Hichori Morimoto

From BR Bullpen

Hichori Morimoto dressed as a Dragonball Z character for the 2007 All-Star Game

Hichori Morimoto (森本 稀哲)

BR register page

Biographical information[edit]

Hichori Morimoto has won multiple Gold Gloves in Japan. He is known as much for his flashy play as his talent, much like former teammate Tsuyoshi Shinjo. He began to go bald early, which led to his shaving his head, giving him a distinct appearance.

Morimoto is Korean-Japanese. He hit 34 home runs in high school, then was picked in the 4th round of the 1998 NPB draft by the Nippon Ham Fighters. A shortstop during his amateur days, he became an outfielder in the pro ranks. Hichori made his Nippon Pro Baseball debut in 2000, going 2 for 13 with 3 walks and a steal in 7 games. His first hit was a pinch-hit single off of Narciso Elvira on August 10. The same day, he also had his first home run, a shot off Shinji Udaka.

Morimoto hit .248/.303/.331 in 65 games in 2001, going 11-for-13 in steal attempts. His first steal came off Daisuke Matsuzaka. He played 66 games in 2002, only batting .167/.215/.267 with 5 steals in 6 tries, being used as a backup outfielder. He played 61 games in 2003 and his batting line did not improve much as he hit .195/.277/.316 with 48 strikeouts in 133 AB. His main role that year was backing up Angel Echevarria in left field.

Hichori continued to show little offense (.190/.338/.241) in 78 games in 2004 as a backup to Echevarria, Shinjo and Tomochika Tsuboi. He only stole one base in 3 tries that year. On September 20, he, Shinjo and two other players came on to the field in Mighty Morphing Power Rangers masks, the first of many stunts Morimoto would pull.

Morimoto finally began to develop in 2005; still only 24 years old, he hit .264/.319/.390 in 103 games and stole 9 bases in 11 tries. He was Nippon Ham's 4th outfielder behind Shinjo, Tsuboi and Atsunori Inaba.

In 2006, Morimoto blossomed into a star. He replaced Tsuboi as the starting left fielder and hit .285/.343/.413 with 84 runs and 6 triples from the top of the order. He only was 13-for-22 in steal attempts, one negative. On September 17, he had a 6-hit game to tie the league record. He made his first Pacific League All-Star team. He won a Gold Glove, as did his outfield mates Inaba and Shinjo. Morimoto led the PL in runs scored, 5 ahead of runner-up Nobuhiko Matsunaka. He tied Jose Fernandez for 3rd in hits (148), was 7th in doubles (28) and tied Kensuke Tanaka and Hiroshi Shibahara for 5th in triples. He then came up with a dramatic run in the final game of the 2006 playoffs, scoring from second on an infield hit by Inaba to give Nippon Ham the PL pennant for the first time in 25 years. In the 2006 Japan Series, Morimoto batted .368/.455/.474 with 6 runs in 5 games to help lead his team to their first Japan Series championship ever. He did not win Series MVP honors, which went to Inaba.

Among his antics in 2006 were dressing up as a character from Dragonball Z for the All-Star Game and riding a bicycle onto the field.

Morimoto kept it up in 2007, hitting .300/.355/.372 with 91 runs and 31 stolen bases in 34 tries. He had a 24-game hitting streak at one point, tying Hiroshi Oshita's team record. His 15 assists led all NPB outfielders, 5 ahead of anyone else. He began wearing uniform number 1, formerly belonging to fellow hot dog Shinjo. He made his second All-Star team and was named to the Best Nine as one of the top 3 outfielders in the circuit (alongside Inaba and Naoyuki Omura). He also won his second Gold Glove. Morimoto finished among the PL leaders in average (tied for 5th with Hiroyuki Nakajima and Tsuyoshi Nishioka), plate appearances (660, 1st), at-bats (584, 1st), runs (1st, 5 ahead of Takeshi Yamasaki), hits (175, 2nd to Inaba's 176), sacrifice flies (tied for 3rd, 6) and steals (3rd behind Yasuyuki Kataoka and Yuichi Honda). He was far less successful in the 2007 Japan Series, like most of his teammates, going 3 for 19 with a walk and a run as Nippon Ham got routed by the Chunichi Dragons.

His 2007 antics included coming onto the field wearing stilts and dressing up as a conehead, a boxer and Michael Jackson. He showed up to spring training that year without a shirt but with the number 1 taped to his back.

In 2008, Morimoto broke his pinky early in the season when he was hit by a pitch from Kentaro Nishimura. It ended a streak of 221 consecutive games played. While he did not miss much time, his play suffered, as his batting line fell to .253/.327/.289. He only swiped 12 bases while being thrown out 7 times. He still won his third Gold Glove. He parachuted onto the field one day.

Sources[edit]

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