Hiroyuki Yoshida

Hiroyuki Yoshida (吉田 博之)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 8", Weight 190 lbs.

• High School Yokohama High School

• Born October 25, 1960 in Yokohama, Kanagawa Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Hiroyuki Yoshida caught in Nippon Pro Baseball for 14 years.

Yoshida was drafted by the Nankai Hawks in the fourth round of the 1978 NPB draft, but spent his first two seasons primarily in the NPB Farm Leagues, only playing 3 games combined with the big club. He attended the All-Star Game of the NPB Farm Leagues in 1981, and he played 39 games that season as the backup to Masahiro Kuroda and Nobuyuki Kagawa. Yoshida only had 80 at-bats combined in the next 2 seasons.

The Yokohama native won the competition with Kagawa for the starting spot in 1984, and he hit .267/.347/.430 in 84 games. He improved to .240/.299/.389 with 10 homers in 1985, and that was the only season he had more than 10 dingers. Yoshida's spot was taken by Kagawa in 1986; he only hit .204/.252/.343 in 45 games. He bounced back soon, hitting .274/.331/.405 in 1987, and he also crushed 3 homers in a games against Kazuhiko Migita on September 11.

Yoshida was selected into the 1988 NPB All-Star Game, and he was 0-for-1. He ended up hitting .254/.317/.344 in 1988. However, the 1988 season was his last productive season. When Tsuyoshi Uchida joined the team in 1989, Yoshida's spot was taken, and he only played 57 games in the next two seasons. The Hawks then traded him with Masahiko Migita, Toyotoshi Chikada, Yoshiaki Nishikawa and Shuji Fujimoto to the Hanshin Tigers for Chikafusa Ikeda, Eiji Iwakiri, Katsunori Tomari, Hisashi Ono. Yoshida only played 43 more games for the Tigers, then he announced his retirement after the 1993 season.

Overall, Yoshida hit .241/.307/.357 with 395 hits and 40 homers in 14 seasons in NPB.

Sources

• NPB site
• Wiki Japan
• 1988 NPB All Star Game