Kosuke Fukudome

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Kosuke Fukudome (福留 孝介)

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Biographical Information[edit]

Seven teams bid for Kosuke Fukudome's services out of high school, but he opted instead to go to the industrial leagues. In 1996 he won a silver medal in the Olympics. In the 1997 Intercontinental Cup, he was on the Japanese squad that stunned Cuba, handing the Cubans their first Gold Medal game loss in 15 years. Fukudome hit only .190/.217/.286 in the event while splitting time between DH and third base. Due to his struggles, he sat out the historic finale. He had also won Silver with Japan in the 1997 Asian Championship.

Fukudome was the number one draft pick of the Chunichi Dragons in 1998 NPB draft and became a star immediately. As a rookie he hit .284/.359/.451 with 16 homers as the regular shortstop despite an 0-27 slump at one point. He got a hit against Kimiyasu Kudo in the 1999 NPB All-Star Game 1, the last rookie to do so until Shun Takayama in 2016. He hit .253/.350/.446 with 13 homers in 2000 and he crushed 15 homers with a .251/.352/.440 batting line in 2001 after he was converted to 3B/OF. In 2002, he became the Dragons' RF and he returned to the 2002 NPB All-Star Game; he was 1-for-5 with a double against Kenichi Wakatabe in Game 2. That year he led the Central League in batting average (.343) and doubles (42), was third in slugging (.537), third in OBP (.456) and 2nd in hits (186, 5 behind Takayuki Shimizu). Fukudome made his first Best Nine team, and he also won his first NPB Gold Glove as an outfielder. He broke Michinori Tsubouchi's single season hits record for the Dragons.

In 2003 Fukudome hit .313/.401/.604 - he led the Central in OBP, runs (107) and triples (11) and was second to Alex Ramirez in slugging, second in the league in walks (78) and third in RBI (96) as he again made the Best Nine. He hit 34 homers and reached double digits in every extra-base hit category, and he tied Roberto Petagine for 4th in homers. He broke Michio Nishizawa's team record for most runs in a season. Fukudome led the 2003 Asian Championship with 5 RBI, helping Japan win Gold. In 2004 , Fukudome was again doing well, though not as good as in 2003 (.277/.367/.569), but he lost time due to the 2004 Olympics and then injured his finger on September 1st when he was hit by Tsuyoshi Shimoyanagi pitch. He was voted into the 2004 NPB All-Star Game, and he went 1-for-8 with a double off Hisashi Iwakuma in Game 1. He hit .316/.386/.605 with 3 homers, 11 runs and 10 RBI in 9 games in the Olympics, helping Japan to a bronze medal. He was second to Ariel Pestano in RBI and tied Yurendell de Caster, Yoshinobu Takahashi and Brett Roneberg for the most homers. Due to his injury, Fukudome missed the Japan Series, which the Dragons lost 4 games to 3 absent their star hitter. He still managed to lead the Central with 7 triples.

Fukudome bounced back in 2005, hitting .328/.430/.590 with 39 doubles, 28 homers, 93 walks, 102 runs and 103 RBI. He was second to Norichika Aoki in the batting race, second to Tomoaki Kanemoto in OPS, third in total bases, third in slugging, 10th in homers, tied Tyrone Woods for 4th in RBI, second to Kanemoto in walks, led the league in OBP for the second time (edging Kanemoto by one point), led in doubles for the second time and was second in triples (6, 3 behind Norihiro Akahoshi). He also struck out 128 times and won his third Gold Glove.

The Kagoshima native had his career year in 2006. He hit .351/.438/.653 and led the league in batting average (28 points ahead of runner-up Seung-Yeop Lee), runs (117), doubles (47), slugging and OBP (36 points ahead of Tyrone Woods). He was second in triples (5), third in total bases (324), walks (76) and tied for third in hits (174), fifth in RBI (104) and sixth in home runs (31). He won the 2006 Central League Most Valuable Player Award, gaining 754 points to beat his teammate Kenshin Kawakami's 498. Fukudome set the CL record for most doubles in a season, and he broke Nishizawa's team records for most homers and RBI in a season. He won the Best Nine and Gold Glove awards again. In the 2006 Nippon Series, Fukudome crushed a solo home run against Tomoya Yagi in Game 2, but he only hit .200 and the Nippon Ham Fighters beat the Dragons in 5 games.

