Koji Uehara ( 上原 浩 治 Uehara Ko: Ji , born April 3, 1975) is a Japanese professional baseball player who plays as a pitcher in the Yomiuri Giants team from the Japanese Professional Baseball League . During his professional career, he has performed at Yomiuri Giants from the Premier League and Baltimore Orioles , the Texas Rangers , and the Boston Red Sox from Major League Baseball. In 2013, he became the most valuable player in the American League Championship series , in which the Red Sox defeated the Detroit Tigers .
| Koji Uehara | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Yomiuri Giants - No. 11 | |
| Pitcher | |
| Born: April 3, 1975 (44 years old) Neagawa , Japan | |
| Beats: Right | Throws: Right |
| Professional debut | |
| April 8, 2009 for Baltimore Orioles | |
| Selected Statistics (end of 2017 season) | |
| Wins / losses | 22/26 |
| ERA | 3.01 |
| Strikeouts | 1376 |
| Saves | 95 |
| Teams | |
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| Awards and Achievements | |
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| Sports Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Baseball | ||
| Olympic Games | ||
| Bronze | Athens 2004 | Japan national team |
| World Baseball Classic | ||
| Gold | San Diego 2006 | Japan national team |
National team appearances
Uehara began to play for the national team while still at the university. He has performed twice at the Olympics , in the first World Baseball Classics and the Asian Baseball Championship . During his performances, he won 12 victories and made 2 saves and never lost in 25 outings on the field.
At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, he and his team won bronze medals.
In 2006, he won 2 victories at the World Baseball Classic . Thanks to his help, Japan was able to win the tournament, and Uehara became the leader of the event by the number of strikeouts - 16. At the Asian baseball championship in 2007, he played as a closer.
In July 2008, he was elected to the Japanese national team to participate in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing . Because of his slurred performances, at that time they planned to use him as a set-up pitcher, however, in his first game against Chinese Taipei, he entered the position of a closer, having played a dry inning and not allowing his opponent to make a single hit. Two days later, he made his first save at the Olympics, and his team defeated Canada with a score of 1-0. After his team finished in fourth place, Uehara refused to compete in the 2009 World Baseball Classics .
Links
- Performance statistics on MLB , ESPN , Baseball-Reference , Fangraphs , The Baseball Cube , Baseball-Reference (Minors)
- KOJI UEHARA on Twitter
- Koji Uehara official site (japanese)
- ArmchairGM Profile Page for Koji Uehara (link not available)
- Japanese league stats, info, and links for Koji Uehara by JapaneseBallPlayrers.com
- Frank's Field of Dreams: Far East Heroes> Koji Uehara
- Baseball Prospectus> What the Internet Can Teach Us About Koji Uehara