Hirotoshi Ishii (石井弘寿, born September 14, 1977) is a Japanese

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

player. He currently plays as a relief pitcher for the

Tokyo Yakult Swallows The Tokyo Yakult Swallows () are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Shinjuku, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the ...

. He has repeatedly expressed a desire to play in the majors, and several teams have shown an interest in the left-hander. The Swallows were reluctant to release Ishii in the 2005 off-season, but promised they would allow him to come to the majors if he was able to play another full season in Japan (a similar promise was made to Akinori Iwamura, who signed with the

Tampa Bay Devil Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since its inception, the team's home ve ...

). Ishii was expected to sign with a major league team during the 2006 off-season, but injured his left shoulder, and decided to remain with the Swallows. He joined the Japanese national baseball team for the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

, and won a bronze medal.

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Career statistics
1977 births Living people People from Ichihara, Chiba Baseball people from Chiba Prefecture Nippon Professional Baseball pitchers Yakult Swallows players Tokyo Yakult Swallows players Baseball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic baseball players of Japan Olympic bronze medalists for Japan Olympic medalists in baseball Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics 2006 World Baseball Classic players Japanese baseball coaches Nippon Professional Baseball coaches {{Japan-Olympic-medalist-stub