Hiroyuki Yamazaki

From BR Bullpen

Hiroyuki Yamazaki (山崎 裕之)

  • Bats Right, Throws Right
  • Height 5' 9", Weight 167 lb.

BR Register page

Biographical Information[edit]

Hiroyuki Yamazaki was a five-time Best Nine pick in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Yamazaki signed with the Tokyo Orions in 1965, hitting .190/.243/.259 in 71 games. He was just 8 for 65 with three walks in 1966, and he topped the Mendoza Line in 1967 at .224/.271/.345. He hit .255/.316/.421 with 14 home runs in 1968. On September 1, he set a NPB record with 10 putouts at shortstop. Hiroyuki continued to improve in 1969, hitting .301/.346/.440. He was 5th in the Pacific League in average (between Atsushi Nagaike and Art López), 4th in triples (tied with Fujio Yamaguchi and Masaru Tomita) and 4th in hits (between Toshizo Sakamoto and Nagaike). Yamazaki also made his first Best Nine, honored as the top second baseman in the PL. He made his first All-Star team, and he was 0-for-5 in the 1969 NPB All-Star Game.

In 1970, he fell to .247/.298/.451 but went deep 25 times. Yamazaki tied Michiyo Arito for 8th in homers, and he was 9th in RBI (between George Altman and Kiyoshi Morimoto). He was again an All-Star and Best Nine pick, and he went 3-for-10 this time in the 1970 NPB All-Star Game with a 2-run shot against Hiroshi Kito . He was just 2 for 16 with two walks in the 1970 Japan Series, when the Orions fell to the Yomiuri Giants. Hiroyuki hit .280/.368/.487 with 21 circuit clouts and 84 runs in 1971. From July 29 through August 3, he doubled in six straight games, a NPB record. On August 14, he hit for the cycle against the Toei Flyers. He got his third straight nod as the best second sacker in the PL. Yamazaki produced at a .242/.322/.405 line with 16 homers in 1972 and was an All-Star; he was 0-for-3 in the 1972 NPB All-Star Game.

Hiroyuki's line was just .239/.316/.355 in 1973, but still made his 4th All-Star team. He was 0-for-2 in the first two games of the 1973 NPB All-Star Game, and he hit a walk-off single against Takeshi Yasuda to win the MVP in Game 3. Yamazaki batted .274/.331/.434 with 32 doubles in 1974. He led the loop in doubles, and he was 9th in hits (between Don Buford and Koichi Hada). He won the Best Nine, and he went 1-for-5 in the 1974 NPB All-Star Game. He followed with a .364/.440/.636 performance in the 1974 Japan Series, which the Orions won. Yamasaki hit .270/.340/.451 with 17 long balls in 1975 and was an All-Star. He went deep 16 times in 1976 and batted .273/.345/.443, making the All-Star squad again. Yamazaki hit .257/.317/.435 with 17 homers in 1977. He was an All-Star and won a Diamond Glove Award at second base. His last season with the Orions was 1978 when he batted .290/.340/.441.

The Orions traded him with Haruo Narishige to the Seibu Lions for Masaaki Koga and Akira Kuramochi in 1979, Yamazaki had a .332/.422/.528 batting line, albeit in only 79 games. Had he qualified, he would have been 5th in the league in average behind Hideji Kato, Hiromasa Arai, Jinten Haku and Leron Lee. (On a side note, Yamazaki taught Lee how to steal signs after Leron came to Japan). On October 3, he hit the 11th come-from-behind sayonara grand slam off Motoyasu Kaneshiro. Yamazaki hit .294/.400/.514 in 1980 with 78 walks, 89 runs and 25 home runs. He made his 9th All-Star team and became the 33rd player to 200 home runs in NPB annals against Shoji Yasuki on April 30. He tied Yutaka Fukumoto for the most walks in the PL, and he was 5th in doubles (tied with Shigeru Kurihashi and Masataka Nashida). He won the Diamond Glove at second base and took his final Best Nine honor at 2B.

The Ageo native hit .271/.390/.492 with 22 homers, 88 walks and 97 runs in 1981. He led in runs scored, was four walks behind leader Hiromitsu Kadota, 3 doubles behind leader Tommy Cruz, 6th in triples (tied with Vic Harris and Keijiro Yumioka) and 7th in homers (tied with Harris and Terry Whitfield. Yamasaki was selected into the 1981 NPB All-Star Game, and he 1-for-2. He won his last Diamond Glove. The next year, he had a batting line of .246/.327/.340 in a poor turn. He hit .286/.348/.286 in the 1982 Japan Series as Seibu won its first Japan Series title.

At age 36 in 1983, Yamazaki hit .287/.367/.462 with 30 doubles, 18 home runs, 96 runs and 82 RBI in one last big year. He made his 11th and last All-Star team, and he was 0-for-1 in the 1983 NPB All-Star Game. He became the second player in NPB history to have two innings with multiple homers in his career. On September 18, he became the 18th player with 2,000 career hits, joining the meikyukai. He led in doubles, runs, at-bats (515) and plate appearances (600), and he was 4th in hits (tied with Makoto Shimada) and 8th in RBI (tied with Lee). He lost Best Nine honors to Daijiro Oishi. He hit .259/.333/.444 in the 1983 Japan Series as Seibu won again. In 1984, Yamazaki hit .228/.285/.337 then he retired. Yamazaki was later a baseball commentator for Tokyo TV.

Overall, in 2,251 NPB games, he batted .265/.337/.429 with 2,081 hits, 371 doubles, 270 home runs, 1,099 runs, 985 RBI and 842 walks. Through 2024, he was tied with Hiromitsu Ochiai for 30th in NPB history in doubles, 39th in hits (between Kazuo Matsui and Tomonori Maeda), 26th in runs (between Tuffy Rhodes and Hiroki Kokubo), 38th in total bases (3,364, between Maeda and Yukio Tanaka), 40th in walks (between Hideki Matsui and Takeya Nakamura), tied for 27th in sac flies (even with Kiyoshi Hatsushiba and Tanaka), 33th in strikeouts (1,267, between Atsunori Inaba and Alex Ramirez), 21th in games (between Norihiro Nakamura and Takeshi Yamasaki), 20th in at-bats (7,845, between N.Nakamura and Kazuhiro Kiyohara) and 24th in plate appearances (8,658, between Kazuhiro Yamauchi and Takahiro Arai).


Sources[edit]

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