Seiichi Uchikawa
From BR Bullpen
Seiichi Uchikawa (内川 聖一)
- Bats Right, Throws Right
- Height 6' 1", Weight 181 lb.
- High School Oita Technical High School
- Born August 4, 1982 in Ōita, Ōita Japan
Seiichi Uchikawa won the Central League batting title in 2008.
Uchikawa was a first-round draft pick out of high school by the Yokohama BayStars. He went 0 for 2 with a run in 2001. In 42 games in 2002, he showed good promise with a .333/.371/.515 batting line at age 21. His first hit was on April 24 against Eddie Guardado. He was one of several backups to Hitoshi Taneda at second base.
In 2003, Uchikawa played 45 games and hit .313/.335/.427 as the third-string second baseman to Shuichi Murata and Taneda. He batted .287/.322/.476 with 17 home runs in 94 games in 2004. He finished 4th on the BayStars in homers while serving as the club's primary second baseman.
Uchikawa batted .274/.332/.385 in 90 games in 2005. Moved to the outfield, he backed up Masaaki Koike in left field and came off the bench as a pinch-hitter regularly. The better-fielding Taneda replaced him at second.
Uchikawa rotated between second base (60 games), first base (43 games) and the outfield (12 games) in 2006, hitting .286/.329/.363 in 124 games. He was Yokohama's best base-stealer, going 8 for 11 on the basepaths; Takuro Ishii stole four more but was caught stealing eight more times. Moved to right field in 2007, Uchikawa produced a a .279/.337/.457 batting line in 82 games.
Moved to first base full-time in 2008, Uchikawa had a huge season, hitting .378/.416/.540 with 37 doubles, 14 homers and 83 runs. He led the Central League in average (.031 ahead of Norichika Aoki, doubles, hits (189, 4 ahead of Kenta Kurihara) and OBP (.003 ahead of Aoki). He was 7th in the CL in runs, 7th in total bases (270) and 5th in slugging. He made his first All-Star team and went 4 for 5 in the 2nd All-Star Game. He broke Bobby Rose's 9-year-old record of .369 for the best average by a right-handed hitter in CL history. Uchikawa made the Best Nine at first base, beating out MVP runner-up Michihiro Ogasawara by a wide margin.
Uchikawa was a productive part-time player for Samurai Japan when they won the 2009 World Baseball Classic; he appeared in left field, at first base and at DH. He went 6 for 18 with 2 walks, a double, homer, 3 runs and 4 RBI, posting a better OPS than any Japanese regular except Hiroyuki Nakajima. His 2-run homer off Won-sam Jang was the lone Japanese circuit clout in their games in the US. In the finale, Uchikawa scored twice in Japan's 5-3 win over South Korea. He got the winning run in the 10th, opening with a single off Chang-yong Lim and coming home on a Ichiro Suzuki hit.
