Tetsuro Hirose

Tetsuro Hirose (広瀬 哲朗)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 9", Weight 173 lb.

• School Komazawa University
• High School Fujinomiya Kita High School

• Born January 23, 1961 in Shizuoka, Shizuoka Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Tetsuro Hirose has played in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Hirose was drafted by the Tokyo Yakult Swallows in the fourth round of the 1982 NPB draft, but he refused to sign. He then represented Japan in the 1985 Intercontinental Cup. The Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters drafted him again in the first round of the 1985 NPB draft. Hirose debuted on April 9, 1986, and collected his first hit off Choji Murata on May 5. In the NPB Farm Leagues, Hirose joined the All-Star Game and won the MVP for the Eastern League. Although Hirose was activated by the big club soon, he was mainly used to pinch-hit or bunt. He never played more than 75 games before the 1990 season. The Shizuoka native played 90 games in 1991, but his batting line was a poor .197/.244/.237. He improved and hit .260/.303/.336 in 1992.

When Yukio Tanaka was moved to the outfield because of his shoulder injury, the 32-year-old Hirose was named the everyday shortstop in 1993 season. He then broke out and participated in the 1993 NPB All-Star Game. He was the starting shortstop in Game 1, but was retired four times - by Shinji Imanaka in 3rd and 4th, Youichi Okabayashi in 6th and Hiroshi Ishige in 8th inning. He replaced Masaru Uno in the 4th inning of Game 2, but was struck out by Masahiro Yamamoto then Hiroki Nomura retired him in the 6th inning. Hisose ended up hitting .279/.344/.320, and won both the Best Nine and NPB Gold Glove award as a shortstop. He was selected into the All-Star Game again the next year, and recorded a .281/.371/.332 batting line. He also won both the Best Nine and Gold Glove award for the second consecutive year. Since Tanaka recovered and came back to shortstop, Hirose was moved to third base and batted .267/.341/.310 in the 1995 season. He remained at 3rd base and recorded a .256/.314/.349 batting line in 1996 season. When All-Star slugger Hiromitsu Ochiai joined the team in 1997 season, Hirose lost his position and was limited to play 46 games in that season. After missed the whole 1998 season because of injuries, the 37-year-old Hirose announced his retirement. He then became a broadcaster.

Overall, Hirose had hit .261/.329/.325 in 12 seasons in NPB.