Takanori Okamura

Takanori Okamura (岡村 隆則)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 8", Weight 150 lb.

• School Chuo University
• High School Yanai High School

• Born October 2, 1954 in Yanai, Yamaguchi Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Takanori Okamura has played in Nippon Pro Baseball and for the Japanese national team.

Okamura represented Japan in 1980 Amateur World Series. The Seibu Lions drafted him in the second round of the 1980 NPB draft. Okamura only hit .174/.245/.291 in his rookie year, and he still struggled in the next three years. His batting lines were .215/.286/.291, .224/.274/.362 and .188/.309/.232 respectively, and he never played more than 60 games in the latter two seasons. The Yamaguchi native broke out in 1985, as his batting line improved to .241/.297/.362 and he played a career-high 119 games. He even hit for a cycle on May 22. In the 1985 Nippon Series, Okamura played all 6 games and went 4-for-17. He hit a triple then blasted a solo shot off Hideaki Sato in Game 3. Okamura had a .327/.377/.469 batting line in 49 at-bats as a 4th outfielder in 1986, but he went 1-for-11 in 1987, and only had a single appearance in 1988. Okamura announced his retirement after the 1988 season. He then became the defense coach for the Lions from 2008 to 2009.

Overall, Okamura had hit .223/.291/.324 in 8 seasons in NPB.

Sources

• NPB site
• Wiki Japan
• Defunct IBAF site