Shinichi Furukawa

Shinichi Furukawa (古川 慎一)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 187 lb.

• School Asia University
• High School Kasukabe Kogyo High School

• Born July 26, 1963 in Edogawa, Tokyo Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Shinichi Furukawa played 9 seasons in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Furukawa was the first player in the history of the Tokyo Metropolitan University League to homer in four straight games. He played for the Japanese national team that won the 1984 Olympics (baseball was not a medal sport that year). The Lotte Orions picked him in the 4th round of the 1985 NPB draft. He debuted in NPB in 1986, hitting .274/.316/.455 with 16 homers in 347 AB; it would be his best season as a pro. A free swinger, he had 19 walks to 77 strikeouts. He was third on the club in dingers, behind Hiromitsu Ochiai and Leron Lee.

Furukawa fell to .222/.271/.430 with 12 HR in 221 AB in 1987; he somehow led the team in home runs, one ahead of Hideaki Takazawa, as Lee fell to 9 home runs and Ochiai left. In 1988, Furukawa hit .236/.285/.373 with 8 home runs. He batted .249/.315/.410 in 1989 and had 5 triples, tied for second in the Pacific League, two behind leader Ken Hirano.

In 1990, Shinichi was down to a bench role, batting .221/.235/.388 in 83 plate appearances, with Takeshi Aiko, Norifumi Nishimura and Masashi Yokota being the starting outfielders. Furukawa was a backup left fielder and DH in 1991, hitting .258/.313/.456 to nearly match his OPS as a rookie. His playing time was way down after that, though. He was 3 for 27 with a double, four walks and 11 whiffs in 1992, hit .224/.297/.328 with 22 K in 67 AB in 1993, did not appear in 1994 and went 0-for-4 in 1995.

Overall, Furukawa had batted .243/.295/.408 with 52 home runs in 1,521 NPB at-bats, striking out 354 times. He played 569 games and stole 24 bases in 33 tries. He coached for Lotte (now the Chiba Lotte Marines in 1996-1997.

Main Source: japanbaseballdaily.com by Gary Garland