Terufumi Kitamura

Terufumi Kitamura (Pei) (北村 照文)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 9", Weight 167 lb.

• High School Buso High School

• Born January 7, 1957 in Yokohama, Kanagawa Japan

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Terufumi Kitamura played for 13 seasons in Nippon Pro Baseball. He was noted for his speed and defense.

After high school, Kitamura played for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagoya in the industrial leagues. He was picked by the Hanshin Tigers in the third round of the 1979 NPB draft. He hit .259/.297/.376 in 65 games as a rookie in 1980. In his first game, he pinch-ran for Mike Reinbach. He got his first hit April 18 against Hisao Niura and his first homer May 4 off Masakatsu Tsuchiya. He batted .240/.277/.317 in 182 plate appearances and 110 games in 1981. He became a starter in 1982, producing at a .246/.295/.343 clip and stealing 25 bases in 35 tries. Not a power threat, he had four homers and 17 RBI. He joined Ken Hirano and Tadashige Matsumoto as the Diamond Glove Award winners in the outfield in the Central League. He was third in the league in steals, behind Matsumoto and Yoshihiko Takahashi.

In 1983, Kitamura had perhaps his best season, hitting .260/.332/.381 with a career-high 9 home runs and 26 steals (in 36 tries). He joined Kiyoyuki Nagashima and Matsumoto as the Diamond Glove winners (the last time he would win). He tied Ryuzo Yamasaki for fourth in the CL in swipes, behind Matsumoto, Takahashi and Yutaka Takagi. He also led the loop with 31 sacrifice hits. He saw reduced playing time and performance in 1984 (.228/.272/.358 in 94 G, 9 SB, 7 CS).

Kitamura rebounded to .262/.339/.352 in 1985 and went 21-for-27 in steal attempts, his last time topping 20 steals. In the 1985 Japan Series, Hanshin's first Japan Series title, he went 2 for 9 with a double, two walks and a run while splitting outfield time with Akinobu Mayumi, Keiji Nagasaki, Noriyoshi Sano and Haruki Yoshitake. He hit .240/.290/.284 in 1986 and .248/.297/.379 in 1987, his last season seeing regular playing time.

Kitamura began 1988 with the Tigers and was 2 for 11 with a double, homer and walk when he was dealt to the Seibu Lions for Eiji Kanamori. He went 3 for 12 with two runs and two walks for Seibu the rest of the year. He was 0 for 3 in the 1988 Japan Series and was caught stealing twice, but Seibu still won it. In 1989, he was 2 for 19 with 3 walks, a double and a steal. Seibu then dealt him to the Chunichi Dragons for backup infielder Yasutomo Suzuki. He hit .214/.283/.452 in 47 plate appearances over 65 games in 1990, primarily being a defensive substitute. In 1991, he was 6 for 27 with two doubles and three walks. He played three games in 1992 but did not bat.

Overall, Kitamura had hit .246/.303/.362 in 1,052 NPB games, with 333 runs, 158 RBI, 41 home runs and 114 steals in 166 tries. After he finished as a player, coached for Chunichi in 1993-1994 then became a scout for the Tigers.

Sources

• Japanbaseballdaily.com by Gary Garland
• Michael Eng's NPB database
• Japanese Wikipedia entry