Koji Otsuka

Koji Otsuka (大塚 光二)

• Bats Both, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 165 lb.

• School Tohoku Fukushi University
• High School Ikuei High School

• Born August 26, 1967 in Kobe, Hyogo Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Koji Otsuka played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 12 years.

Otsuka won two MVPs and three batting titles in the Sendai Big-Six Universities Baseball League in 2001, and the Seibu Lions selected him in the 3rd round of the 1989 NPB draft. He was 4-for-15 in 1990, but he only played 6 games with the big club in 1991. Otsuka had a .340/.367/.426 batting line in 64 games 1992, and he shined in the 1992 Nippon Series. He was 6-for-17 in the series, and he scored the game-tying run in the 9th inning of Game 6. The Lions beat the Yakult Swallows in 7 games, and he won his first title. Otsuka slumped to .207/.217/.250 in 1993, and he only got 15 appearances in 1994. He was Seibu's 2nd batter for all 6 games in the 1994 Nippon Series though, and he hit .320 but the Yomiuri Giants beat the Lions in 6 games.

The Kobe native recorded a .241/.302/.291 batting line in 1995, and he played 25 games with a .348/.412/.457 batting line in 1996. Otsuka's batting line fell to .217/.295/.357 in 74 games in 1997, then he batted .289/.345/.414 in 1998. He set a Nippon Series record by having a 6-at-bat hit streak in Games 5 and 6, and his batting average was .643 in the entire series. The Yokohama BayStars beat the Lions in 6 games, and Otsuka won the fighting spirit award as the MVP of the losing team. He hit .205/.250/.244 in 1999, and he mainly stayed in the minors until he announced his retirement in 2001. Otsuka later became the fielding coach for the Nippon Ham Fighters from 2013 to 2014, and he became the coach of Tohoku Fukushi University from 2016 to 2022. He led the school to the 2018 All-Japan University Baseball Championship Series title.

Overall, Otsuka hit .258/.303/.351 with 193 hits and 7 homers in 12 seasons in NPB. His .397 batting average in Nippon Series history is the highest for all batters who had at least 50 plate appearances in the series.

Sources

• Wiki Japan