Yasunori Kikuchi

Yasunori Kikuchi (菊池 保則)

• Bats Left Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 176 lb.

• High School Tokiwa University High School

• Born September 18, 1989 in Kuji-gun, Ibaraki Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Yasunori Kikuchi pitched in Nippon Pro Baseball for 13 years.

Kikuchi was drafted by the Rakuten Golden Eagles in the 4th round of the high school phase in the 2007 NPB draft, but he spent his first five seasons primarily in the NPB Farm Leagues; he only pitched 8 games combined with the big club. He had a 6.48 ERA in 14 games in 2013, then he went 4-1 with a 4.03 ERA in 2014. Kikuchi improved to 4-5 with a 3.76 ERA in 2015, but he suffered from a shoulder injury in 2016 so he only pitched 7 games. Kikuchi's ERA was 4.91 in 7 appearances in 2017, and he mainly stayed in the minors in 2018. The Golden Eagles then traded him to the Hiroshima Carp for Yuya Fukui, and he had his career year in 2019. He notched 15 holds with a 2.80 ERA in 58 appearances that season, but his ERA rose to 4.50 in 44 games in 2020. Kikuchi pitched 33 games with a 1.71 ERA in 2021, but he had a 5.63 ERA in 2022 then he announced his retirement.

Overall, Kikuchi was 16-19 with a 3.88 ERA, struck out 331 and pitched 412 2/3 innings in 13 seasons in NPB.

Sources

• Wiki Japan