List of Major League Baseball players from Japan
Former players

List of Major League Baseball players from Japan

Section Title: Former players
Table Section Text: None

Player	Position	MLB debut	Final MLB game	Games	Former MLB Team(s)	Current league/status	Current team	Notes

Masanori Murakami	P	September 1, 1964	October 1, 1965	54	San Francisco Giants (1964–1965)	Retired	—

Hideo Nomo	P	May 2, 1995	April 18, 2008	324	Los Angeles Dodgers (1995–1998, 2002–2004) New York Mets (1998) Milwaukee Brewers (1999) Detroit Tigers (2000) Boston Red Sox (2001) Tampa Bay Devil Rays (2005) Kansas City Royals (2008)	Retired	—

Mac Suzuki§	P	July 7, 1996	June 28, 2002	117	Seattle Mariners (1996, 1998–1999) Kansas City Royals (1999–2001, 2002) Colorado Rockies (2001) Milwaukee Brewers (2001)	Retired	—

Shigetoshi Hasegawa	P	April 5, 1997	September 28, 2005	517	Anaheim Angels (1997–2001) Seattle Mariners (2002–2005)	Retired	—

Takashi Kashiwada	P	May 1, 1997	September 18, 1997	35	New York Mets (1997)	Retired	—

Hideki Irabu	P	July 10, 1997	July 12, 2002	126	New York Yankees (1997–1999) Montreal Expos (2000–2001) Texas Rangers (2002)	Deceased (July 27, 2011)	—

Masato Yoshii	P	April 5, 1998	September 11, 2002	162	New York Mets (1998–1999) Colorado Rockies (2000) Montreal Expos (2001–2002)	Retired	—

Masao Kida	P	April 5, 1999	August 3, 2005	65	Detroit Tigers (1999–2000) Los Angeles Dodgers (2003–2004) Seattle Mariners (2004–2005)	Retired	—

Tomokazu Ohka	P	July 19, 1999	October 4, 2009	204	Boston Red Sox (1999–2001) Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals (2001–2005) Milwaukee Brewers (2005–2006) Toronto Blue Jays (2007) Cleveland Indians (2009)	Retired	—

Kazuhiro Sasaki	P	April 5, 2000	September 28, 2003	228	Seattle Mariners (2000–2003)	Retired	—

Ichiro Suzuki*	OF	April 2, 2001	March 21, 2019	2,653	Seattle Mariners (2001–2012, 2018–2019) New York Yankees (2012–2014) Miami Marlins (2015–2017)	Retired	—

Tsuyoshi Shinjo	OF	April 3, 2001	June 27, 2003	303	New York Mets (2001, 2003) San Francisco Giants (2002)	Retired	—

Takahito Nomura	P	April 3, 2002	May 15, 2002	21	Milwaukee Brewers (2002)	Retired	—

Satoru Komiyama	P	April 4, 2002	September 11, 2002	25	New York Mets (2002)	Retired	—

Kazuhisa Ishii*	P	April 6, 2002	September 28, 2005	105	Los Angeles Dodgers (2002–2004) New York Mets (2005)	Retired	—

So Taguchi	OF	June 10, 2002	October 4, 2009	672	St. Louis Cardinals (2002–2007) Philadelphia Phillies (2008) Chicago Cubs (2009)	Retired	—

Hideki Matsui	OF	March 31, 2003	July 22, 2012	1,236	New York Yankees (2003–2009) Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (2010) Oakland Athletics (2011) Tampa Bay Rays (2012)	Retired	—

Kazuo Matsui	IF	April 6, 2004	May 18, 2010	630	New York Mets (2004–2006) Colorado Rockies (2006–2007) Houston Astros (2008–2010)	Retired	—

Akinori Otsuka*	P	April 6, 2004	July 1, 2007	236	San Diego Padres (2004–2005) Texas Rangers (2006–2007)	Retired	—

Shingo Takatsu	P	April 9, 2004	October 2, 2005	99	Chicago White Sox (2004–2005) New York Mets (2005)	Retired	—

Kazuhito Tadano§	P	April 27, 2004	July 16, 2005	15	Cleveland Indians (2004–2005)	Retired	—

Tadahito Iguchi	IF	April 4, 2005	September 28, 2008	493	Chicago White Sox (2005–2007) Philadelphia Phillies (2007, 2008) San Diego Padres (2008)	Retired	—

Keiichi Yabu	P	April 9, 2005	September 27, 2008	100	Oakland Athletics (2005) San Francisco Giants (2008)	Retired	—

Norihiro Nakamura*	IF	April 10, 2005	May 6, 2005	17	Los Angeles Dodgers (2005)	Retired	—

Kenji Johjima	C	April 3, 2006	October 3, 2009	462	Seattle Mariners (2006–2009)	Retired	—

