Yoshinao Kamata, who went 7-4 two years ago in his first year out of high school for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles has undergone ligament reconstruction surgery and will be out for a year, the Pacific League club announced Thursday.
The 20 year-old Kamata suffered a stress fracture in his right elbow last May. At the end of November, he underwent a procedure to strengthen the area and began rehabilitation. But toward the end of last month, Kamata complained of pain in his elbow.
Kamata was third in the PL Rookie of the Year voting in 2012, when he posted a 3.28 earned run average in 112 1/3 innings.