Junki Kono

Junki Kono (鴻野 淳基)
known as Sun-gi Hong in South Korea

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 167 lb.

• High School Aichi Institute of Technology Meiden High School

• Born July 10, 1961 in Nagoya, Aichi Japan

BR Register page 1, BR Register page 2

Biographical Information

Junki Kono played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 7 years

Kono was drafted by the Seibu Lions in the first round of the 1979 NPB draft after they lost the lottery for the rights to Akinobu Okada, but he spent his first five seasons primarily in the NPB Farm Leagues; he only got 24 at-bats combined. The Lions then traded him to the Yomiuri Giants for Yasutomo Suzuki, and he hit .240/.296/.440 in 35 games in 1985. Kono had a .250/.293/.401 batting line with 20 steals in 1986, and he shared the starting shortstop spot with Kaoru Okazaki in 1987. Kono played 94 games that season, and he hit .292/.337/.419 with 17 steals. He was 1-for-11 in the 1987 Nippon Series, and the Lions beat the Giants in 6 games.

The Aichi native hit .268/.321/.383 in 1988, but he slumped to .200/.262/.250 in 79 games in 1989 so he only got 6 appearances in 1990. Kono hit .300/.323/.483 in 57 games (60 at-bats) in 1991, and the Giants traded him to the Taiyo Whales for Yuji Ono. Kono was 3-for-23 in 1992, and the Whales released him in 1993. He then went to Korea and signed with the Lotte Giants, but he was 4-for-36 in 1994 then he announced his retirement.

Overall, Kono hit .255/.302/.378 with 193 hits and 14 homers in 7 seasons in NPB.

Sources

• Wiki Japan