Teruyoshi Kuji

Teruyoshi Kuji (久慈 照嘉)

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 6", Weight 154 lbs.

• High School Kofu High School of Tokai University

• Born April 19, 1969 in Kofu, Yamanashi Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Teruyoshi Kuji played in the Nippon Pro Baseball for 14 years.

Kuji was drafted by the Hanshin Tigers in the second round of the 1991 NPB draft, and he soon became their starting shortstop. He hit .245/.319/.310 with a Central League-leading 8 triples, and became the first player to win the NPB Rookie of the Year Award without hitting any home runs. He was also selected into the 1992 NPB All-Star Game as a rookie, but went 0-for-2 with a walk. Kuji extended his solid batting in 1993, hitting .244/.330/294 with 4 triples.

The Yamanishi native played all 130 games with a .251/.332/.287 batting line in 1994, then recorded a .266/.381/.332 batting line in 1995. He attended the 1995 NPB All-Star Game, but went 0-for-1. The talented infielder appeared in the 1996 NPB All-Star Game, and he went 1-for-2 with a RBI. He ended up hitting .278/.350/.312 with 14 steals. Kuji blasted a career-high 3 homers in 1997 with a .257/.341/.318 batting line, and he was selected into the NPB All-Star Game for the third consecutive year; he went 0-for-1 with a walk.

The Tigers had a lack of sluggers, so they traded Kuji and Koichi Sekikawa to the Chunichi Dragons for Yasuaki Taiho and Akihiro Yano. He played well in the first year, hitting .249/.342/.290 with a league-leading 38 sacrifice bunts in 1998. However, his starting spot was taken by Kosuke Fukudome due to his poor batting, and he only got 172 at-bats even though he hit .314/.390/.360 in 1999. He was 0-for-10 in 1999 Nippon Series, and the Dragons was beaten by the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks in 5 games.

Kuji only had 88 at-bats combined in the next three seasons with the Dragons, then he was released after the 2002 season. The Tigers signed him, but he still only got 64 at-bats until the he announced his retirement after the 2005 season. He then became the fielding coach for the Tigers from 2008 to 2013 and from 2016 to 2022.

Overall, Kuji had hit .257/.343/.307 with 51 steals and 811 hits in 14 seasons in NPB.

Related Sites

• NPB site
• Wiki Japan