Haruki Yoshitake

Haruki Yoshitake (吉竹 春樹)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 11", Weight 160 lbs.

• High School Kyushu Sangyo High School

• Born January 5, 1961 in Kasuga, Fukuoka Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Haruki Yoshitake played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 15 years.

Yoshitake was signed by the Hanshin Tigers in 1978, and the Tigers turned him into an outfielder in 1980. He debuted in 1981, hitting .186/.276/.233 in 81 games, so he only had 32 at-bats in 1982. Yoshitake improved to .330/.363/.462 in 1983, then he hit .260/.316/.368 with a career-high 16 steals in 1984 as their starting right fielder. Yoshitake recorded a .247/.300/.360 batting line in 1985, and he helped the Tigers win the CL pennant. He was 0-for-12 in the 1985 Nippon Series, and he still won his first Nippon Series title as the Tigers beat the Seibu Lions in 6 games; it was also Hanshin's first Series title (and only one until 2023).

The Fukuoka native hit .236/.253/.380 in 1986, then the Tigers traded him with Koji Maeda to the Lions for Yasushi Tao. Yoshitake played well in the beginning of the 1987 season, and he was selected for the Pacific League squad for the 1987 NPB All-Star Games; he was 0-for-1. However, he fractured his right femur while trying to catch Takayuki Murakami's fly ball on August 11, and his season ended. Yoshitake came back in late 1988, and he was 1-for-5, with a triple against Kazuo Yamane of the Chunichi Dragons in 1988 Nippon Series Game 5 to help the Lions win the title.

Yoshitake hit .314/.384/.417 in 1989 (had he qualified, he would have been third in the PL in average, behind Boomer Wells and Norio Tanabe), but he slumped to .260/.341/.333 in 1990 and .256/.325/.356 in 1991. When Osamu Abe shined in 1992, Yoshitake lost his spot, and he only played 42 games combined in the next two seasons. He filled the hole after Ken Hirano left the team in 1994, and he played 101 games with a .243/.337/.341 batting line. However, he only had 37 at-bats with the big club in 1995, and he stayed in the ni-gun for the entire 1996 season. Yoshitake announced his retirement after the 1996 season, and he became a coach. He coached the Tigers from 1997 to 2008 and from 2011 to 2014. He was also an assistant coach for the Japan University of Economics from 2017 to 2018.

Overall, Yoshitake hit .261/.319/.362 with 553 hits and 34 homers in 15 seasons in NPB.

Sources

• NPB site
• Wiki Japan
• 1987 NPB All Star Game