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Hair Transplant Photos, Portraits: Patient KEI - Hair Loss UK Clinic bernsteinmedical.co.uk | Kei-Hoi Cheung, PhD ycmi.med.yale.edu |
Kei Igawa (井川 慶 Igawa Kei, born July 13, 1979 in Ōarai, Ibaraki) is a Japanese left-handed starting pitcher for the New York Yankees organization. He played for the Hanshin Tigers of Nippon Professional Baseball from 1999 to 2006. He led the Central League in strikeouts in 2002, 2004, and 2006. He played in the 2006 Major League Baseball Japan All-Star Series.
[edit] Professional career[edit] Japanese careerHe was the number two draft choice of the Hanshin Tigers in 1998. After a couple of years in the Hanshin minor league system, Igawa entered the starting rotation in 2001. In his first full season as a starter, Igawa went 9-13 for the last-placed Tigers, but finished with a Central League second-best 2.67 ERA, behind only Chunichi's Shigeki Noguchi. In 2002, Hanshin improved to fourth and Igawa's record was 14-9. He finished third in ERA (2.49), trailing Masumi Kuwata and Kenshin Kawakami. He also led the Central League with 206 strikeouts. In 2003, the Tigers won the Central League pennant. Igawa made a great contribution with his brilliant performance. He pitched very well and finished with a 20-5 record ,a 2.80 ERA, and was third with 179 strikeouts. He was named to the Best Nine, won the MVP in the Central League and also won the Eiji Sawamura Award, the Japanese equivalent of the MLB Cy Young Award.[1] Igawa saw a decline in performance in 2004 and 2005. In 2004, despite leading the league at 228 strikeouts, he went 14-11 with a 3.73 ERA. In 2005, Igawa went 13-9 with a 3.86 ERA, fifth among his team's starters in ERA, and was briefly exiled to the minors. He was only tied for fifth in strikeouts (down significantly to 145) and 10th in ERA, but was still third in the circuit in victories. While still a productive hurler, Igawa became a target of enthusiastic fan criticism due to his inability to perform at his prior level. [edit] New York Yankees Career[edit] 2007In 2006, Igawa announced his intention to play in North America. On November 16, 2006, Igawa was posted by the Hanshin Tigers. On November 29, 2006, it was announced that the New York Yankees were the highest bidders at $26,000,194, with the last three digits representing his strikeout total for the 2006 season. He signed a five-year, 20 million dollar contract on December 27, 2006. On January 8, 2007, Igawa was officially announced at a Yankee Stadium press conference. On April 7, 2007, he made his major league debut, allowing 7 earned runs in five innings, but received a no decision thanks to Alex Rodriguez's walk-off grand slam. The highlight of his first MLB stint was a stellar relief performance against the Boston Red Sox that earned him a win. However, the Yankees saw flaws in his mechanics and, on May 7, optioned him to the Florida State League's Tampa Yankees to work with Nardi Contreras and Billy Connors. Igawa apparently made progress in mechanics and location at Tampa, and was subsequently called up to pitch for the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre Yankees. Igawa made his return start against the San Francisco Giants on June 22, 2007, allowing two earned runs in 4.2 innings. On July 27, 2007, Igawa was demoted to Triple-A Scranton. Scranton infielder Chris Basak took Igawa's spot on the Major League roster. Igawa returned to the Yankees in September 2007 when rosters expanded. [edit] 2008After failing to make the team out of spring training, Igawa started the year with the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre Yankees. He was called up to replace Ian Kennedy on May 9, 2008, where Igawa made his first MLB start of the 2008 season against the Detroit Tigers, in which he gave up eleven hits and six runs in 3 innings. On the June 8, 2008, on the Mike Felger Show on 890 ESPN, sportswriter Peter Gammons attributed Igawa's struggles in the Major Leagues to former Yankees pitching coach Ron Guidry. "Ron Guidry was the Yankees pitching coach and he took Kei Igawa and changed his delivery and he’s never been the same. The interesting thing was that if the Yankees put Igawa on waivers the [Red] Sox, from my understanding, were going to put a claim in on him."[2] On July 26, 2008, however, Igawa cleared waivers and was removed from the 40-man roster. [3] [edit] 2009In 2009 Igawa was invited to Spring Training as a Non-Roster Invitee, the only Yankee with a guaranteed contract in that position. On 3/23/09 The Yankees reassigned LHP Kei Igawa to Minor League camp. [4] In 2009 Igawa was a full time minor league pitcher starting 26 games for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees. He posted a 10-8 record with a 4.15 ERA, with 105 strikeouts. The 10 wins, 105 strikeouts, and the 4.15 ERA were team bests for the 2009 year. [5] On July 27th 2009 Kei Igawa set a Scranton/Wilkes-Barre franchise record for most career wins, with a 2-1 victory over the Columbus Clippers. He threw seven scoreless innings, allowing only four hits and one walk. He had four strikeouts, throwing 62 strikes over 90 pitches. [6] [edit] Player profileIgawa's fastball will usually stay in the 87-90 mph range, but he is able to reach back and throw harder when in need of a strikeout (tops out at 93 mph).[7] Igawa also throws a changeup, which hovers in the 78-81 mph range, and a slider, which he uses primarily against left-handed batters. His changeup has a tendency to be belt-high and in the middle of the plate. This pitch drew a lot of swings and misses in Japan, but it did not have the same success in America. Igawa was known to possess above-average control in Japan, but has a very poor track record of control at the Major League level.[7] Igawa is also known for his unique follow-through, in which he throws his left leg into the air and return his pitching arm to a high position. Since he does not do this with his off-speed pitches as often as his fastballs, it might become easier for batters to indicate whether a pitch is off-speed or not. His record during day games in Japan was 4-5, 7.09 ERA. Considering the fact that Igawa pitches exceptionally better in night games, he wears sunglasses during day games to make the game environment closer to that of a night game. In February 2007, Igawa announced on his Japanese blog that he had married recently. Igawa likes shogi (Japanese chess). [edit] Professional Statistics in Japan
*Bold = led league [edit] Professional Statistics in MLB[edit] Statistics
[edit] Awards in Japan
[edit] References
[edit] External links
Categories: 1979 births | Living people | People from Ibaraki Prefecture | Japanese baseball players | Hanshin Tigers players | Major League Baseball pitchers | Major League Baseball players from Japan | Tampa Yankees players | Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees players | New York Yankees players | Nippon Professional Baseball MVP Award winners | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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