Kimiyasu Kudoh
- Seibu Lions (1982-1994)
- Fukuoka Daiei Hawks (1995-1999)
- Yomiuri Giants (2000-2006)
- Yokohama BayStars (2007-2009)
- Saitama Seibu Lions (since 2010)
Kimiyasu Kudō (Japanese工藤 公 康, Kudō Kimiyasu, often romanized as Kudoh, born May 5, 1963 in Toyoake, Aichi Prefecture) is a Japanese baseball player for the Saitama Seibu Lions in the Pacific League. The left-handed pitcher in 2010 next to Masa Yamamoto the only active pitcher with more than 200 wins. Three times he was admitted to the Best Nine and took eight times in the All -Star Game in part, in 1987 he received the Shoriki - Matsutaro price.
Kudō visited the Nagoya Denki High School, with whom he at the Summer Koshien in 1981 threw the 19th no-hitter of the tournament's history in his senior year; his team later divorced from the semi-finals. In the 1981 Draft, he came in the sixth round to the Seibu Lions, for whom he made his debut on 10 April 1982 in the first team and already in his rookie year over 20 missions had as a reliever. In the same year he also had his first brief stint in the Nihon Series, where he won eight league titles with the first Seibu. As of the 1985 season Kudō came regularly as a starter for use, the same year he scored with 2.76 for the first time with the best ERA in the league.
In the Nihon Series in 1985 against the Hanshin Tigers Kudō had to admit in the first and third game each have a 3 -run homerun by Hanshins Homerunchampion Randy Bass. The third game could win the Lions though, series and championship but later went to the Tigers. A year later, in the championship series in 1986 turned Kudō after a draw and three defeats, the series with a walk-off hit for the Lions, who also won the following three games. Kudō was named MVP of the Nihon Series, a title he won again in 1987, when he contributed with two wins and a save to victory over the Yomiuri Giants Seibus. 1987, when he for the second time with the best ERA posted the league in the regular season, he was first added to the Best Nine of the Pacific League.
Also due to injuries he threw towards the end of the 1980s, weaker seasons: In 1989, he recorded with a 4.96 ERA for the first time of over four and 4-8 with its first losing record as a starter, the same year the Lions since 1984, missed the first time, the Nihon Series. From a strong season in 1991 Kudō was stable again one of the better pitchers in the league. 1993 lost Seibu although after three titles in a row the championship, but Kudō was for a good performance of the season ( 15-3, 2:06 ) awarded the MVP of the Pacific League and for the second time as best- Nine Member.
1994 no longer Kudō extended his contract with the Lions and was a free agent. For the year 1995, he signed a contract with the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks under new manager Sadaharu Oh. For the Hawks Oh era, the turn of a weakest teams in the league marked a championship contender. Kudō played for five years in Fukuoka, his best season, he threw in 1999 ( 11-7, 2:38 ), as the Hawks also the first Nihon -Series victory recorded for 35 years. Then moved Kudō to record champion Yomiuri Giants in the Central League. After another strong year in 2000, where he was admitted to the Best Nine and a Golden Glove Award, he came in 2001, affected by an injury, hardly used and threw then until 2006 as a solid starter with winning records for the Giants, but had regularly from 2003 ERAs over four. At his contract extension in 2003, he suffered a significant pay cut. In August 2004 he reached 23, as pitcher in Japanese professional baseball the milestone of 200 wins in a career. 2005 was his last season with more than twenty -offs and more than ten wins.
2007 came Kudō as compensation for Free Agent Ken Kadokura to the Yokohama BayStars, where he completed his final season as a regular starter. After an elbow surgery in 2007, he had in 2008 only three bets and then came almost exclusively as a reliever used. 2009 dismissed the BayStars Kudō, and he to his first team, the Seibu Lions returned. He threw a total of 2010, only six innings in ten games in the first team, in August 2010 he was transferred to the second team.