Masahiko Jozume

Masahiko Jozume (定詰 雅彦)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 180 lb.

• High School Koryo High School

• Born September 24, 1966 in Yamagata-gun, Hiroshima Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Masahiko Jozume has played in Nippon Pro Baseball and for the Japanese national team.

Jozume represented Japan in 1990 Asian Games and 1990 Baseball World Cup. In the latter event, he hit .350/.381/.650 with 11 RBI in 8 games, backing up Yasunori Takami at catcher and Yuki Sato at DH. He was second to Shinichi Sato on the team in RBI. The Lotte Orions drafted him in the second round of the 1990 NPB draft. Jozume was a backup catcher of Susumu Aoyagi in the first three years in his career, he never played more than 60 games in those seasons.

He was named the starting catcher in 1994, and he hit .179/.230/.243 with 2 homers that season. He still struggled on offense, as he only batted .185/.227/.249 in 1995. Due to his poor batting, Fujio Tamura took his spot in 1996, and he only played 79 games with a .185/.234/.267 batting line. The Lotte traded him to the Hanshin Tigers after the 1996 season for Yoshifumi Ayukawa. Jozume hit .173/.212/.198 in 62 games in the first year with the Tigers. When Akihiro Yano joined the team, Jozume was unable to get any significant chances at catcher, and he only played 16 more games in the next three years. He announced his retirement after the 2000 season. After retiring, Jozume became the battery coach for the Chiba Lotte Marines from 2007 to 2009.

Overall, Jozume had hit .187/.236/.270 in 7 seasons in NPB.

Sources

• NPB site
• Wiki Japan
• Defunct IBAF site