Player Profile: Kenji Johjima #2 Position: Catcher Bats: Right Throws: Right Height: 6'0" Weight: 200 lbs Age: 30 Birth Day: June 8th, 1976 Birth Place: Japan Rookie Year: 2006

Awards

Japan Pacific League MVP (2003)
Japan 7 time Gold Glove winner
Most votes for Japanese All-Star game
6-time member of 'Best 9' team, voted by Japanese media

Nicknames

George McKensey (name he joked that he would use in registration for the Major Leagues)

Joh

Kenji's Bio

Kenji Johjima was born in Sasebo, Japan on June 8, 1976. Prior to signing with the Mariners, he played in Japan for the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks team in the Pacific League who drafted him in 1999. Johjima also played in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens for Japan. In Japan he was a seven-time All-Star for the Fukuoka Softbank 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 which ended his 2005 season prematurely.

From 1996 through 2005, Johjima hit .299 with 211 home runs and 699 RBI in 1,117 games. His most productive season came in 2003, 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% (222-for-591). A winner of seven straight Gold Gloves in Japan, 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 1983.

On November 21, 2005, Johjima and the Seattle Mariners agreed to a $16.5 million, three-year contract.

How does he talk to the pitchers who speak other languages?

Johjima is making rapid progress in his efforts to learn English and Spanish, in order to communicate with the Seattle Mariners' pitchers. He has often used the phrase, "Call me Jo."

Why did he pick Seattle to play for?

His children's fondness of Uwajimaya, a Japanese grocery store in Seattle, and Johjima's favorite hobby is ocean fishing, which is complimented by Seattle's proximity to bodies of water, such as the Puget Sound and the Pacific Ocean.

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Thank you Crooklyn Banks for this page!