(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo courtesy of Tohoku Takuten Golden Eagles)
 Twins adds former professional Japanese pitcher to roster
Nederlands
 OOSTERHOUT (Neth.) -
De Glaskoning Twins will add Japanese pitcher Keiji Uezono to its big league-roster soon.
The righthanded former professionall pitcher will arrive on May 12 and will take the spot on the roster of Australian righthander Justin Erasmus, whose visa will expire and then will return home.
The addition was confirmed by Twins on Sunday (May 1).
...Keiji Uezono...
(© Ph: Golden Eagles) |
Besides playing for Twins, Uezono has also been added to the roster of Amsterdam Baseball, one of the four teams that participates in the Euro League Baseball.
The inaugural season of the European league went underway two weeks ago.
The Amsterdam-squad opens its ELB-season on May 15, playing at home against Draci Brno (Czech Republic).
Amsterdam Baseball will play its home games at the site of Dutch big league-club L&D Amsterdam Pirates.
Keiji Uezono pitched (parts of) eight seasons in the highest Japanese professional league (Nippon Professional Baseball).
He first pitched for Hanshin Tigers in 2007-2010, then threw three seasons (2012-2014) for Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles after being traded.
In this past winter-season, the righthander pitched for Sydney Blue Sox in the Australian Baseball League.
Uezono, who will turn 32 on June 30, made his debut in the NPB in 2007, pitching in 17 games (16 starts) for Hanshin Tigers.
In his first season, he was 8-5 with a 2.42 ERA and struckout 83 batters in 85 2/3 inning, while walking only 32.
His accomplishments earned him the award for Rookie of the Year.
In the following season, Uezono was 4-0 in nine appearances (all starts).
He then registered 38 strikeouts in 43 innings.
During the 2009 season, Uezono pitched in only one game for the Tigers at the highest level.
From 2010, he was primarily used in relief and then pitched in 25 games (eight starts) for Hanshin.
He finished the season with a 3-4 record and a 4.75 ERA with 39 strikeouts in 60 2/3 inning, while walking 27 batters.
After not pitching in the Japanese big league in 2011, Uezono pitched in one game for the Golden Eagles during the 2012 season.
In the next two seasons combined, he pitched in 14 games and was 0-4 with 25 strikeouts 36 2/3 inning.
While being with the Golden Eagles in 2014, Dutch outfielder Andruw Jones and Dutch pitcher Loek van Mil also played for the organization.
Uezono played in both the big league, as well in farm teams of the club.
After recording a 2.42 ERA in his first professional season and 3.14 in the year after, his ERA raised in following seasons.
He finished with a 7.24 ERA in 2013 (five games, 16 hits and 11 earned runs in 13 2/3 inning) and 5.87 ERA in 2014 (28 hits, 15 earned runs in 23 innings).
In Australia, Uezono pitched in only 10 1/3 inning in six games for the Blue Sox as a reliever and struckout 15 batters.
He was 0-0 with a 1.74 ERA.
Uezono will play for Twins in the remainder of the season.
While being in Oosterhout, he also wil work as a coach for Collegiate Baseball League Europe (CBLE), which has its home at the site of Twins in Oosterhout.
For CBLE, he also will conduct clinics.
(May 1)
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