Fumihito Haraguchi

Fumihito Haraguchi (原口 文仁)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 174 lbs.

• High School Teikyo High School

• Born March 3, 1992 in Osato-gun, Saitama Japan

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Biographical Information

Fumihito Haraguchi has played in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Haraguchi was drafted by the Hanshin Tigers in the sixth round of the 2009 NPB draft, but he spent his first six seasons in the NPB Farm Leagues. He was released by the Tigers in 2013, and became a developmental player. He also suffered several injuries, such as a left hand fracture in 2013, and a right shoulder injury in 2014. He came back in 2015, but he only hit .220/.290/.364 in the minor Western League.

The Tigers still promoted him to the big club in 2016, and Haraguchi's legend started. He hit .380 in May and won the player of the month award, becoming the first player who had been a developmental player to win this award. Since his name was not on the ballot of the 2016 NPB All-Star Game, fans had to write his name under the ballot to vote for him. He was still voted into the event, and went 1-for-2, with a RBI double against Kohei Arihara in Game 2. He ended up hitting .299/.376/.453 with 11 homers, and he got a vote for the 2016 Central League Rookie of the Year Award, finishing fourth behind Shun Takayama's 220 votes, Shota Imanaga's 32 and Yasutaka Tobashira's 13.

Haraguchi was unable to repeat his solid batting in 2017 as he only hit .226/.321/.387 with 6 homers. His starting catcher spot was taken, and he was mainly used as pinch-hitter in 2018. Haraguchi adapted to the new role rapidly, hitting .315/.387/.387 with 2 homers. He especially did well as a pinch-hitter, recording a .404 batting average, and he tied Shinjiro Hiyama's team record for most hits (23) as a pinch-hitter. If he hadn't fractured his left hand and missed nearly a month, he would easily have broken Hiyama's record.

However, Haraguchi faced another ordeal after having a fine season. He was diagnosed with colorectal cancer, and underwent surgery immediately. He returned to the field on June 2, and collected a walk-off hit against Ryo Akiyoshi a week after his returning. He received a standing ovation after his clutch hit. Although he didn't play many games, Haraguchi was still selected into the 2019 NPB All-Star Game to honor his courage of fighting with cancer. Out of expectation, he nearly became a hero for the Central League. In Game 1, he pinch-hit for Ryutaro Umeno and blasted a two-run shot off Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the 9th inning, and won the fighting spirit award as the MVP of the losing team. He was then named the starting designated hitter in Game 2, and crushed a solo shot off Kona Takahashi in his first at-bat. He ended up hitting .276/.309/.356 with a homer in this season, having gone deep more in the All-Star Games than in the regular season.

Unfortunately, a fairy tale couldn't help Haraguchi win a starting spot, especially as the Tigers had All-Star catcher Umeno. He hit .278/.333/.444 in 48 games in 2020, then slumped to .204/.328/.286 in 2021. When the Tigers faced a crisis as many players suffered from COVID-19 in August, Haraguchi took the chance and hit .324/.390/.437 in 33 games. He was brought into the 2022 CLCS, and played in all of their six games. In the first stage, he was 0-for-6 in Game 1 and Game 2, but then hit a clutch go-ahead RBI single against Taisei Irie to help the Tigers win over the Yokohama BayStars. He only went 1-for-8 in the final stage, and the Yakult Swallows swept the Tigers. He only had a .192/.250/.327 batting line in 2022, and the Tigers placed him in ni-gun for the entire 2023 season since Seishiro Sakamoto shined.