The Book on Koji Uehara

Graduated Prospect Info

Now that he's no longer rookie-eligible, The Book is closed on Koji Uehara as a prospect. This page remains as a historical record of his time in our prospect list.

Last bio and ranking update: 1/13/2009.

BALKoji Uehara
Born 4/3/1975
RHP, BAL

An old teammate of Hideki Matsui, Uehara was one of Japan's best pitchers over the past decade. 33 years old when he signed with the Baltimore Orioles, he features a 88-90 mph fastball, a nice cutter, two kinds of forkball, and an outstanding slider. His pitches are all thrown with tremendous accuracy, and he rarely need to work from behind in the count. (His career K:BB ratio is an eye-popping 6.7).

Uehara has battled shoulder problems in recent years, limiting his innings, though he seems to be recovered from them, and Baltimore will be trying him as a starter again. Koji's throwing motion is clean and perfectly reproducible. Not surprisingly, that makes his pitches hard to read, and he can make hitters look bad with apparent ease. His name comes up often in discussions about which Japanese players have the most 'portable' stuff, as one who might be able to adjust to the US game with relative ease.

Player Updates and Notes

Surprising everyone except ScoutingBook.com readers, Japanese righthander Koji Uehara has signed a $10M, 2-year contract with the Baltimore Orioles.

1/13/2009 by KDaddy

The Baltimore Orioles are scheduled to meet with Japanese righthanders Kenshin Kawamaki and Koji Uehara this week, according to the Baltimore Sun.

12/7/2008 by DataBoy

Uehara's chances of moving to US baseball this winter have increased, according to the Japan Times.

11/21/2008 by DataBoy

Uehara will move out of the closer job he held for the BayStars last year, and back into the starting rotation for the Yomiuri Giants in 2008, after which he will become an unrestricted free agent.

1/26/2008 by KDaddy

Uehara has expressed strong interest in playing in the US next year. He does not have quite enough service time to be a free agent yet, however, which means for him to play in the US in 2008, he'd need to be posted by the Giants. If this happens, there will be a bidding war not unlike the one that met Daisuke Matsuzaka.

12/7/2007 by BallGrrrl

 

 

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