Katsuya Kishikawa

Katsuya Kishikawa (岸川 勝也)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 206 lb.

• High School Saga Kita High School

• Born April 24, 1965 in Saga, Saga Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Katsuya Kishikawa played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 13 years.

Kishikawa was drafted by the Nankai Hawks in the 3rd round of the 1983 NPB draft, and he went 2-for-27 in his first season. He was 15-for-61 in 1986, and he only played 7 games in 1987. Kishikawa hit .282/.316/.555 in 34 games in 1988, and he broke out in 1989. He crushed a career-high 26 homers with a .260/.349/.510 batting line, and he set the NPB record for most sayonara homers in a season with 3 (broken by Jack Howell in 1993, but it is still the Pacific League record). Kishikawa then hit .258/.329/.441 with 20 homers in 1990, and he was 10th in RBI (between Hiromitsu Kadota and Ralph Bryant).

The Saga native crushed 20 homers with a .258/.365/.536 batting line in 1991, but a knee injury ended his season on August 9. He then hit .222/.356/.317 in 1992, and he crushed 8 homers with a .220/.298/.365 batting line in 1993. Kishikawa went 6-for-28 in 1994 before the Hawks traded him to the Yomiuri Giants for Shuji Yoshida, and he was 7-for-34 with his new team. Kishikawa was the second NPB player to homer in both leagues in the same year, following Dave Roberts. He went 2-for-4 with 2 walks in the 1994 Nippon Series, and the Giants beat the Seibu Lions in 6 games. He then hit .236/.354/.345 in 1995, and he had a .228/.351/.430 batting line in 1996 then the Giants released him. He signed with the Yokohama BayStars, but he went 1-for-6 in 1997 and he retired. Kishikawa then became the batting coach for the Giants in 2003 and 2006 and for their minors team from 2007 to 2013.

Overall, Kishikawa hit .245/.335/.441 with 476 hits and 97 homers in 13 seasons in NPB.

Sources

• Wiki Japan