Japhet Amador

Amador with the Houston Astros

Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles – No. 42

First Baseman/Designated Hitter

Born: January 19, 1987
Mulegé, Baja California Sur, Mexico

Bats: Right

Throws: Right

Japhet Isidro Amador (born January 19, 1987), nicknamed "El Gigante de Mulegé" (English: The giant from Mulegé), is a Mexican professional baseball first baseman and designated hitter. As of 2015, he plays for the Rakuten Golden Eagles of Nippon Professional Baseball.

Biography

Amador was born in Mulegé, Baja California Sur. From 2007 through a portion of the 2013 season, Amador played in the Mexican League, last playing for the Diablos Rojos del México. In 2012, he hit 15 home runs through 81 Mexican League games; he hit 17 home runs in 61 games that year during winter baseball in the Mexican Pacific League.^[1] In 104 games for the Diablos Rojos in 2013, Amador hit .368 with 36 home runs and 121 runs batted in (RBI).^[1]

On August 18, 2013 the Astros signed him and assigned him to the triple-A Oklahoma City RedHawks.^[2] When the Astros signed him, Amador weighed 330 pounds.^[3] He played 10 games for Oklahoma City.^[1] The organization then sent him to the Peoria Javelinas of the Arizona Fall League.^[4]

In February 2014, the Astros reported that Amador was in Mexico dealing with a family emergency, that he would not be reporting for the beginning of spring training and that they were not sure whether he would report to the Astros at all.^[3] Amador reported to camp a couple of weeks late, and reporter Evan Drellich wrote that Amador's pregnant wife had been ill. Drellich said that Amador had hurt his already low chances of playing first base with the Astros.^[5]

Amador appeared in seven games with Class AAA Oklahoma City early in the 2014 season.^[6]^[1] By May, he had been returned to the Diablos Rojos on the agreement that he would rejoin the Astros organization when the Mexican League season was finished. After returning to Mexico, Amador said that he felt good and that he looked forward to a good season that would prove him worthy of a major league opportunity.^[6]

As of 2015, Amador plays for the Diablos Rojos.^[1] In Mexico, the 6'4" Amador has acquired the nickname "El Gigante de Mulegé",^[7] which is Spanish for "The Giant from Mulegé." Only one 300-pound player in baseball history has made the major leagues.^[6]

References

1 2 3 4 5 "Japhet Amador Minor League Statistics & History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved May 1, 2015.
↑ Sickels, John. "Astros sign Mexican slugger Japhet Amador".
1 2 Drellich, Evan (February 19, 2014). "Japhet Amador may not report to Astros". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved May 1, 2015.
↑ Magruder, Jack. "Amador looks to showcase his power in AFL".
↑ Drellich, Evan (March 3, 2014). "Japhet Amador needs at least a week to be game-ready". Houston Astros. Retrieved May 1, 2015.
1 2 3 Campa, Emmanuel (May 7, 2014). "Japhet Amador sueña con llegar a Grandes Ligas" (in Spanish). Excélsior. Retrieved May 1, 2015.
↑ Alarcón, Roberto (November 5, 2014). "El 'Gigante de Mulegé' está con el madero encendido" (in Spanish). El Informador. Retrieved May 1, 2015.

External links

Career statistics and player information from MLB, or Fangraphs, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)

Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles current roster

Manager	99 Masataka Nashida

First squad coaching	80 Toru Nimura 88 Takahiro Ikeyama 83 Koichi Isobe 84 Hiroshi Takamura 72 Ryoji Moriyama 97 Kenji Furukubo 74 Yasunaga Makishi 76 Osamu Yonemura

Second squad Manager/coaching	89 Yosuke Hiraishi 79 Tomoyoshi Oishi 96 Ryo Kawano 93 Daisuke Kusano 75 Shinichiro Koyama 86 Kento Sugiyama 81 Yuichi Yanagisawa 78 Mitsuo Tateishi 87 Tadaharu Sakai 84 Makoto Moriyama

First squad	0 Kenta Kurihara 1 Yuki Matsui 4 Mitsutaka Gotoh 6 Kazuya Fujita 7 Kazuo Matsui 8 Toshiaki Imae 11 Takahiro Shiomi 12 Ken Ray 14 Takahiro Norimoto 17 Jake Brigham 22 Kenji Tomura 23 Ryo Hijirisawa 24 Masayoshi Fukuda 25 Akihisa Makida 26 Norihito Kaneto 27 Takero Okajima 29 Shota Koseki 30 Kohei Hasebe 31 Manabu Mima 32 Shintaro Masuda 33 Ginji 34 Yoshitaka Muto 35 Hiroaki Shimauchi 37 Motohiro Shima 40 Zelous Wheeler 41 Koji Aoyama 42 Japhet Amador 43 Kam Mickolio 49 Radhames Liz 55 Tetsuro 58 Wataru Karashima 59 Yasunori Kikuchi 64 Hiroyuki Fukuyama 67 Tatsuro Iwasaki 68 Ryohei Kawamoto

Second squad	00 Toshihito Abe 2 Ryota Yoshimochi 5 Eigoro Mogi 9 Louis Okoye 13 Kodai Hamaya 15 Fumiya Ono 16 Yudai Mori 20 Tomohiro Anraku 21 Yoshinao Kamata 28 Ryota Ishibashi 36 Yasuhito Uchida 38 Yusuke Nishimiya 39 Takahiro Shimotsuma 44 Yuichi Adachi 45 Takashi Kawai 46 Ryota Ito 47 Takahito Otsuka 48 Tadashi Ishimine 50 Takahiro Irino 51 Luciano Fernando 52 Masahi Kato 53 Kazutomo Aihara 54 Takaaki Yokoyama 56 Taishi Nakagawa 57 Takumi Miyoshi 60 Yuri Furukawa 61 Kim Mu-young 62 Susumu Aizawa 63 Rintaro Kitagawa 65 Kengo Horiuchi 66 Ikki Murabayashi 69 Soma Yamauchi

Development	001 Hiroshi Katayama 005 Hirohito Shimai 024 Kazuya Takahori 036 Aoi Enomoto 051 Takahiro Kakizawa 090 Ryuta Konno 121 Sho Miyagawa 122 Takumaru Yaoita 123 Hiroki Ohsakaya 126 Takumi Deguchi 127 Hiroki Yamada 143 Sung Chia-Hao

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