Masaaki Koga

Masaaki Koga (古賀 正明)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 3", Weight 193 lb.

• School Hosei University
• High School The Third High School of Nihon University

• Born April 11, 1949 in Kurume, Fukuoka Japan

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Masaaki Koga played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 9 years

Koga played for Cosmo Oil in the industrial leagues out of college. was drafted by the Hanshin Tigers in the first round of the 1974 NPB draft, but he refused to sign. The Taiheiyo Club Lions then picked him in the first round of the 1975 NPB draft, and he went 11-13 with a 3.09 ERA and 14 completed games in his rookie year. He was 4th in the Pacific League in losses (tied with Shinichi Yamauchi and Nobuhiro Tamai) and 8th in complete games (tied with Mitsuhiro Adachi). He also ranked 2nd in the Rookie of the Year voting behind Manabu Fujita. However, Koga slumped to 5-7 with a 5.68 ERA in 1977, and he was 4-8 with a 4.40 ERA in 1978. He was then traded with Akira Kuramochi to the Lotte Orions for Hiroyuki Yamazaki and Haruo Narishige, and he went 4-3 with a 2.84 ERA in 1979.

The Fukuoka native was traded again with Seiichi Ogawa to the Yomiuri Giants for Tomohisa Shoji, Susumu Omata and Isao Tamura, and he was 6-5 with 2 saves and a 3.99 ERA in 1980. The Giants then traded him to the Taiyo Whales for Makoto Matsubara, and he was 5-10 with 3 saves and a 4.76 ERA in 1981. He was 7th in the Central League in losses, tied with Shigeru Kobayashi, Jun Misawa, Kenichi Kajima and Manabu Kitabeppu. Koga struggled in 1982 as his ERA was 9.75 in 11 games, then he went 3-4 with a 4.88 ERA in 1983. He became the second pitcher to get a win against all 12 teams on October 4, following Osamu Nomura. It would be 18 years before Kazuhiro Takeda became the third hurler to turn the feat. Koga's ERA was 8.37 in 27 games in 1984, and he announced his retirement. He became the pitching coach for the Lotte Giants in 1992 and Samsung Lions in 1995.

Overall, Koga was 38-54 with 8 saves a 4.59 ERA, struck out 456 and pitched 794 1/3 innings in 9 seasons in NPB.

Sources

• Wiki Japan