Kozo Kawato

Kozo Kawato (川藤 幸三)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 8", Weight 167 lbs.

• High School Wakasa High School

• Born July 5, 1949 in Mikata-gun, Fukui Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Kozo Kawato played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 18 years. His brother was NPB pitcher Ryunosuke Kawato.

Kawato was selected by the Hanshin Tigers in the ninth round of the 1967 NPB draft, and he primarily spent his first five seasons in the NPB Farm Leagues, only having 50 at-bats combined with the big club. He led the Western League in steals in 1969. As a backup outfielder, Kawato hit .212/.245/.258 in 1973, then he recorded a .198/.259/.228 batting line with a Central League-leading 20 sacrifice flies in 1974. However, he torn his achilles' tendon in 1975, so he only played 8 games.

Due to the injury, Kawato lost the ability to play as an outfield defender, and he was used as pinch-hitter in the rest of his career. He only hit .213/.284/.300 in 1977, then he improved to .327/.406/.473 in 1978. He was still a productive pinch-hitter in the next few years, hitting .304/.333/.391, .362/.375/.426 and .305/.328/.441 respectively. He slumped to .239/.280/.370 in 1982, and his batting average never was above .300 after this season. In his last season - the 1986 season - Kawato was picked into the All-Star Games, and he was 1-for-2 with a double against Kazuyoshi Ono in Game 2. He ended up hitting .265/.265/.571 with a career-high 5 homers, then he announced his retirement. He was then named the defense coach for the Tigers in 1990, and he worked as bench coach for them in 1991.

Overall, Kawato hit .236/.284/.327 with 211 hits and 16 homers in 18 seasons in NPB.

Sources

• NPB site
• Wiki Japan
• 1986 NPB All Star Game