Kei Igawa

Kei Igawa (井川 慶) is a former Japanese left-handed pitcher.

He played for the Hanshin Tigers and Orix Buffaloes of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB).

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.

He led all pitchers in the Central League for strikeouts in 2002, 2004 and 2006.

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.

Igawa saw a decline in performance in 2004 and 2005.

In 2004, despite leading 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 also played in the 2006 Major League Baseball Japan All-Star Series.

Although he has not announced his retirement, Igawa does not belong to any professional team.

In 2006, Igawa announced his intention to play in North America.

On November 16, 2006, Igawa was posted by the Hanshin Tigers.

On November 29, 2006, it was announced that the New York Yankees were the highest bidders at $26,000,194, with the last three digits representing his strikeout total for the 2006 season.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman identified Igawa as a backend starter.

He signed a five-year, $20 million contract on December 27, 2006.

On January 8,, Igawa was officially announced at a Yankee Stadium press conference.

On April 7, 2007, he made his major league debut, allowing seven earned runs in five innings, but received a "no decision" because of Alex Rodriguez's walk-off grand slam.

Igawa was soon moved to the bullpen after struggling to find his command.

He later earned wins in relief appearances against the Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox.

Igawa came to prominence in a game on April 28, in which starting pitcher Jeff Karstens left in the first inning after suffering a broken leg on a liner back to the mound.

Igawa came in from the bullpen and pitched six innings of scoreless relief, allowing only two hits and striking out six batters before enjoying a standing ovation on his way to the dugout.

He was the winning pitcher in the Yankees' 3–1 victory over their rival Boston Red Sox.

However, the Yankees later saw flaws in his mechanics and, on May 7, optioned him to the Florida State League's Tampa Yankees to work with Nardi Contreras and Billy Connors.

Igawa apparently made progress in mechanics and location at Tampa, and was subsequently called up to pitch for the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre Yankees.

Igawa made his return start against the San Francisco Giants on June 22, 2007, allowing two earned runs in 4.2 innings.

On July 27, 2007, Igawa was demoted to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

He was claimed on waivers by the San Diego Padres in August 2007, but the Yankees pulled him back without making a trade.

Igawa returned to the Yankees in September 2007 when rosters expanded.

After failing to make the team out of spring training, Igawa started the year with Scranton/Wilkes Barre.

He was called up to replace Ian Kennedy.

In Igawa's first MLB start of the 2008 season, he gave up eleven hits and six runs in three innings.

He was only tied for fifth in strikeouts (down significantly to 145) and 10th in ERA, and led the Central League in hits allowed (199).