Koichiro Yoshinaga

Koichiro Yoshinaga (吉永 幸一郎)

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 195 lb.

• High School Tokai University Kogyo High School

• Born May 1, 1969 in Hirakata, Osaka Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Koichiro Yoshinaga has played in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Yoshinaga was drafted by the Nankai Hawks in the fifth round of the 1987 NPB draft. He spent the first three years of his career in the NPB Farm Leagues (actually, one year was in the US, hitting .232/.314/.280 in 82 games for the Salinas Spurs, as a third-string backstop), and made his NPB debut on April 10, 1990. He collected his first hit with the big club, off Yoshinori Sato, on the same day. Yoshinaga hit .311/.356/.517 in his rookie year, but declined to .189/.283/.320 in 1991. He was named the everyday starting catcher for the Hawks in 1992, and recorded a .290/.345/.431 batting line. He was also selected into the 1992 NPB All-Star Game. The Osaka native batted .291/.372/.462 with 12 homers in the next year, and participated in the All-Star Game again.

Yoshinaga broke out in 1994. He blasted 19 dingers with a .284/.348/.490 batting line, and attended the All-Star Game for the third consecutive year. He also won his first Best Nine award as a catcher. Yoshinaga was injured and missed July and August in the 1995 season, but still batted .293/.379/.449 with 8 homers. The slugger came back and crushed 20 homers in 1996, and joined the All-Star Game again. He won the Best Nine award for the second time in his career.

When talented catcher prospect Kenji Johjima joined the team in 1997, Yoshinaga was moved to first base and started as the 4th batter in the 1997 NPB All-Star Game. He blasted a career-high 29 homers with a .300/.403/.544 batting line, ranked 4th in homers (8 behind Nigel Wilson) and 5th in OBP. He even blasted 3 home runs in a game on July 12. His batting line declined to .249/.362/.405 in 1998, and he was moved to the DH spot in 1999. Yoshinaga bounced back in that season, as he recorded a .275/.392/.454 batting line and became the first designated hitter to be voted into the All-Star Game as the starter. In the 1999 Nippon Series, Yoshinaga was 1 for 6, with a single off Hidekazu Watanabe in Game 2. He batted .256/.361/.419 with 9 homers in 2000.

The Hawks traded Yoshinaga to the Yomiuri Giants for Rin Ono and Makoto Sato after 2000 season. He was the backup to Shinnosuke Abe, and only played 54 games combined with the Giants from 2001 to 2003. The veteran announced his retirement after the 2003 season.

Overall, Yoshinaga had hit 278/.367/.460 with 153 home runs in 14 seasons in NPB.