Naomichi Donoue

Naomichi Donoue (堂上 直倫)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 176 lb.
• High School Aikodai Meiden High School

• Born September 23, 1988 in Kasugai, Aichi Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Naomichi Donoue is the son of Terashi Donoue and brother of Takehiro Donoue.

Donoue was on the spring 2005 Koshien Tournament winner, hitting .480. He went deep 55 times in high school. He represented Japan in the 2005 Asia Junior Championship. The Chunichi Dragons drafted him in the first round in 2006 NPB draft. He debuted in the Central League in 2008 and struck out in his lone at-bat. He was 0 for 1 in 2009 as well. When he hit his first NPB home run, on June 27, 2010 against John Bale, he became the first brothers-father combo to all go deep in NPB history. Donoue hit .263/.331/.375 for 2010, and he went 2-for-9 in the 2010 Nippon Series the Dragons lost to the Chiba Lotte Marines in 7 games. He got five votes for the 2010 Central League Rookie of the Year Award, tying Takumi Akiyama for second behind Hisayoshi Chono.

The Aichi native struggled at the plate again in 2011 as his batting line was .209/.242/.296, and he played a career-high 116 games in 2012 with a .210/.236/.257 batting line over 182 plate appearances, often being a defensive sub at 3B late in the game, with 3B Masahiko Morino moving to 1B and 1B Tony Blanco exiting the game.. He still had many chances thanks to his solid defense, and he recorded a .171/.204/.217 batting line in 74 games in 2013. Donoue then hit .228/.256/.266 in 2014, fielding .986 at short, which he split with Anderson Hernández, but he only played 30 games with a .158/.238/.237 batting line in 2015. Donoue bounced back soon, and he crushed 6 homers with a .254/.298/.362 batting line in 2016. It was the first and only time that he qualified for the batting title. He was 10th in doubles in the Central League with 25, tied with Kosuke Fukudome and Fumiya Hojoh. He fielded .984 at short.

Donoue had a .205/.250/.272 batting line in 2017 after Yota Kyoda took his spot at short and he was part of a mix of options at third base, and he went 10-for-47 in 74 games in 2018, mainly used as a defensive replacement at third. On June 4 against Rick Vanden Hurk, Donoue crushed a pinch-hit grand slam. He and his brother Takehiro were the first pair of brothers to both hit a pinch-hit grand slam in NPB history. Donoue blasted a career-high 12 homers with a .212/.262/.446 batting line in 2019, but he then suffered from a left shoulder injury in 2020so he only went 10-for-50 in 43 games. He hit .219/.248/.333 in 5 games in 2021, and he was 5-for-18 in 2022. Donoue had a 2-for-9 record in 2023, and he announced his retirement. He then became the fielding coach for the Dragons in 2024.

Overall, Donoue hit .225/.268/.319 with 476 hits and 34 homers in 16 seasons in NPB.

Sources

• Wiki Japan