Shogo Yamamoto

Shogo Yamamoto (山本 省吾)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 10", Weight 170 lb.
• School Keio University
• High School Seiryo High School

• Born May 28, 1978 in Nanao, Ishikawa Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Shogo Yamamoto pitched in Nippon Pro Baseball for 13 years.

Yamamoto represented Japan in the 1994 Asia Junior Championship. He debuted in 2001 with the Kintetsu Buffaloes, allowing 12 hits, 3 walks and 11 runs in 5 2/3 IP in an inauspicious debut. He was 4-1 with a 2.52 ERA in 2002 and 0-1 with a 5.49 ERA in 25 games in 2003. In 14 games in 2004, Yamamoto was 3-1 with a 2.78 ERA. Kintetsu merged with the Orix BlueWave to form the Orix Buffaloes in 2005 and the left-hander went 2-0 with a 6.04 ERA and 39 hits in 28 1/3 IP. Again a LOOGY in 2006, Shogo saved two games and had a 3.99 ERA in 35 games and 29 1/3 IP. He went 1-1 with a 1.63 ERA in 19 games in 2007.

Moved to the rotation in 2008, Yamamoto went 10-6 with a 3.38 ERA and only 30 walks in 154 2/3 IP. He was 8th in the Pacific League in ERA (between Yoshihisa Naruse and Takayuki Kishi) and tied for second with two shutouts. In 2009, the 31-year-old was 9-7 with a 4.23 ERA. He allowed 176 hits, third in the PL behind Hisashi Iwakuma and Naoyuki Shimizu. He tied Kazuhisa Ishii for fifth with 18 home runs allowed, was second in runs allowed (84, behind Kazuki Kondo) and second in earned runs allowed (behind Kondo). Yamamoto slumped to 8-10 with a 5.47 ERA in 2010, and he tied Kazuki Kondo and Satoshi Nagai for 4th in losses.

The Buffaloes then traded him with Go Kida to the Yokohama BayStars for Hayato Terahara and Kazuya Takamiya, and he struggled again in 2011 as he went 2-11 with a 5.92 ERA. He was 5th in losses in the Central League, tied with Hirokazu Sawamura, Shun Tono, Tatsuyoshi Masubuchi and Bryan Bullington. He had a 1-4 record with a 4.46 ERA in 2012, and he was traded with Yuki Yoshimura and Shintaro Ejiri to the Softbank Hawks for Teruaki Yoshikawa, Hitoshi Tamura and Yasushi Kamiuchi. Yamamoto allowed 2 runs in 1 2/3 innings in 2013, and he announced his retirement. He later scouted, signing Itua Ikhine, Daiju Nomura and Tatsuru Yanagimachi.

Overall, Yamamoto was 40-42 with a 4.41 ERA, struck out 501 and pitched 743 1/3 innings in 13 seasons in NPB.