Jun Hirose

Jun Hirose (廣瀬 純) (Chari)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 187 lb.
• School Hosei University
• High School Saiki Kakujo High School

• Born March 29, 1979 in Usuki, Oita Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Jun Hirose was an Olympic outfielder.

Hirose won the Tokyo Big Six University League Triple Crown as a junior. He played for Japan in the 2000 Olympics, he was 5 for 17 with a double while splitting right field duties with Yoshihiko Kajiyama. In the Bronze Medal game, he struck out in both of his at-bats against Dae-sung Koo after replacing Kajiyama; Japan lost, 3-1. The Hiroshima Carp took him in the second round of the 2000 NPB draft.

Hirose got his first hit on April 8, 2001 off Hitoshi Ono and drilled his first homer May 22 against Daisuke Miura. Overall, he hit .286/.358/.362 in 120 plate appearances over 80 games. He was 10 for 35 with a double and two walks in 2002. As a defensive sub in 2003, he went 12 for 50 with 3 doubles, 2 home runs and one walk. He was 1 for 13 with a walk in 2004. He was 12 for 39 with two doubles and two walks in 2005.

In 2006, he got into 84 games and hit .290/.344/.420, backing up Kenta Kurihara at 1B, Tomonori Maeda in LF, Shigenobu Shima in RF and Koichi Ogata in CF. He batted .278/.341/.456 with 7 home runs in 177 plate appearances in 2007. Further back on the bench in 2008, he was 3 for 28 with 2 walks and a double. He had 213 plate appearances and 94 games in 2009, hitting .277/.306/.410.

The veteran became a starter for the first time at age 31 in 2010 and had a very good campaign at .309/.374/.463 with 32 doubles (he had a total of 34 in his first 9 seasons), 3 triples (one in his first nine seasons) and 12 home runs. He won a Gold Glove, joining Masato Akamatsu and Norichika Aoki in being selected as the Central League outfielders. He also made the CL All-Star team. He was 8th in the league in average (between Takahiro Arai and Michihiro Ogasawara), 8th in doubles (between Eishin Soyogi and Takashi Toritani), tied for 3rd in times hit by pitch (16, even with Aaron Guiel and Kenji Johjima) and was 10th in OBP.

Back in a part-time role in 2011, Hirose fell to .271/.382/.317 with two homers in 218 at-bats, though it should be noted that offense levels fell across the league with a new baseball in use. He did tie Craig Brazell, Wladimir Balentien and Shuichi Murata for third in the CL with six sacrifice flies and managed to lead the league with 14 times hit-by-pitch despite not being a full-time player.

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Sources

• Japanbaseballdaily
• Defunct IBAF site
• Taiwan Baseball Wiki