Ryuma Kidokoro

Ryuma Kidokoro (城所 龍磨)

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 163 lb.

• High School Chukyo High School

• Born September 24, 1985 in Toyokawa, Aichi Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Ryuma Kidokoro played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 14 years.

Kidokoro was drafted by the Daiei Hawks in the 2nd round of the 2003 NPB draft, and he spent his first two seasons primarily in the NPB Farm Leagues; he only played a game with the big club. He hit .232/.284/.362 in 36 games in 2006, but he only went 4-for-36 in 2007. Kidokoro struggled again in 2008 as his batting line was .089/.136/.125, then he played 91 games with a .150/.171/.250 batting line in 2009. He was often used as a pinch-runner or outfield defensive replacement, so he only got 40 at-bats. Kidokoro then hit .200/.275/.343 with a career-high 12 steals in 2010.

The Toyokawa native had a .214/.267/.286 batting line in 108 games (30 plate appearances) in 2011, then was 0 for 1 in four games in the 2011 Japan Series as SoftBank beat the Chunichi Dragons for their first title. He went 2-for-12 with 10 steals in 73 games in 2012. He only got 6 at-bats in 2013, and he was 2-for-8 in 81 games in 2014. Kidokoro missed most of the 2015 season due to shoulder injury, and he recorded a .264/.314/.439 batting line with 6 homers in 2016. That was his first season with more than 100 at-bats in a year. He also hit .415 with 5 homers in interleague play, and he won the MVP. Kidokoro only played 2 games for the big club in the 2017 regular action, but he appeared in 5 of 7 games in the 2017 Nippon Series. He was mainly used as a defensive replacement, and he didn't get a hit in his three at-bats. The Hawks beat the Yokohama BayStars in 6 games. While it was their 4th Series of the decade, he had only appeared in two of them. Kidokoro hit .167/.200/.333 in 41 games in 2018, and he announced his retirement. He became the minor league fielding coach of the Hawks in 2022.

Overall, Kidokoro hit .196/.243/.318 with 91 hits and 8 homers in 14 seasons in NPB. He had 511 plate appearances spread over 716 games and was 65-for-83 in steal attempts.

Sources

• Wiki Japan