Louis Okoye

Louis Okoye Rui (オコエ 瑠偉)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 198 lb.

• High School Kanto Daiichi High School

• Born July 21, 1997 in Higashimurayama, Tokyo Japan

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Biographical Information

Louis Okoye has been an outfielder in Nippon Pro Baseball and for the Japanese national baseball team.

Okoye's father was from Nigeria, and he hit 37 homers in his high school career. He also represented Japan in the 2015 U-18 Baseball World Cup, hitting .364/.417/.394 with 8 runs and 7 RBI in 8 games. He played error-free ball in center and won the best defensive player award. The Rakuten Golden Eagles picked him in the first round of the 2015 NPB draft after losing the lottery for Taiga Hirasawa. Okoye made it onto the roster of the big club as a rookie, and recorded his first career stolen base on March 26. He was the first drafted high school graduate to steal a base in his second career game. Okoye ended up hitting .185/.233/.294 with 4 steals in his rookie year. He also played in the Asia Winter League following the 2016 season.

The Tokyo native suffered a right finger injury in 2017, so he didn't make his season debut until August. Okoye played well after coming back from injury, hitting .300/.331/.500 with 3 homers. He was struck out in all 3 at-bats in the first stage of the 2017 PLCS, then went 1-for-3 with a walk in the final stage; the hit was a single against Shuta Ishikawa of the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks in Game 1. He then represented Japan in the 2017 Asia Professional Baseball Championship, but he only had one at-bat and won Gold as Japan beat South Korea in final.

Okoye struggled in the next two seasons, only hitting .198/.219/.333 and .182/.242/.300 respectively. In Game 1 of the first stage of the 2019 PLCS, he blasted a solo shot off Kodai Senga of the Hawks, but only was 0 for 2 in the rest of the series and the Golden Eagles were eliminated. He spent his entire 2020 season in the NPB Farm Leagues, and he suffered a right wrist injury in 2021 and missed four months. He hit .223/.291/.234 after recovering in 2022, and he only had 6 appearances due to a left knee injury. The Yomiuri Giants then selected him in the 2022 NPB Active draft. Okoye improved to .235/.278/.345 in 2023.