is a Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 pitcher

Pitcher

In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throwsthe baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the...

 for the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters

Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters

The are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Sapporo, Hokkaidō. They compete in the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball, playing the majority of their home games at the Sapporo Dome. The Fighters also host a select number of regional home games in cities across Hokkaidō,...

. He played in Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

 from -, and -.

Biography

Kida was drafted in the first round in , by the Yomiuri Giants

Yomiuri Giants

The are a professional baseball team based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan. The team competes in the Central League in Nippon Professional Baseball, the top level of professional play in Japan. They play their home games in the Tokyo Dome, opened in 1988. The English-language press occasionally calls the...

, after graduating from the Nippon University high school. In , he won 12 games, recorded the most strikeout

Strikeout

In baseball or softball, a strikeout or strike-out occurs when a batter receives three strikes during his time at bat. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters....

s in his league, and was chosen for the All-Star game. He had surgery on his right elbow in , and was traded to the Orix Blue Wave in in exchange for Takahito Nomura

Takahito Nomura

Takahito Nomura is a former major league baseball player from Kōchi, Japan. He played on the Orix BlueWave, Yomiuri Giants, Nippon Ham Fighters, and Milwaukee Brewers...

 (who would also play in the majors later in his career). Kida made 16 saves that year.

In 1999, he signed with the Detroit Tigers

Detroit Tigers

The Detroit Tigers are a Major League Baseball team located in Detroit, Michigan. One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Detroit in as part of the Western League. The Tigers have won four World Series championships and have won the American League pennant...

 as a free agent

Free agent

In professional sports, a free agent is a player whose contract with a team has expired and who is thus eligible to sign with another club or franchise....

, but was demoted to the minors, and he returned to the BlueWave in June, 2000. He was cut in , and spent in semi-retirement. He joined the Los Angeles Dodgers

Los Angeles Dodgers

The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...

 in 2003, but got into a car accident in March, and was hospitalized (his translator, who was also in the car with him, also suffered serious injuries). He was promoted to the majors in August of the same year, but pitched in only 3 games. In September, , he joined the Seattle Mariners

Seattle Mariners

The Seattle Mariners are a professional baseball team based in Seattle, Washington. Enfranchised in , the Mariners are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Safeco Field has been the Mariners' home ballpark since July...

, but only made one appearance in 2005, and was released after the season.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows

Tokyo Yakult Swallows

is a professional baseball team in Japan's Central League.The Swallows are named after their corporate owners, the Yakult Corporation. From 1950 to 1965, the team was owned by the former Japanese National Railways and called the Kokutetsu Swallows; the team was then owned by the newspaper Sankei...

 player-manager Atsuya Furuta

Atsuya Furuta

Atsuya Furuta is a Japanese former baseball player and player-manager for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows professional baseball club in the Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League...

 invited Kida to play in Japan, and he joined the team in the 2005 off-season. In , he posted a 3.09 ERA in 56 games as a reliever, and played in his second all star game, 16 years after his first appearance.

Pitching statistics

Japanese Professional Leagues (as of 2006)

• 392 Games
• 62 Wins
• 73 Strikeouts
• 48 Saves
• 916 Strikeouts
• 3.84 ERA

External links