In 2007, Fukudome was disabled with a right elbow injury. At the time, he was hitting .294/.443/.520 and leading the CL in OBP despite not being in the top 10 in average. Fukudome also attended the 2007 NPB All-Star Game, and he went 0-for-1. He went to the US to have endoscopic surgery to remove bone fragments from the elbow. He did not play again that year. Despite his absence, Chunichi went on to win the 2007 Japan Series, their first Japan Series title in 53 years. In December, Fukudome signed with the Chicago Cubs for $48 million over 4 years, pending a physical. Chunichi picked up Kazuhiro Wada as a free agent to fill the corner outfield gap left by Fukudome's departure. Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella stated that Kosuke Fukudome would bat third in the line-up behind Ryan Theriot and before Derrek Lee.

Fukudome had an excellent major league debut on March 31, 2008. Hitting 5th behind Lee and Aramis Ramirez and playing right field, he produced all 3 of Chicago's runs on Opening Day in a 4-3 loss to the Brewers. He doubled against Ben Sheets in his first at-bat but was stranded at third base. In the 4th, he drew a walk from Sheets. In the 7th, he singled but was thrown out trying to steal third by Jason Kendall later in the frame. He then smacked a 3-run, bottom of the 9th-inning home run off Eric Gagné to tie the game at three but Chicago lost in extra innings. He hit .327/.436/.480 in April and March but faded as the year went on - .293/.388/.404 in May, .264/.387/.402 in June, .236/.306/.382 in July, .193/.293/.253 in August and .178/.288/.289 after August. Due to his quick start, he made it to the 2008 All-Star Game; he grounded out against Joe Saunders and fanned against Ervin Santana before Nate McLouth replaced him in center field. He finished the season with a batting line of .257/.357/.379 with 81 walks, 10 homers, 79 runs and 12 steals in 16 tries for the Cubs. He was then 1 for 10 in the playoffs as Chicago lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS.

Fukudome was the main CF for Japan in the 2009 World Baseball Classic, usually hitting 7th. He was just 4 for 20 at the plate with 7 strikeouts but also drew 7 walks and scored four runs. He tied Carlos Delgado, Hyun-soo Kim and Akinori Iwamura for 4th in the Classic in walks. Japan went on to win the Classic. In the 2009 regular season, he played 146 games and improved his batting line slightly over the previous year, to .259/.375/.421 for a 105 OPS+. He drew an excellent 93 walks (8th in the 2009 NL between Lance Berkman and Dan Uggla) and showed decent power with 38 doubles and 11 homers. However, he was only 6 for 16 in stolen base attempts while playing mostly centerfield. In 2010, he saw his playing time fall off a bit, getting into 130 games, with 358 at-bats. He posted his highest batting average in his MLB career at .263, and slugging percentage, at .439, and his .371 OBP was only 4 points off his previous year's total. His 13 homers were a career high, but his runs scored fell from 79 in his first two seasons to only 45. He had a 114 OPS+. That year, he played right field exclusively, fielding .995. Only Andre Ethier (.996) had a higher percentage among 2010 NL right fielders.

2011 marked the last year of his contract with the Cubs, and he started the year as the regular right fielder over the first half. His batting average was .273 in 87 games, but he had hit only 3 homers when on July 28th, the Cubs traded him to the Cleveland Indians in return for two minor leaguers, P Carlton Smith and OF Abner Abreu. The Indians looked to Fukudome to pick up some of the playing time available with starting outfielders Grady Sizemore and Shin-Soo Choo both on the disabled list. He played a further 59 games for the Indians, mostly in right field, but hit only .249 and with a very poor OBP of .300. The Indians were not interested in re-signing him after the season when he became a free agent. Overall, his OPS+ was an even 100 after four MLB campaigns. He had to wait until February 14, 2012 to find a team, returning to the Windy City to play for the Chicago White Sox. A far cry from his previous contract, he was only offered $500,000 for the season, although with an option for a much more lucrative second season were he to perform up to previous standards. However, he was designated for assignment and released on June 26th after hitting .171/.294/.195 with no home runs and 4 RBI in 24 games played and 41 at-bats. He then signed a minor league contract with the Yankees but was released on September 3 after hitting .276/.440/.378 with 37 walks in 39 games with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees. Not finding any interest from major league clubs, he decided to return to Japan, signing a contract with the Hanshin Tigers in January 2013.

