Motonobu Tanishige
From BR Bullpen
Motonobu Tanishige
- Bats Right, Throws Right
- Height 5' 9", Weight 171 lb.
- High School Gonokawa High School
- Born December 21, 1970 in Hiba-gun, Hiroshima Japan
One of Japan's most durable and top defensive catchers for a couple decades, Motonobu Tanishige has never been considered a top star due to his lack of contact hitting. An occasional power threat later in his career, he only made one Best Nine in 17 years as of 2006. Surprisingly, he also only won one Gold Glove, despite throwing out 43% of would-be base thieves through 2004.
Tanishige hit 42 homers in high school and was picked in the first round of the 1988 NPB draft by the Yokohama BayStars. He hit just .175/.247/.273 and .175/.264/.279 his first two seasons, then in '91 improved to .237/.324/.398. He slipped back to .191/.280/.284 in 1992.
In 1993, Motonobu made his first Central League All-Star team and had a .234/.339/.324 batting line; he followed with a .228/.317/.334 campaign. The 23-year-old catcher hit the 65,000th homer in Nippon Pro Baseball history that year. In '95, Tanishige batted .249/.313/.398. 1996 marked a sudden improvement in offense as he had a career-best .300/.391/.445 campaign.
In '97, the Yokohama backstop hit .232/.336/.388 and reached double-digit homers, a level he would achieve almost every year thereafter; he also made his second All-Star team. An All-Star again in 1998, he had a .254/.346/.399 line and made his only Best Nine and won his first Gold Glove. He hit .222/.391/.444 in the 1998 Japan Series as Yokohama won their first title. He rose to .295/.368/.426 and led the CL with 13 intentional walks in '99 then fell to .251/.316/.359 the next year with 9 homers but still was an All-Star though he led the CL by grounding into 20 double plays.
In 2001, the veteran had a .262/.367/.447 year with 20 homers, the most on the club. He made his 4th straight All-Star team and fifth overall. A free agent, he sought to come to the USA but got no offers and signed with the Chunichi Dragons instead.
An All-Star again for the final time in '02, he hit .215/.303/.424 with a career-high 24 homers and 78 RBI. He led the club in homers, more than the likes of Leo Gomez and Kosuke Fukudome. He set a career high in slugging the next year at .264/.344/.471, homered 18 times and batted .344 with runners in scoring position. He was on the Japanese team that won Gold at the 2003 Asian Championship, sharing catching duties with Kenji Johjima.
Tanishige hit .260/.332/.419 with 18 HR in 2004 and starred in the 2004 Japan Series, batting .320/.393/.560 and smashing a grand slam in game two. In '05, the 34-year-old fell to .234/.338/.376. Through 2005, his career line was .246/.334/.392 with 177 homers. He was picked as the elder statesmen on the 2006 World Baseball Classic team for Japan and was 0 for 4 with 3 strikeouts in the team's victorious run.
He batted .234/.347/.353 in 2006 but went 5 for 15 with a .412 OBP in the 2006 Japan Series. He won his second Gold Glove.
On August 17, 2007, Tanishige ended a game by being hit by a Joselo Diaz pitch with the bases loaded. It was Chunichi's first victory through such an incident in 58 years. That year, he ended a streak of 1,708 consecutive error-free chances, a new NPB record. The veteran finished the year with a .236/.347/.322 batting line. He won a Gold Glove. In the 2007 Japan Series, Tanishige batted .250/.333/.313 as Chunichi won their first Japan Series in over 50 years.
In 2008, Tanishige hit .234/.325/.307, his lowest slugging percentage in 16 years. In July 2009, he caught his 2,238th game in NPB, putting him second all-time behind Katsuya Nomura.
Main Source: Japanbaseballdaily.com by Gary Garland
