Tomonori Maeda

Tomonori Maeda (前田 智徳)

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 9", Weight 176 lb.

• High School Kumamoto Kogyo High School

• Born June 14, 1971 in Tamana, Kumamoto Japan

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Tomonori Maeda has often been called the Japanese Eric Davis - a very athletic, frequently injured outfielder who plays for Japan's equivalent of the Cincinnati Reds, the Hiroshima Carp.

Maeda was drafted by the Carp in the 4th round of the 1989 NPB draft. He only had 43 at-bats with a .256/.273/.326 batting line in his rookie year. Maeda secured a starting outfield spot in 1991, and blasted his first career home run off Naoyuki Naito on the opening day. He was the only player ever in NPB history to hit his first career home run as a leadoff homer on opening day. Maeda ended up hitting .271/.329/.359 with 4 homers in this year, and became the youngest player to win a NPB Gold Glove Award. The talented outfielder improved to .308/.375/.483 with 19 homers and 18 steals in the next season, and won his first Best Nine and second Gold Glove as an outfielder. He ranked 2nd in the 1992 Central League in RBI (11 behind Larry Sheets), 5th in BA (.023 behind Jack Howell), 4th in steals (15 behind Tetsuya Iida) and 6th in hits (7 behind Jim Paciorek).

The Kumamoto native was selected into the 1993 NPB All-Star Game, and went 3-for-10 combined in 2 games. He hit .317/.392/.553 with 27 homers and won both the Best Nine and Gold Glove awards again in 1993. He led the league in doubles and total bases, ranked 4th in batting (.028 behind Glenn Braggs), 3rd in homers (7 behind Akira Eto) and 3rd in hits (3 behind Atsuya Furuta). Maeda extended his elite performance, hitting .321/.389/.496 with 20 homers in 1994, and won his fourth Gold Glove and third Best Nine. He also attended the 1994 NPB All-Star Game, but only went 0-for-1. He was .003 shy of robbing the batting title from Alonzo Powell, ranked 6th in homers (18 behind Yasuaki Taiho) and 3rd in hits (11 behind Kenjiro Nomura). The 23-year-old player was on his pace to became one of the best outfielders in the NPB history.

However, Maeda tore his right Achilles tendon and missed nearly the entire 1995 season. That injury took away his athletic ability, and made him a frequently injured player. He still came back with a .313/.368/.518 batting line and 19 homers in 1996, and ranked 10th in batting (.027 behind Powell). He was selected into the 1996 All-Star Game, but went 2-for-10. The Kumamoto native suffered from a right foot injury again, and he missed the first month of the 1997 season. He still played 100 games with a .304/.348/.487 batting line that season, and became the first player in NPB history to collect 6 singles in a game, doing so on September 19.

Maeda recovered well in 1998, hitting .335/.388/.550 with 24 homers and led the league in doubles again. He won his fourth, and the last Best Nine award, and he was only .002 shy of winning his first batting title (lost to Takanori Suzuki). He had 3 or more hits in a game 23 times, breaking the NPB record held for decades by Wally Yonamine. Maeda also blasted a home run in 5 consecutive games in August, and won the player of the month award. He was 5th in homers (10 behind Hideki Matsui), 7th in RBI (20 behind Matsui) and 3rd in hits (5 behind Takuro Ishii).

Although he was expected to extend his good performance, Maeda's foot injury disturbed him again, and he only hit .301/.345/.436 in with 12 homers in 1999. He slumped to .237/.283/.439 in 2000, then missed half of the 2000 season and nearly the entire 2001 season because he underwent a left foot surgery; he only had 27 at-bats in 2001. The star outfielder came back in 2002, and recorded a .308/.364/.481 batting line with 20 homes again. He also won the NPB Comeback Player of the Year Award. Maeda was still a solid batter in the next two seasons, hitting .290/.346/.480 and .312/.355/.541 with 21 homers respectively.

The 34-year-old veteran played well in 2005. He was 0-for-3 in Game 1 of the 2005 NPB All-Star Game, and went 3-for-4 with 2 RBI and won MVP in Game 2. He ended up playing all 146 games with a .319/.376/.546 batting line and blasted a career-high 32 homers. He was 5th in homers (12 behind Takahiro Arai), 8th in hits (30 behind Nori Aoki), 7th in batting (.025 behind Aoki) and 10th in RBI (60 behind Makoto Imaoka). Maeda extended his solid batting, when he had a .314/.371/.511 batting line with 23 homers in 2006, and ranked 4th in batting (.027 behind Kosuke Fukudome).

Maeda attended the 2007 NPB All-Star Game due to his popularity, and blasted a homer off Takahiro Mahara in Game 1. On September 1, 2007, Maeda connected for his 2,000th hit to join the meikyukai. His 2,000th was a single against Shinya Okamoto. He was the 36th player in Japanese history to reach that level; it was a surprising milestone given his litany of injuries. He was the third new member of the meikyukai in 2007, following Yukio Tanaka and Hideki Matsui. He was the 4th Carp player to get 2,000 hits with the team - two of the others were in the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame. The veteran ended up hitting .285/.327/.435 with 15 homers.

However, 2007 season was the last productive season for Maeda. He was mainly used as pinch-hitter in 2008, and only hit .270/.306/.374 with 4 homers. He spent the whole 2009 season in the ni-gun, and only played 108 games combined in the next two seasons. Maeda was plunked by Masaya Emura on 2012, and he fractured his left hand and was expected to missed the entire season. Maeda served as hitting coach the rest of the season then announced his retirement and played his last game on October 3.

Overall, Maeda had hit .302/.358/.484 with 2,119 hits and 295 homers in 23 seasons in NPB.

Related Sites

• NPB site
• Wiki Japan