Yoshio Itoi
| Yoshio Itoi | |||
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Itoi with the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters
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| Hanshin Tigers – No. 7 | |||
| Outfielder | |||
| Born: July 31, 1981 | |||
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| debut | |||
| March 27, 2007, for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters | |||
| NPB statistics (through 2016) |
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| Batting average | .301 | ||
| Home runs | 125 | ||
| Runs batted in | 525 | ||
| Stolen Bases | 245 | ||
| Teams | |||
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| Career highlights and awards | |||
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Yoshio Itoi (糸井 嘉男 Itoi Yoshio?, born July 31, 1981 in Yosano, Kyoto, Japan) is a Japanese professional baseball player for the Hanshin Tigers. Itoi bats left-handed and throws right-handed. He played for team Japan in WBC 2013, and hit clean-up for Japan in games against Brazil (4th batter) and China (5th batter).
Itoi was a pitcher during his time as a student, and was the ace pitcher for Kinki University during his 4th year, where he finished the spring league with a 5-0 record with 2 shutouts, and won the MVP and Best Pitcher award. He was also included in the Best Nine. He finished his university career with a 9-1 record.
Itoi was drafted into the Fighters in the fall of 2003, and was considered a power pitcher, being able to pitch 151 km/h (94 mph) fastball but has control problems and were unable to muster up decent breaking balls. He was also marred with injury and spent 2 years in the ni-gun (Japanese equivalent of the minor league).
Although Itoi had problems developing as a good pitcher in the pros, his outstanding batting sense, running speed (50m in 5 seconds), and strong throwing arm prompted Fighters GM Shigeru Takada to convert him into an outfielder. Just 5 months after converting into an outfielder, Itoi won the Eastern League's Monthly MVP award, hitting .397 in September 2006.
Itoi collected his first hit and stolen base in Ichigun level in the 2007 season, but spent most time in Niggun, having only played 7 games at Ichigun level. In 2008, Itoi was the Opening Day's starting left fielder, but injury again put him out of action. He bounced back near the end of the season, however, and hit his first home run soon after. He was the lead off batter for Fighters during that year's Climax Series, and was defensively outstanding.
In 2009, Itoi replaced Hichori Morimoto as Fighter's everyday starting center field. He moved up the batting order as the season progress, hitting in the two-hole and even as the third batter when Atsunori Inaba was absent. Itoi won the Monthly MVP award in June, and was selected for the first time to play in the All Star Game. He ended the year hitting .306 with 15 home runs, 24 stolen bases, and a league high 40 doubles, and won his first Golden Glove award.
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