Takahiro Tokutsu

Takahiro Tokutsu (得津 高宏)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 8", Weight 180 lb.

• High School PL Gakuen High School

• Born April 12, 1947 in Wakayama, Wakayama Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Takahiro Tokutsu played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 16 years.

Tokutsu was drafted by the Tokyo Orions in the 6th round of the 1966 NPB draft, and he was their 4th outfielder behind George Altman, Art Lopez and Takenori Ikebe in his rookie year. He hit .282/.329/.351 in 1967, then his batting line was .289/.343/.405 in 1968. However, Tokutsu mainly stayed in the NPB Farm Leagues for the next three seasons, and he never got more than 100 at-bats in a season during this period. He played 91 games in 1972 while his batting line was .279/.338/.393, and he recorded a .268/.301/.362 batting line in 109 appearances in 1973.

The Wakayama native broke out in 1974, hitting .309/.348/.428 with 5 triples and ranking 3rd in triples in the Pacific League (2 behind Yutaka Fukumoto). Had he qualified, he would ranked 5th in batting, between Hideji Kato and Wes Parker. In the 1974 Nippon Series, Tokutsu was 1-for-4 in Game 1, then he hit a clutch 2-RBI single off Hidetaka Hoshino. He was 1-for-8 in the rest of the series, and he won his first Nippon Series title as the Orions beat the Chunichi Dragons in 6 games. Tokutsu replaced Ikebe to get the starting right fielder spot, and he hit .301/.342/.379 in 1975. He was 6th in batting (between Sumio Hirota and Robert Marcano) and 10th in hits (tied with Narihiro Abe). He was the first DH in Lotte history when the PL added the rule that season.

Tokutsu was still a solid batter in 1976, hitting .282/.318/.392 with 5 triples and tying Bobby Mitchell for 7th in triples. He hit for a cycle on April 17, and he became the first player to hit for a cycle while collecting multiple triples in a game. He was then selected into the 1977 NPB All-Star Game, and he was 0-for-3. Tokutsu ended up hitting .305/.337/.391 in 1977, and he would ranked 8th in batting if he was qualified.

He then hit .286/.317/.384 in 1978, and his batting line was .309/.359/.398 in 1979. The 1979 season was his last season as a regular starter, and he slumped to .248/.294/.406 in 1980. After only having 7 appearances in 1981, Tokutsu announced his retirement as his batting line was .234/.280/.255 in 44 games in 1982. He then coached the Orions from 1987 to 1993 and in 1996.

Overall, Tokutsu hit .288/.329/.387 with 927 hits, 25 triples and 41 homers in 16 seasons in the NPB.

Sources

• NPB site
• Wiki Japan
• 1979 NPB All Star Game
• Research on first DH in NPB