is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher. As a player, Yoshimi spent his entire 15-year career in

Nippon Professional Baseball is a professional baseball league and the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning simply ''Professional Baseball''; outside of Japan, NPB is often referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league ...

(NPB) with the

Chunichi Dragons The are a professional baseball team based in Nagoya, the chief city in the Chūbu region of Japan. The team plays in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. They have won the Central League pennant nine times (most recently in 2011 ...

Early career

Yoshimi started playing baseball in Grade 2 of elementary school. At high school, Yoshimi was the ace for Konkō Ōsaka High School and took his team to the second round of the 2002 Japanese High School Baseball Invitational Tournament. After graduating high school, Yoshimi joined

Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

's corporate baseball team where he was regarded as one of the best players in industrial league baseball. During this time, he underwent surgery on his elbow which reduced the hype surrounding him.

Professional career

selected Yoshimi in the . On September 10, 2006, Yoshimi was registered for the first-team for the first time and debuted against the

Hiroshima Toyo Carp The is a professional baseball team based in Hiroshima, Japan. They compete in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. The team is primarily owned by the Matsuda family, led by , who is a descendant of Mazda founder Jujiro Matsuda ...

with an untarnished 1.1 innings. On September 18, Yoshimi would claim his first win, this time against the Yokohama DeNA Baystars where he pitching 5 innings for 2 earned runs. In the

2006 Japan Series The Japan Series, the 57th edition of Nippon Professional Baseball's championship series, began on October 21 and ended on October 26, and matched the Central League champion Chunichi Dragons against the Pacific League champion, Hokkaido Nipp ...

he was used in relief. In 2007, Yoshimi was named MVP of the Japanese Farm Team National Championships and would later take part in the Dominican Winter League where he would pitch for Estrellas Orientales. On November 1, 2020, Yoshimi announced his retirement. On November 5, 2020, he held press conference.

References

External links

* 1984 births Living people Baseball people from Kyoto Chunichi Dragons players Estrellas Orientales players Japanese expatriate baseball players in the Dominican Republic Nippon Professional Baseball pitchers {{japan-baseball-pitcher-stub