Richard Sunagawa

Richard Makoto Sunagawa-O'Brien (砂川 リチャード)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 249 lbs.

• High School Okinawa Shogaku High School

• Born June 18, 1999 in Nakagami-gun, Okinawa Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Richard Sunagawa has played in Nippon Pro Baseball. His brother Joey O'Brien is a former minor league player.

Sunagawa was drafted by the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks in the 3rd round of the development player phase in the 2018 NPB draft; the scout was Ryutaro Fukuyama. He spent his first two seasons in the NPB Farm Leagues, and he crushed 12 homers with a .229/.283/.426 batting line there in 2020. Sunagawa led the Western League in homers and RBI, beating out Kota Hayashi and Kota Inoue by 3 in homers and Hayashi by 7 in RBI. He then blasted 12 homers with a .226/.299/.413 batting line in 2021 and he led the minors in homers again, edging out Asian home run record king Wladimir Balentien and Yuya Shozui by one. Sunagawa also played 34 games with a .181/.233/.419 batting line for the big club, and he crushed 7 homers.

The Okinawa native extended his dominance in the minors in 2022, and he blasted 29 homers with a .232/.348/.562 batting line and 84 RBI. He broke Kenji Johjima's NPB minor league record for most homers in a season, and he also led the league in RBI (14 ahead of Inoue). However, Richard struggled in the major league, and he went 10-for-63 with 3 homers. He also hit .098/.229/.098 in 15 games for the Gigantes de Carolina in the winter. Sunagawa led the minors with homers again in 2023 as he crushed 19 homers with a .225/.364/.521 batting line, and he became the first player to lead the minor league in homers for 4 consecutive years (topping Inoue by 8). He still couldn't convert his solid performance in the big club, and he played 22 games with a 7-for-61 record that season.

Sunagawa blasted 18 homers with a .242/.347/.528 batting line in the minors in 2024, and he led the league in homers for the 5th time (more than double the 8 by runners-up Shosei Nakamura, Inoue and Dayán Viciedo) and led in RBI for 4th time (tied with Yoshiyasu Sasagawa). He only played 15 games with the big club, and he was 7-for-31. Richard hit .245/.327/.510 in 14 games for Softbank in 2025, and he was traded to the Yomiuri Giants for Ryusei Ohe and Yuto Akihiro. He finally got some chances in the new team, and he crushed 11 homers with a .211/.269/.384 batting line. He was the first Japanese player in the 21st century to hit double-digit homers after being traded to a new team in the middle of the season.

Related Sites

• Wiki Japan