Kenji Johjima

Kenji Johjima
Seattle Mariners — No. 2 CatcherBorn: June 8, 1976(1976-06-08) (age 32) Bats: Right Throws: Right Major League Baseball debut April 3, 2006 for the Seattle Mariners Selected MLB statistics
(through 2007) Batting Average .289 Home Runs 32 Runs Batted In 137 Teams

Fukuoka Daiei Hawks/Fukuoka Softbank Hawks (1995-2005) (NPB)
Seattle Mariners (2006-present)

Olympic medal record Men's BaseballBronze Athens 2004Team Competition

Kenji Johjima (城島健司, Jōjima Kenji?, born June 8, 1976 in Sasebo, Japan) is a catcher in Major League Baseball who plays for the Seattle Mariners in the American League.

1 Team History
2 Career highlights
3 Awards
4 Career statistics
- 4.1 Japan Pacific League
5 Trivia
6 Sources

Team History

On November 21, 2005, Johjima and the Seattle Mariners agreed to a $16.5 million, three-year contract. Prior to signing with the Mariners, he played in Japan for the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks team in the Pacific League who drafted him in 1999. Johjima also played in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens for Japan. On April 25, 2008, the Mariners and Johjima agreed to a three-year contract extension, terms of which were not immediately available.

Career highlights

A seven-time All-Star for the Hawks, Johjima became a free agent after hitting .309 with 24 home runs and 57 RBI in 116 games, during the 2005 season, which was cut short by two injuries including a broken leg which ended his 2005 season prematurely.

From 1996 through 2005, Johjima hit .299 with 211 home runs and 699 RBI in 1,117 games. His most productive season came in 2003, when he hit .330 with 119 RBI and finished third with 34 home runs behind Tuffy Rhodes (51) and Alex Cabrera (50).

As a catcher, Johjima had 6,321 outs with 572 assists and 48 errors in 6,941 chances for a .993 fielding average. He posted a .376 caught stealing% (222-for-591).

A winner of seven straight Gold Gloves in Japan, Johjima became the first Japanese player to catch full-time in the major leagues. Infielder Lenn Sakata, a Japanese-American born in Honolulu, caught one game for the Baltimore Orioles, winning a World Series ring in 1983.

Johjima is making rapid progress in his efforts to learn English and Spanish, in order to communicate with the Seattle Mariners' pitchers. He has often used the phrase, "Call me Jo."

Johjima hit a home run in each of his first two Major League games against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on April 3 and April 4, 2006 in Seattle.

On October 1, 2006 against the Texas Rangers, he set the record for most hits by a rookie catcher with 147. The previous record was 146.

Awards

Pacific League MVP (2003)
Seven-time Gold Glove winner (1999–2005)
Six-time selection to the "Best Nine" team, chosen by Japanese sportswriters (1999–2001; 2003–2005)
Five-time Best Battery Award winner (1999–2001, 2003, 2004)
Monthly MVP (June 1999, April 2003, June 2004)
Japan Series Valuable Player prize (1999, 2003)
Japan Series Fighting Spirit prize (2000)
Nippon Professional Baseball All-Star Game (1997–2001, 2003-2005)
Most votes for the Japanese All-Star Game (2005)

Career statistics

Japan Pacific League

Games: 1,117
Batting Average: .299
Hits: 1,206
Home runs: 211
RBIs: 699
Stolen Bases: 63

Trivia

On April 3, 2006, Johjima and Ichiro Suzuki became the first pair of Japanese position players to take the field in an MLB starting lineup.
Johjima once joked that he would register as "George McKensey" ('JOH-JI MA-ken-ji') should he make it to the Majors.
Johjima's favorite hobby is ocean fishing. It is rumored that one of the reasons he chose to sign with the Seattle Mariners was Seattle's proximity to bodies of water, Puget Sound and the Pacific Ocean.
Johjima also cites his children's fondness of Uwajimaya, a Japanese grocery store in Seattle, as a reason for signing with Mariners.