Kenichi Izutsu

Kenichi Izutsu (井筒 研一)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 7", Weight 132 lbs.

• High School Akashi Commercial High School

• Born November 28, 1919 in Hyogo Prefecture Japan
• Died January 29, 1992

BR register page

Biographical Information

Kenichi Izutsu played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 10 years.

Izutsu was signed by the Lion club in 1939, and he hit .175/.239/.205 in 60 games that season. He recorded a 139/.239/.148 batting line in 1940, and he also pitched 24 games with a 3.04 ERA. He then enlisted into the military and missed four seasons. Izutsu returned as a full-time pitcher in 1946, and he went 13-18 with a 3.07 ERA that season. He was 10th in the Japanese Professional Baseball League in ERA (between Shosei Go and Fumio Maruyama), 8th in complete games (tied with Takashi Eda) and 4th in losses (between Giichiro Shiraki and Shigeaki Kuroo).

The Hyogo native improved to 10-13 with a 2.05 ERA in 1947, and he ranked 9th in ERA (between Takao Misono and Tadashi Wakabayashi). He was 13-22 with a 4.03 ERA in 1948, and he ranked 2nd in losses (tied with Yoshio Tenbo). Izutsu's ERA was 4.19 in 27 games in 1949, and he went 9-4 with a 3.95 ERA in 1950. He pitched 5 innings with a run allowed in the 1950 Nippon Series, and the Mainichi Orions beat the Shochiku Robins in 6 games. Izutsu was 0-3 with a 4.90 ERA in 1951, and he recorded a 3.11 ERA in 10 games in 1952. He announced his retirement after that season, and he became an umpire of the Central League from 1957 to 1969. He worked 1,310 games as an umpire.

Overall, Izutsu was 48-73 with a 3.47 ERA, struck out 258 and pitched 1,278 1/3 innings in 10 years in NPB. He hit .164/.230/.183 with 121 hits at the plate.

Sources

• Wiki Japan