Slugging Chunichi Dragons first baseman Takeshi Yamasaki will retire at the end of the season, a source within the team revealed Sunday.
At 44 years old, Yamasaki is in his 27th season as a pro and is Nippon Professional Baseball's oldest active position player. He is scheduled to hold a press conference on Tuesday.
"When you play baseball for a long time, you know what it means when you are deactivated in this fashion," Yamasaki said at Nagoya Stadium, the Dragons' minor league facility.
Despite not earning regular playing time until he was 27, Yamasaki's 403 career home runs is 17th most in NPB history.
Yamasaki was the second-round draft choice in 1987 as a slugging catcher out of Aichi Prefecture's Aikodai Meiden High School.
In 1996, Yamasaki was so impressive in the preseason that the Dragons finally handed him a regular position, and he went on to lead the CL in home runs with 39. A disciplined hitter, Yamasaki's penchant for taking pitches eventually caused him to fall out of favor with Chunichi and he was traded to Orix in January 2003.
After two seasons with Orix, he was released and joined the newly created Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, where his career was revived. In 2007, Yamasaki led the PL with 43 home runs and 108 RBIs.
He rejoined Chunichi in 2011 and is batting .255 this season with six RBIs in 39 games.