 saves and 32 holds in 336 appearances, struck out 867 and pitched 1,232 1/3 innings in 19 seasons in NPB. He had a slider with a solid reputation and a good fastball.

Sources

• Wiki Japan