Shun Yamaguchi
Japanese baseball player · Japan · On the map · Athletes · Born 1987 · age 39
A pitcher who carved a decade in Japan's top leagues before becoming the first Japanese player to debut directly with the Toronto Blue Jays - no minor league stops, no prior MLB team, just a straight line from Yokohama to Toronto.
Shun Yamaguchi is read about 384 times a day, in 5 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 12 November 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 407 days, one point a day.
Something wrong?People around Shun
Daisuke Miura Teammate at Yokohama DeNA BayStars, 2006-2016
Kazuya Fujita Teammate at Yokohama DeNA BayStars, 2006-2012
Tatsuhiko Kinjoh Teammate at Yokohama DeNA BayStars, 2006-2014
Yoshitomo Tsutsugo Teammate at Yokohama DeNA BayStars, 2010-2016
Takehiro Ishikawa Teammate at Yokohama DeNA BayStars, 2006-2016
Yuki Kuniyoshi Teammate at Yokohama DeNA BayStars, 2010-2016
Naoyuki Shimizu Teammate at Yokohama DeNA BayStars, 2010-2012
C.C.Mercedes Teammate at Yomiuri Giants, 2017-2019
Norihiro Nakamura Teammate at Yokohama DeNA BayStars, 2011-2014
Ryoji Aikawa Teammate at Yokohama DeNA BayStars, 2006-2008
Seiichi Uchikawa Teammate at Yokohama DeNA BayStars, 2006-2010
Hirokazu Sawamura Teammate at Yomiuri Giants, 2017-2019
Naoto Watanabe Teammate at Yokohama DeNA BayStars, 2011-2013
Shingo Hirata Teammate at Yokohama DeNA BayStars, 2014-2016
Tomoya Mikami Teammate at Yokohama DeNA BayStars, 2014-2016
Tomoyuki Sugano Teammate at Yomiuri Giants, 2017-2019
Yasutomo Kubo Teammate at Yokohama DeNA BayStars, 2014-2016
Yasuyuki Kataoka Teammate at Yomiuri Giants, 2017-2019
Chen Kuan-Yu Teammate at Yokohama DeNA BayStars, 2011-2014
Kazuma Okamoto Teammate at Yomiuri Giants, 2017-2019
Kimiyasu Kudō Teammate at Yokohama DeNA BayStars, 2007-2009
Masayuki Kuwahara Teammate at Yokohama DeNA BayStars, 2012-2016
Takurō Ishii Teammate at Yokohama DeNA BayStars, 2006-2008
Tomo Otosaka Teammate at Yokohama DeNA BayStars, 2012-2016
Shun YamaguchiPartners
Is this everyone?
Only relatives with a profile here are drawn, so a family can be larger than this. A line here can also be wrong. A marriage is drawn as ended only where its end is recorded, so a spouse drawn here may be a former one.
Correct this familyCareer 4
Media & music
On YouTube
10.5K subscribers
About this person
Born July 11, 1987, Yamaguchi spent his entire NPB career between two clubs: the Yokohama BayStars (later rebranded DeNA BayStars) and the Yomiuri Giants. When he finally crossed the Pacific, he made history twice over - the Blue Jays' first Japanese debutant, and the first MLB player from Japan who had never thrown a pitch for any American organization before his big league call. Every Japanese player Toronto had rostered before him had come via another MLB team; Yamaguchi arrived alone, on his own terms, from the other side of the world.
