Minoru Tanaka

Minoru Tanaka (田中 実)
known as Sil Kim in South Korea

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 8", Weight 158 lb.

• High School Jinsei Gakuen High School

• Born June 3, 1967 in Osaka, Osaka Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Minoru Tanaka played in the Korea Baseball Organization for 7 years and Nippon Professional Baseball for 5 years.

Tanaka was drafted by the Nippon Ham Fighters in the 6th round of the 1985 NPB draft, and he spent his first 2 seasons in the NPB Farm League. He went 0-for-9 in 1988, and he only played 3 games in 1989. Tanaka hit .281/.374/.328 in 110 games in 1990, and he collected 14 steals with a .263/.330/.293 batting line in 1991. He slumped to .191/.258/.209 in 1992, and the Fighters released him in 1993. Tanaka then joined the Samsung Lions in 1994, and he hit .273/.361/.362 with 3 homers that season. He struggled in 1995 as his batting line was .201/.301/.299, and the Lions released him.

The Ssangbangwool Raiders signed him, and Tanaka collected 6 triples with a .291/.363/.365 batting line in 1996. He was 10th in batting (between Jae-hong Park and Hyun-seung Park), 9th in hits (between Soo-keun Jung and Sang-ho Kim) and 2nd in triples (3 behind Jun-ho Jeon). Tanaka then hit .267/.327/.343 in 1997, and he was 5th in triples (tied with Kwang-rim Kim, Joon-hyuk Yang and Min-ho Kim. The Raiders traded him to the OB Bears for Sang-geun Park and Sang-hyun Park, and he recorded a .255/.329/.332 batting line with 4 homers in 1998. Kim hit .244/.314/.294 in 1999, but he was 5-for-13 in 2000 and he announced his retirement. He was the fielding coach for the KIA Tigers in 2014.

Overall, Tanaka hit .264/.339/.340 with 511 hits and 9 homers in 7 seasons in KBO. His batting line was .255/.326/.285 with 154 hits in NPB.

Sources

• Namu Wiki
• Wiki Japan