He hit only .198/.295/.335 in 63 games for Hanshin in '13 and it looked like he was washed-up given his performance from 2011-2013. In 2014, though, he rebounded somewhat to .253/.349/.365, a far cry from his prime. He had 180 putouts, 4 assists and no errors. In the 2014 Japan Series, he batted just .200/.267/.368 but Hanshin was shut down on offense by the Softbank Hawks pitchers for five games and he nearly led their starters in slugging as a result, .013 behind Takashi Toritani.

Fukudome then had his best season in years, batting .281/.361/.463 with 20 home runs and 76 RBI in 2015 while again playing error-free ball (226 PO, 5 A). He was back to hitting 3rd in the order and led the Tigers in dingers, 3 more than cleanup man Mauro Gomez. He was 8th in the CL in average (between Toritani and Matt Murton), 8th in OBP (between Gomez and Hayato Sakamoto), 5th in slugging (between Kazuhiro Hatakeyama and Shingo Kawabata), 4th in OPS (between Jose Lopez and Kawabata), 5th in home runs (between Yoshitomo Tsutsugo and Brad Eldred), 4th in RBI (between Tsutsugo and Lopez) and tied Sakamoto for 5th in walks (65). He made his first Best Nine in 9 years, joining Tsutsugo and Ryosuke Hirata in the outfield. He also became the oldest Gold Glove winner in NPB history, at age 38 years and 6 months. He joined Yoshihiro Maru and Yohei Oshima as the CL's Gold Glove outfielders.

The veteran kept on a roll into 2016. On June 25, he joined the meikyukai with the 2,000th hit of his pro career, singling off Akitake Okada. That also put him over .300 on the year, a mark he had not reached in a decade. He hit .311/.392/.453 that year, and he was 5th in batting (between Ryosuke Kikuchi and Tetsuto Yamada). On July 30, he hit for a cycle against the Yokohama BayStars, and he was the oldest player in NPB history to do so. Fukudome then hit .263/.373/.444 2017, and he recorded a .280/.389/.454 batting line in 2018. On May 5, 2019, he crushed a walk-off homer against Kazuki Mishima, and he was the oldest player in Central League to hit a walk-off home run, breaking Tomoaki Kanemoto's record. Fukudome ended up hitting .256/.347/.394 in 2019, but he slumped to .154/.250/.218 and he was released. He returned to the Dragons, and he played 91 games with a .218/.301/.342 batting line in 2021. He became the oldest player to hit a double on May 26 against Ryosuke Moriwaki, but he only got one hit in 24 at-bats in 2022 and he announced his retirement.

Overall, Fukudome played 2,023 games, batting .286/.379/.486 with 1,952 hits, 285 homers and 1,078 RBI in 19 seasons in NPB. He hit .258/.359/.395 with 42 homers in 5 seasons in MLB. As of 2025, he was 38th in runs (1,040, between Hideto Asamura and Hideji Kato), 61st in hits (between Aoki and Maru), 11th in doubles (409, tied with Kihachi Enomoto), 47th in triples (50, tied with Taira Fujita and Takuro Ishii), 53rd in total bases (3,316, tied with Tatsuhiko Kimata), 38th in RBI (between Kazuhiro Wada and Michiyo Arito), 18th in walks (1,009, between Norihiro Nakamura and Asamura) and 65th in batting (between Nishizawa and Fujita).

Notable Achievements[edit]

  • NL All-Star (2008)

References[edit]

External Links[edit]

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