Genji Kaku
Genji Kaku Yuen-chih Kuo 佳久 源治 郭源治 | |
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Pitcher | |
Born: Taitung. Taiwan | October 4, 1956|
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
Professional debut | |
NPB: 1981, for the Chunichi Dragons | |
CPBL: 1997, for the Unilions | |
Last appearance | |
NBP: 1996, for the Chunichi Dragons | |
CPBL: 1999, Chinatrust Whales | |
Teams | |
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Genji Kaku (Japanese: 佳久 源治, Hepburn: Kaku Genji), or Kuo Yuen-chih (Chinese: 郭源治; pinyin: Guō Yuánzhì, born October 4, 1956), is a Taiwanese former professional baseball player from Taitung, Taiwan. His family is of Amis descent. He obtained Japanese citizenship in September 1989, and holds dual Japanese/Taiwan citizenship since 1999. While in Japan, he often uses the Japanese name, Genji Kaku, which is pronounced the same way as his Chinese name read in Japanese on'yomi.
Biography
Kaku first traveled to
His sharp fastball (hit 94 mph) and breaking pitches quickly earned him a spot on the starting rotation, and he won over 10 games from 1983 to 1986. However, he also lost over 10 games each of these seasons due to poor run support.
In 1987, Dragons closer
Kaku obtained Japanese citizenship in 1989, and has a Japanese wife. He returned to the starting rotation in 1990, winning 13 games in 1991. He became a reliever in 1993, and became the fifth Japanese player in history to record 100 wins and 100 saves in 1994. He also led the league with a 2.45 ERA that year. He played his final season in Japan in 1996.
Kaku played in the Chinese Professional Baseball League from 1997 to 1999. He also participated in the preliminary rounds of the 2000 Summer Olympics with the Taiwanese national team in 1999 at the age of 42.
After retiring from baseball, he opened a restaurant in Naka-ku, Nagoya. Kaku's jersey number (33) is a retired number for the Chinese Taipei national baseball team.
He has been serving as the head consultant for the Chinese Professional Baseball League since 2013.