Hiroshi Yoshimoto

Hiroshi Yoshimoto (吉本 博)
known as Jae-bak Song in South Korea

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 171 lb.

• High School Nanyo Technical High School

• Born October 15, 1956 in Tokuyama, Yamaguchi Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Hiroshi Yoshimoto played in the Korea Baseball Organization for 4 years and Nippon Professional Baseball for 10 years.

Yoshimoto was drafted by the Taiheiyo Club Lions in the 3rd round of the 1971 NPB draft, and he spent his first 5 seasons primarily in the NPB Farm League; he only got 46 at-bats combined. He hit .266/.305/.448 in 76 games in 1980, and he had a .230/.278/.385 batting line in 1981. Yoshimoto only played 4 games in 1982, and he was traded to the Taiyo Whales for Toru Shimizu. Yoshimoto didn't get many chances with Taiyo, and he was 1-for-12 in 1983. He hit .197/.240/.479 in 35 games in 1984, but he only got 64 at-bats combined before the Whales released him in 1987.

The OB Bears then signed him in 1988, and he hit .310/.406/.525 with 13 homers in his first season in Korea. Yoshimoto was 8th in homers, tied with Soon-chul Lee. He slumped to .265/.352/.389 in 1989, and he hit .222/.323/.259 in 41 games in 1990. The Bears then traded him to the Taepyungyang Dolphins for Kyung-moon Kim, and he announced his retirement in 1991 after hitting .196/.241/.216 in 30 games. He was the batting coach for the OB/Doosan Bears from 1992 to 2003, from 2009 to 2011 and in 2013. He managed their minor league team from 2004 to 2008, in 2012 and 2015, and he was their minor league batting coach from 2016 to 2017. Yoshimoto was also the bench coach in 2014.

Overall, Yoshimoto hit .271/.361/.408 with 177 hits and 16 homers in 4 seasons in KBO. His batting line was ..229/.268/.406 with 120 hits and 21 homers in 10 seasons in NPB.

Sources

• Namu Wiki
• Wiki Japan