Takashi Saito	P	April 9, 2006	September 30, 2012	338	Los Angeles Dodgers (2006–2008) Boston Red Sox (2009) Atlanta Braves (2010) Milwaukee Brewers (2011) Arizona Diamondbacks (2012)	Retired	—

Akinori Iwamura*	IF	April 2, 2007	September 26, 2010	408	Tampa Bay Devil Rays/Rays (2007–2009) Pittsburgh Pirates (2010) Oakland Athletics (2010)	Retired	—

Hideki Okajima	P	April 2, 2007	June 13, 2013	266	Boston Red Sox (2007–2011) Oakland Athletics (2013)	Retired	—

Daisuke Matsuzaka*	P	April 5, 2007	September 25, 2014	158	Boston Red Sox (2007–2012) New York Mets (2013–2014)	NPB	Chunichi Dragons

Kei Igawa*	P	April 7, 2007	June 27, 2008	16	New York Yankees (2007–2008)	Free agent	—

Masumi Kuwata	P	June 10, 2007	August 13, 2007	19	Pittsburgh Pirates (2007)	Retired	—

Kosuke Fukudome	OF	March 31, 2008	June 3, 2012	596	Chicago Cubs (2008–2011) Cleveland Indians (2011) Chicago White Sox (2012)	NPB	Hanshin Tigers

Kazuo Fukumori	P	March 31, 2008	April 24, 2008	4	Texas Rangers (2008)	Retired	—

Masahide Kobayashi	P	April 2, 2008	May 7, 2009	67	Cleveland Indians (2008–2009)	Retired	—

Hiroki Kuroda	P	April 4, 2008	September 25, 2014	212	Los Angeles Dodgers (2008–2011) New York Yankees (2012–2014)	Retired	—

Yasuhiko Yabuta	P	April 5, 2008	October 4, 2009	43	Kansas City Royals (2008–2009)	Retired	—

Koji Uehara	P	April 8, 2009	September 2, 2017	436	Baltimore Orioles (2009–2011) Texas Rangers (2011–2012) Boston Red Sox (2013–2016) Chicago Cubs (2017)	NPB	Yomiuri Giants

Kenshin Kawakami	P	April 11, 2009	September 9, 2010	52	Atlanta Braves (2009–2010)	Retired	—

Ken Takahashi	P	May 2, 2009	September 25, 2009	28	New York Mets (2009)	Retired	—

Junichi Tazawa§	P	August 7, 2009	September 30, 2018	388	Boston Red Sox (2009–2016) Miami Marlins (2017–2018) Los Angeles Angels (2018)	Free agent	—

Hisanori Takahashi	P	April 7, 2010	April 11, 2013	168	New York Mets (2010) Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (2011–2012) Pittsburgh Pirates (2012) Chicago Cubs (2013)	Retired	—

Ryota Igarashi	P	April 8, 2010	August 12, 2012	83	New York Mets (2010–2011) Toronto Blue Jays (2012) New York Yankees (2012)	NPB	Tokyo Yakult Swallows

Tsuyoshi Nishioka*	IF	April 1, 2011	August 8, 2012	71	Minnesota Twins (2011–2012)	BCL	Tochigi Golden Braves

Yoshinori Tateyama	P	May 24, 2011	September 26, 2012	53	Texas Rangers (2011–2012)	Retired	—

Nori Aoki*	OF	April 6, 2012	October 1, 2017	759	Milwaukee Brewers (2012–2013) Kansas City Royals (2014) San Francisco Giants (2015) Seattle Mariners (2016) Houston Astros (2017) Toronto Blue Jays (2017) New York Mets (2017)	NPB	Tokyo Yakult Swallows

Munenori Kawasaki	IF	April 7, 2012	October 2, 2016	276	Seattle Mariners (2012) Toronto Blue Jays (2013–2015) Chicago Cubs (2016)	Retired	—

Hisashi Iwakuma	P	April 20, 2012	May 3, 2017	150	Seattle Mariners (2012–2017)	NPB	Yomiuri Giants

Kyuji Fujikawa	P	April 1, 2013	May 15, 2015	29	Chicago Cubs (2013–2014) Texas Rangers (2015)	NPB	Hanshin Tigers

Kensuke Tanaka	OF	July 9, 2013	July 28, 2013	15	San Francisco Giants (2013)	NPB	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters

Tsuyoshi Wada	P	July 8, 2014	September 4, 2015	21	Chicago Cubs (2014–2015)	NPB	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks

Toru Murata	P	June 28, 2015	June 28, 2015	1	Cleveland Indians (2015)	NPB	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters

Kazuhisa Makita*	P	March 30, 2018	September 29, 2018	27	San Diego Padres (2018)	MiLB	El Paso Chihuahuas

Sentence(s)

Hideo Nomo was a player in Major League Baseball.

final_sentence: Hideo Nomo was a player in Major League Baseball.