Kenta Uehara

Kenta Uehara (上原 健太)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 3", Weight 187 lb.

• School Meiji University
• High School Koryo High School

• Born March 29, 1994 in Uruma, Okinawa Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Kenta Uehara has pitched in the Nippon Pro Baseball.

Uehara was 14-9 with a 2.14 ERA and an ERA title in college, and he represented Japan when they won the 2015 Universiade. He was drafted by the Nippon Ham Fighters in the first round of the 2015 NPB draft after they lost the lottery for the rights to Junpei Takahashi and Shinnosuke Ogasawara. He only pitched one game with the big club in 2016, then he went 1-5 with a 6.23 ERA in 2017. Uehara improved to 4-0 with a 3.13 ERA in 2018 and was just the 7th Pacific League pitcher to homer in an interleague contest; it had been seven years since Alfredo Figaro had been 6th hurler to smack one out. He struggled again in 2019 as his ERA rose to 5.56 in 13 games. Uehara went 1-3 with a 4.46 ERA in 2020, and he recorded a 3.97 ERA in 11 appearances in 2021. He returned to the rotation in 2022, and he was 3-5 with a 3.19 ERA. He then had a 4-7 record with a 2.75 ERA in 2023, but his ERA was 9.24 in 7 games in 2024. With 14 NPB at-bats to that point, he had a .500 career slugging percentage.

His repertoire consists of a fastball (peak time 94.4 mph), slider, forkball, cutter and changeup.

Sources

• Wikipedia Japan