Shane Kenji Komine (born October 18, 1980 in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the islan ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only ...

) is a former

right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, who attempts to e ...

. He made his major league debut against the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

on July 30, (6 IP, 1 ER, 4 BB, 1 K). He is the third American-born player of full Japanese ancestry in major league history, after Ryan Kurosaki and

Lenn Sakata Lenn Haruki Sakata (born June 8, 1954) is an American former professional baseball player who played in the Major Leagues primarily as a utility player from 1977 to 1987 and was a member of the Baltimore Orioles 1983 World Series Championship tea ...

Amateur career

Komine graduated from

Kalani High School Kalani High School is a four-year public high school located in East Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. Kalani is a part of the Hawaii Department of Education. Kalani is located on Kalanianaole Highway. It is accredited by the Western Association of Schoo ...

in Honolulu in 1998. He attended the

University of Nebraska A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...

with a major in Physics from 1999–2002 and became the Cornhuskers'

ace An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the ca ...

pitcher. After going 10-0 his senior year of , he was drafted by the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The t ...

in the 9th round of the notorious "

Moneyball ''Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game'' is a book by Michael Lewis, published in 2003, about the Oakland Athletics baseball team and its general manager Billy Beane. Its focus is the team's analytical, evidence-based, sabermetric app ...

" draft. While at Nebraska, Komine was a teammate of former A's

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the major ...

Dan Johnson.

Professional career

Komine spent the majority of his first pro years with the Double-A

Midland RockHounds The Midland RockHounds are a Minor League Baseball team based in Midland, Texas. The team, which plays in the Texas League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics major league club. The RockHounds play in Momentum Bank Ballpark, whi ...

, having moderate success. An impressive run through July 2006 with Triple-A

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

earned him a call-up to the A's on July 26, replacing Sacramento teammate Jason Windsor. On July 17, , Komine got into a game in the 8th inning against the Texas Rangers with fellow Hawaiian

Kurt Suzuki Kurtis Kiyoshi Suzuki (born October 4, 1983) is an American former professional baseball catcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Oakland Athletics, Washington Nationals, Minnesota Twins, Atlanta Braves, and Los Angeles Angels. ...

doing the catching. This marked the first time in Major League Baseball history that there was a battery where both the players were from Hawaii. He is the 19th pitcher from

to have played in the major leagues and third player from Hawaii to play for the A's, after

Ron Darling Ronald Maurice Darling Jr. (born August 19, 1960) is an American former professional baseball player and current television sports color commentator. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a right-handed pitcher from to , most notably as a m ...

and

. His teammate on the 2007 A's,

is also from Hawaii. In 2009, Komine played for the independent

Newark Bears The Newark Bears were an American minor league professional baseball team based in Newark, New Jersey. They were a member of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball and, later, the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball. ...

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Komine, Shane 1980 births American baseball players of Japanese descent Arizona League Athletics players Baseball players from Honolulu Hawaii people of Japanese descent Kane County Cougars players Living people Newark Bears players Major League Baseball pitchers Nebraska Cornhuskers baseball players Oakland Athletics players Sacramento River Cats players Stockton Ports players Midland RockHounds players Phoenix Desert Dogs players Visalia Oaks players