Kei Igawa

Kei Igawa (井川 慶, Igawa Kei, born July 13, 1979) is a Japanese former left-handed pitcher. He played for the Hanshin Tigers and Orix Buffalos of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB). He led all pitchers in the Central League for strikeouts in 2002, 2004 and 2006. He also played in the 2006 Major League Baseball Japan All-Star Series.

Kei Igawa
Igawa pitching for the Orix Buffaloes at Hanshin Koshien Stadium
Pitcher
Born: (1979-07-13) July 13, 1979 Ōarai, Ibaraki, Japan
Batted: Left Threw: Left
Professional debut
NPB: May 2, 1999, for the Hanshin Tigers
MLB: April 7, 2007, for the New York Yankees
Last appearance
MLB: June 27, 2008, for the New York Yankees
NPB: 2014, for the Orix Buffaloes
NPB statistics
Win–loss record	93–72
Earned run average	3.21
Strikeouts	1279
MLB statistics
Win–loss record	2–4
Earned run average	6.66
Strikeouts	53
Teams
Hanshin Tigers (1998–2006) New York Yankees (2007–2008) Orix Buffaloes (2012–2014)
Career highlights and awards
Central League MVP (2003) Eiji Sawamura Award (2003) Best Nine Award (2003) NPB wins leader (2003) NPB ERA leader (2003) 3× NPB strikeout leader (2002, 2004, 2006)

Hanshin Tigers (1998–2006)

He was the number two draft choice of the Hanshin Tigers in 1998. After a couple of years in the Hanshin minor league system, Igawa entered the starting rotation in 2001. In his first full season as a starter, Igawa went 9-13 for the last-placed Tigers, but finished with a Central League second-best 2.67 ERA, behind only Chunichi's Shigeki Noguchi.

In 2002, Hanshin improved to fourth, and Igawa's record was 14-9. He finished third in ERA (2.49), trailing Masumi Kuwata and Kenshin Kawakami. He also led the Central League with 206 strikeouts.

In 2003, the Tigers won the Central League pennant. Igawa made a great contribution with his brilliant performance. He pitched very well and finished with a 20–5 record, a 2.80 ERA, and was third with 179 strikeouts. He was named to the Best Nine, won the MVP in the Central League and also won the Eiji Sawamura Award, the Japanese equivalent of the MLB Cy Young Award.

In 2004 he lead the league at 228 strikeouts, he went 14-11 with a 3.73 ERA. In 2005, Igawa went 13-9 with a 3.86 ERA, fifth among his team's starters in ERA,. He was only tied for fifth in strikeouts (down significantly to 145) and 10th in ERA.