Hitoshi Tamura

Hitoshi Tamura (多村 仁志)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 173 lb.

• High School Yokohama High School

• Born March 28, 1977 in Atsugi, Kanagawa Japan

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Hitoshi Tamura played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 17 years.

Tamura was drafted in the 4th round of the 1994 NPB draft by the Yokohama BayStars but spent most of the next six years in ni-gun. In one 11-game stretch during his minor league career, he hit three grand slams. In 1997, Tamura had a brief look with Yokohama, batting .269/.259/.423. The next year, he missed most of the season due to shoulder surgery. In 2000, he batted .257/.306/.385 for Yokohama, then he slipped to .163/.315/.279 in limited duty at age 24 with 15 strikeouts in 43 AB. Early in his career, he had trouble hitting sliders. As a frequently used backup in 2002, Tamura put up a .235/.278/.361 line while continuing to strike out too frequently. In 2003, Hitoshi hit .293/.340/.566 with 65 K in 242 AB and 18 homers, while stealing 14 in 21 tries as the primary BayStars right fielder. He missed time that year due to a torn thumb ligament.

2004 marked a rare full season for Tamura. Hitting fifth behind Tyrone Woods and replacing Tatsuhiko Kinjo in center (Kinjo took his right field slot), Hitoshi hit .305/.363/.624 with 40 homers, 100 RBI and 126 strikeouts while playing excellent defense in center field. Emerging suddenly as a star player, Tamura set a Yokohama club record for home runs by a native Japanese player. He was fourth in the Central League in slugging, tied Greg LaRocca for fifth in homers, sixth in RBI (between LaRocca and Tuffy Rhodes) and fifth in strikeouts (between Andy Sheets and George Arias).

Tamura began 2005 in even finer form. In April, he had two winning hits against Dan Miceli in the span of three days, helping ruin Dan's chances at a career in Japan. Tamura hurt his back in June but was still leading the CL in average and was a strong Triple Crown candidate before his season came to a crash in June. His porsche spun into an accident on the Yokohama-Yokosuka Expressway on June 29 and Tamura hurt his left shoulder and left retina. He returned after a month off but his production fell as he was not back to full form. He finished at .304/.369/.578 with 31 homers, fourth in the CL in slugging again (between Kosuke Fukudome and Tyrone Woods), fifth in OPS (between Takahiro Arai ans Iwamura), 7th in homers and missing the top 10 in RBI and average.

The Kanagawa native was still picked to play for Japan in the 2006 World Baseball Classic. The 28-year-old flyhawk hit .259/.412/.593 and led the title-winning team in homers (3) and RBI (9) while tying for the lead in walks (6) in 8 games. He tied for third in the WBC in homers, RBI and walks and led in strikeouts (9). He was not chosen to the All-Tourney team. In 2006, Tamura sprained his wrist on June 3 to continue his run of injuries. Four days later, Hitoshi sustained a rib cartilage injury in a home-plate collision with Akihito Fujii. He was only healthy enough to play 39 games all year, batting .276/.359/.488.

After the season, Yokohama dealt him to the Softbank Hawks for pitcher Hayato Terahara. Tamura had a healty 2007 season, and he played 132 games with a .271/.325/.415 batting line. He was 10th in hits (138, tied with Rick Short) and 6th in doubles (28, tied with Hiroyuki Nakajima, Saburo Ohmura and Hiroshi Shibahara). He then fractured his fibula in 2008, and he only played 39 games with a .302/.335/.416 batting line. His woes continued when he had a right shoulder injury in 2009, but he crushed 17 homers with a .282/.334/.510 batting line.

Tamura returned in 2010, and he had his career year. He blasted 27 homers with a .324/.374/.550 batting line, and he was 5th in batting (between Alex Cabrera) and Teppei Tsuchiya), 6th in doubles (33, tied with Yoshio Itoi and Nakajima), 3rd in homers (between Takeshi Yamasaki and Takeya Nakamura) and 7th in RBI (89, between Tae-kyun Kim and Cabrera). Tamura broke the interleague play record with a .415 batting average, and he held it until Shun Mizutani broke it in 2024. He was selected into the 2010 NPB All-Star Game, and he went 1-for-4 with a single against Takuya Asao in the 5th inning of Game 2. He won his only Best Nine, and he finished 4th in PL MVP voting between Tsuyoshi Nishioka and Yu Darvish with 167 points.

However, Tamura fractured his left finger in 2011, and he only played 100 games with a .241/.309/.328 batting line. He hit .370/.370/.519 2011 Nippon Series, with a 2-run shot against Maximo Nelson in Game 3, and the Hawks beat the Chunichi Dragons in 7 games. He then suffered from a waist injury in 2012, and he struggled again as his batting line was .250/.312/.365 in 79 games. The Hawks traded him back with Teruaki Yoshikawa and Yasushi Kamiuchi to the BayStars for Yuki Yoshimura, Shogo Yamamoto and Shintaro Ejiri, and he crushed 12 homers with a .261/.354/.466 batting line. Tamura then hit .272/.345/.401 in 73 games in 2014, but he only got 7 at-bats for the big club in 2015 and he was released. The Dragons signed him, and Tamura stayed in the minors before he announced his retirement in 2016.

Overall, Tamura hit .281/.340/.478 with 1,162 hits and 195 homers in 17 seasons in NPB.

Sources

• Japanbaseballdaily.com by Gary Garland
• Wiki Japan