Shinya Tsuruoka

Shinya Tsuruoka (鶴岡 慎也)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 9", Weight 170 lb.

• High School Shonan High School

• Born April 11, 1981 in Kimotsuki-gun, Kagoshima Japan

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Shinya Tsuruoka caught in Nippon Pro Baseball for 17 years.

Tsuruoka played for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Yokohama in the industrial leagues after high school, and the Nippon Ham Fighters selected him in the 8th round of the 2002 NPB draft. He spent his first two seasons in the NPB Farm Leagues, and he was MVP of the minor league All-Star game in Japan in 2005 thanks to a game-winning homer off Shoji Nagamine. He debuted with the later that year, going 1 for 8. His first hit came off Josh Stewart. He hit .241/.251/.340 in 76 games in 2006 while splitting catching duties with Shinji Takahashi. Tsuruoka went 0 for 6 in the 2006 Japan Series.

The Kagoshima native hit .203/.230/.233 in 57 contests in 2007 and was 0 for 8 in the 2007 Japan Series. He saw an increased role in 2008 as Takahashi began playing more at 1B and DH, but he remained a weak offensive threat at .210/.247/.248 with 41 runs produced in 97 contests. Tsuruoka became the starter in 2009 as Takahashi moved to first base even more; youngster Shota Ono was inserted as the backup. He hit .221/.279/.293 but won Pacific League Gold Glove honors at catcher, his .997 fielding percentage leading the league.

Tsuruoka played 105 games with a .236/.248/.319 batting line in 2010, but he was plunked on his face in 2011 and he missed several games; he had a .238/.253/.314 batting line in 76 games. Tsuroka came back in 2012, and he had his career year. He recorded a .266/.302/.308 batting line in 116 games, and he won his only Best Nine award and the Most Valuable Battery Award (with Mitsuo Yoshikawa). He was selected into the 2012 NPB All-Star Game, and he was 0-for-2 in 3 games. He went 1-for-8 in the 2012 Nippon Series, and the Fighters lost to the Yomiuri Giants. Tsuruoka was voted into the 2013 NPB All-Star Game, and he got a single versus Hirokazu Sawamura in his only at-bat in Game 1. He ended up hitting .295/.342/.357 in 114 games, and he announced that he would become a free agent.

The Softbank Hawks signed him, and Tsuruoka slumped to .216/.243/.278 in 98 games in 2014. He struggled again at the plate in 2015, and he played 56 games with a .195/.234/.258 batting line as the backup catcher for Hiroaki Takaya. Tsuruoka then hit .251/.284/.346 and fielded a league-best .998 in 103 games in 2016, but he only played 29 games with a 9-for-28 record in 2017 as Takuya Kai shined and took his spot. He broke Haruhiro Hamaguchi's no-hitter in the 2017 Nippon Series Game 4 in the 8th inning, and that was his only plate appearance in the entire series. The Hawks topped the Yokohama BayStars in 6 games.

Tsuruoka became a free agent, and he returned to the Fighters. He recorded a .243/.293/.305 batting line in 101 games in 2018, and he hit .177/.215/.258 in 35 games in 2019. He became a player-coach that season. Tsuruoka was 5-for-17 in 2020, and he went 5-for-19 in 2021. That was his last season as a professional player. Tsuruoka then became a broadcaster for Hokkaido Broadcasting. He was also the bullpen catcher for the Japan national baseball team in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

Overall, Tsuruoka hit .238/.272/.309 with 646 hits and 20 homers in 17 seasons in NPB. He had fielded .996 and thrown out 26.3%.

Source

• Wiki Japan
• Japanbaseballdaily.com