Masahiro Yamamoto (baseball)

• Chunichi Dragons (since 1986)

Masa Yamamoto (山 本 昌Japanese, Masa Yamamoto, actually山 本 昌 広, Masahiro Yamamoto, born August 11, 1965 in Chigasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture) is a Japanese baseball player on the position of the pitcher. He plays since his pro debut in 1986 for the Chunichi Dragons of the Japanese Central League. In 1994 he won the Sawamura - shō for the best pitcher in the league, twice (1994 and 1997) he was admitted to the Best Nine of Ce League.

Yamamoto visited the Fujisawa High School of Nihon Daigaku, but did not qualify in his time for the Koshien. In the 1983 Draft Yamamoto came in the fifth round to Chunichi. His debut in the first team, he was at the end of the 1986 season, when he threw two-thirds innings against Yakult in Jingū Stadium; but increasingly used he came only from 1988. Starting with the 1989 season, he was part of the trunk rotation of the Dragons, usually with more than 20 starts per season.

His most successful period was Yamamoto in the 1990s, when he was awarded the 1994 Sawamura Award as the best pitcher the Central League three times led in wins (1993, 1994 and 1997 ) and. But he afterwards remained a reliable starting pitcher usually more than 100 innings pitched per season. A total of six times (1989, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1997, 2004) took Yamamoto for the Ce League at the All- Star Game in part. 2006 Yamamoto threw in a home game against Hanshin a no-hitter.

In the 2007 Yamamoto threw with an ERA over 5, although weak ( 2 W - 10 L in 18 starts), but he could celebrate with his team the championship title in the Nihon Series -. The first for Chunichi since 1954 2008 Yamamoto was again better in form and has been on 4 August 2008 the 24th pitcher in Japanese professional baseball, which has reached 200 wins in career. As of 2009, the veteran was used less frequently but wore in 2010 with five wins in eight operations to a strong season with the Dragons.