Kenji Johjima

is a Japanese former professional baseball player. He was a catcher for the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2006 to 2009, playing for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) prior to playing in the United States, then returning to Japan and to play for the Hanshin Tigers for three seasons. Johjima also played for the Japan national team in the in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens and 2006 World Baseball Classic.

Professional career

Fukuoka Daiei Hawks/Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks

Johjima was named to the Pacific League's Best Nine for the first time as the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks won the Japan Series and the Pacific League championship. He hit .306 with 33 doubles and 17 home runs, ranking third in the league in batting average behind Ichiro Suzuki and Kazuo Matsui. He ranked third in doubles and won his first Golden Glove.

He batted .310 in 2000, again earning Best Nine honors. He was also named an All-Star while winning another Golden Glove, while stealing a career-best 10 bases.

In 2001, Johjima hit 31 home runs and collected 95 runs batted in (RBI), and was again named to Best Nine. He was selected to All-Star team and won his third consecutive Gold Glove. He played a career-high 140 games.

In 2002 Johjima won his fourth consecutive Gold Glove while batting .293.

In 2003, he helped lead the Hawks to another Pacific League championship and was named Pacific League's Most Valuable Player. Johjima batted .330 and hit 34 home runs and posted career highs of 101 runs, 182 hits, 39 doubles, 119 RBI, 53 walks.655 slugging percentage and .432 on-base percentage. He tied his career high of 140 games played while winning his fifth straight Golden Glove, made his fourth Best Nine and sixth All-Star squad. He led the Pacific League in total bases, second in hits, RBI, doubles and third in home runs and runs.

He missed part of the 2004 NPB season while playing in the Olympics but still managed career-highs of .338 and 36 home runs. Johjima was hit by a pitch 22 times, breaking Ichiro's previous Pacific League mark of 18. In the Olympics, he homered, doubled twice and had four RBI to lead Japan to 11–2 win over Canada for the bronze medal. He ranked fifth among Olympians with a .378 batting average and seventh with seven runs scored.

A seven-time All-Star for the Hawks, Johjima became a free agent after hitting .309 with 24 home runs and 57 RBI in 116 games, during the 2005 season, which was cut short by two injuries, including a broken leg.

From through 2005, Johjima hit .299 with 211 home runs and 699 RBI in 1,117 games. His most productive season came in , when he hit .330 with 119 RBI, and finished third with 34 home runs behind Tuffy Rhodes (51) and Alex Cabrera (50).

As a catcher, Johjima had 6,321 outs with 572 assists and 48 errors in 6,941 chances for a .993 fielding average. He posted a .376 caught stealing percentage (222-for-591).

Seattle Mariners

On November 21, 2005, Johjima signed a three-year, $16.5 million contract with the Seattle Mariners. Johjima became the first Japanese player to catch full-time in the major leagues. Infielder Lenn Sakata, a Japanese-American born in Honolulu, caught one game for the Baltimore Orioles, winning a World Series ring in .

Prior to his MLB debut, Johjima played in the 2006 World Baseball Classic. He batted .333 in nine games as Japan won the inaugural international tournament.

On April 3, 2006, Johjima and Ichiro Suzuki became the first pair of Japanese position players to take the field in an MLB starting lineup. Johjima hit a home run in each of his first two MLB games against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on April 3 and April 4, in Seattle. He was the first catcher since Jerry Moore in 1884 to hit a home run in his first major league game.

In his rookie season with the Mariners, Johjima hit .291 with 18 home runs and 76 RBIs in 144 games. Johjima hit .322 in August and .295 during the second half of the season. He hit two home runs and drove in a career-best five runs on June 27 against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

In 2007, Johjima ranked fifth in AL in hit by pitches (11) and sixth with 22 grounded into double plays. His 11 hit by pitches was tied for fifth-most in Mariners history. Among AL catchers, ranked third in hits, fourth in batting average, doubles and RBI. Johjima hit his first career grand slam May 26 against the Kansas City Royals off of Brian Bannister; he also hit grand slam July 14 against the Detroit Tigers.

In , Johjima started 95 games at catcher. In his first three seasons, he caught 3112.2 innings, 5th-most in the majors. He threw out 18 of 69 attempted base stealers. On April 15, he collected his 1,500th professional career hit with a double, with 294 hits with the Mariners and 1,206 in Japan. Johjima stole home May 31, his first career steal of home plate and his second stolen base since the start of 2007.

On April 25, 2008, the Johjima agreed to a three-year, $24 million contract extension with the Mariners. However, 2009 would be his final season in MLB. He hit .247 with nine home runs in an MLB-career-low 74 games. where he signed with the Hanshin Tigers of Japan's Central League. He retired a month into the 2012 season.

Career statistics

NPB

MLB American League

Personal life Johjima resides in Sasebo, Japan with his wife and two children.

Johjima often called himself "George Mackenzie" as opposed to "Johjima Kenji", especially before he played in MLB