Kenji Furusawa

Kenji Furusawa (古沢 憲司)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 160 lb.

• High School Niihama Higashi High School

• Born March 31, 1948 in Niihama, Ehime Japan
• Died August 25, 2023

BR register page

Biographical Information

Kenji Furusawa was a two-time All-Star in a lengthy Japanese career which spanned a 21-year period.

Furusawa dropped out of high school and signed with the Hanshin Tigers at age 16. He was the youngest player in the two-league era in NPB history. He allowed one run and 7 hits in 17 innings as a rookie in 1964. In 1965, the right-hander was 1-1 with a 3.63 ERA in 31 games, but walked 42 batters in 67 innings. He only pitched 24 1/3 innings in 1966, with a 5.25 ERA. In 1967, Kenji went 2-1 with a 4.80 ERA in 21 games. He allowed 6 runs in 11 innings in 1968 then did not appear in a game for two years. The 23-year-old veteran returned to the diamond as a starting pitcher in 1971. He had a strong year, going 12-9 with a 2.05 ERA, allowing 149 hits in 171 1/3 IP. He finished third in the Central League in ERA (behind Kazuhiro Fujimoto and Katsuji Sakai) and 7th in wins (tied with Hisatoshi Ito).

The Ehime native faded in 1972, going 1-6 with a 5.20 ERA. He went 9-9 with a 3.41 ERA in 1973, allowing 107 hits in 132 1/3 IP. He had a 15-10, 3.23 record in 1974, and he was 6th in wins (tied with Masaji Hiramatsu and Senichi Hoshino) and 9th in strikeouts (122, between Tsuneo Horiuchi and Hisao Niura). He tossed four shutouts to tie Hiromu Matsuoka and Yoshiro Sotokoba for the Central League lead. Furusawa also made his first All-Star team, and he allowed 2 runs in 2 innings in the 1974 NPB All-Star Game 2.

In 1975, Furusawa went 9-10 with two saves and a 3.60 ERA. He had a 10-8, 3.35 record in 1976, and he was 7th in ERA (between Hiromu Matsuoka and Teruo Aida) and 6th in strikeouts (135, between Hajime Kato and Shigeru Kobayashi). Furusawa fell to 11-17, 4.00 in 1977 and led the CL in losses. He still made his second All-Star team, and he allowed a RBI single to Katsuya Nomura in the 1977 NPB All-Star Game 2. His 3 shutouts tied Senichi Hoshino, Kobayashi and Takenori Emoto for the most in the circuit, and he was 7th in wins (tied with Kojiro Ikegaya, Emoto, Niura and Clyde Wright) and 9th in strikeouts (119, between Tomotaka Sugiyama and Takeshi Yasuda).

Furusawa's long tenure with Hanshin ended in 1978 when the 30-year-old posted a 4-16, 4.98 record with two saves. He was two losses behind CL leader Terushi Donoue. He was then involved in a blockbuster trade with superstar slugger Koichi Tabuchi to the Seibu Lions for Akinobu Mayumi, Masashi Takenouchi, Masafumi Takeda, Yoshiharu Wakana and 20 million yen. Furusawa was just 4-14 with 5 saves and a 5.66 ERA for the 1979 Lions, and he was 3rd in the Pacific League in losses (tied with Masumitsu Moriguchi and Hisao Sugita). In 1980, he went 3-6 with 5 saves and a 5.74 ERA in 34 games. He led the league with 7 wild pitches despite only hurling 80 innings. He was 1-4 with six saves and a 2.05 ERA in 1981. Kenji was traded with Tetsuya Ohara to the Hiroshima Carp for Naoki Takahashi in 1982, going 1-1 with a 3.26 ERA in 29 games. He whiffed 61 and allowed 37 innings in 47 innings. He was 1-2 with 2 saves and a 4.14 ERA in 1983, giving up 37 hits in 50 innings. He finally wrapped up his career in 1984, going 3-1 with 35 hits allowed in 49 innings and a career-best 1.47 ERA in 30 games. After retiring as a player, Furusawa was a baseball commentator on Tokyo TV then coached for the Carp.

Overall, Furusawa was 87-115 with 25 saves and a 3.72 ERA, struck out 1,181 and pitched 1,896 1/3 innings in 19 seasons in NPB. As of 2025, he tied Kazumi Sonokawa for 76th in losses in NPB history.

Sources

• Wiki Japan
• Japan Baseball Daily by Gary Garland