Kosuke Fukudome
From BR Bullpen
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[edit] Biographical Information
Seven teams bidded for Kosuke Fukudome's services out of high school, but he opted instead to go to the industrial leagues. In 1996 he won a silver medal in the Olympics. He was the number one draft pick of the Chunichi Dragons in 1999 and became a star immediately. As a rookie he hit .284/.359/.451 with 16 homers as the regular shortstop despite an 0-27 slump at one point. In 2001, Fukudome was converted to 3B/OF and in '02 he became the Dragons' RF. That year he led the Central League in batting average (.343) and doubles (42), was third in slugging (.537), third in OBP (.456) and 2nd in hits (186), making his first Best Nine team.
In 2003 Fukudome hit .313/.401/.604 - he led the Central in OBP, runs (107) and triples (11) and was second to Alex Ramirez in slugging, second in the league in walks (78) and third in RBI (96) as he again made the Best Nine. He hit 34 homers and reached double digits in every extra-base hit category. In '04, Fukudome was again doing well, though not as good as in '03 (.277/.367/.569), but he lost time due to the 2004 Olympics and then injured his finger on September 1 when he was hit by Tsuyoshi Shimoyanagi pitch. He hit .316/.386/.605 with 3 homers, 11 runs and 10 RBI in 9 games in the Olympics, helping Japan to a bronze medal. He was second to Ariel Pestano in RBI and tied Yurendell de Caster, Yoshinobu Takahashi and Brett Roneberg for the most homers. Due to his injury, Fukudome missed the Japan Series, which the Dragons lost 4 games to 3 absent their star hitter. He still managed to lead the Central with 7 triples.
Fukudome bounced back in 2005, hitting .328/.430/.590 with 39 doubles, 28 homers, 93 walks, 102 runs and 103 RBI. He was second to Norichika Aoki in the batting race, second to Tomoaki Kanemoto in OPS, third in total bases, third in slugging, 10th in homers, tied for 4th in RBI, second to Kanemoto in walks, led the league in OBP for the second time (edging Kanemoto by one point), led in doubles for the second time, was second in triples (6) and third in RBI. He also struck out 128 times and won his third Gold Glove.
He won the Central League MVP award in 2006. He hit .351/.438/.653 and led the league in batting average (28 points ahead of runner-up Seung-Yeop Lee), runs (117), doubles (47), slugging and OBP (36 points ahead of Tyrone Woods). He was second in triples (5), third in total bases (324), walks (76) and tied for third in hits (174), fifth in RBI (104) and sixth in home runs (31).
In 2007, Fukudome was disabled with a right elbow injury. At the time, he was hitting .294/.443/.520 and leading the CL in OBP despite not being in the top 10 in average. He went to the US to have endoscopic surgery to remove bone fragments from the elbow. He did not play again that year. Despite his absence, Chunichi went on to win the 2007 Japan Series, their first Japan Series title in 53 years.
Fukudome's career bating line in NPB was .305/.397/.543 in 1,074 games.
In December, Fukudome signed with the Chicago Cubs for $48 million over 4 years, pending a physical. Chunichi picked up Kazuhiro Wada as a free agent to fill the corner outfield gap left by Fukudome's departure. Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella stated that Kosuke Fukudome would bat 3rd in the line-up behind Ryan Theriot and before Derrek Lee.
Fukudome had an excellent major league debut. Hitting 5th behind Lee and Aramis Ramirez and playing right field, he produced all 3 of Chicago's runs on Opening Day in a 4-3 loss to the Brewers. He doubled against Ben Sheets in his first at-bat but was stranded at third base. In the 4th, he drew a walk from Sheets. In the 7th, he singled but was thrown out trying to steal third by Jason Kendall later in the frame. He then smacked a 3-run bottom of the 9th-inning home run off of Eric Gagné to tie the game at three but Chicago lost in extra innings.
[edit] Notable Achievements
- NL All-Star (2008)
[edit] References
- www.japanesebaseball.com
- Sergei Borisov's NPB site
- japanbaseballdaily.com
- Japanball.com article on Fukudome's injury
- www.kosukefukudome.org
