So Taguchi

So Taguchi (田口 壮)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 170 lb.

• School Kwansei Gakuin University
• High School Nishinomiya Kita High School

• Debut June 10, 2002
• Final Game October 4, 2009
• Born July 2, 1969 in Nishinomiya, Hyogo, Japan

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Biographical Information

So Taguchi played in the Major League and Nippon Pro Baseball combined for 20 years.

Taguchi was drafted by the Orix Blue Wave in the first round of the 1992 NPB draft. He quickly soared reaching Orix in 1992, batting .268 with 1 HR and 46 RBI in 47 games. Though, his playing time decreased to 31 games in 1993 and he batted only .266 (23-90) with 0 HR's and 5 RBI. He suffered from Yips, and he was moved to outfield. In 1994, Taguchi's career began to take full force, he bat .307 with 6 HR's and 43 RBI in 108 games. That next year in 1995, even though Taguchi struggled offense wise batting .246/.308/.358 with 9 HR's and 61 RBI. He won his first Gold Glove, and he was named to his first All Star team; he was 0-for-2 in the 1995 NPB All-Star Game. He was 2nd in runs (76, tied with Yukio Tanaka), 10th in hits (122, between Koji Akiyama and Tetsuro Hirose) and 8th in doubles (24).

The Hyogo native went onto improve in 1996, batting .279/.321/.371 with 7 HRs and 44 RBI. He was 5-for-21 in the 1996 Nippon Series, and he helped Orix beat the Yomiuri Giants in 5 games. He got his second Gold Glove, and won his only Best Nine award. He attended the 1996 NPB All-Star Game, and he went 2-for-3 with a 2-run single against Futoshi Yamabe in Game 2. He was 4th in runs (74, between Troy Neel and Tanaka), 7th in doubles (24, tied with Ichiro Suzuki, Neel and Noriyoshi Omichi) and 4th in hits (tied with Tanaka). Taguchi blossomed in 1997, having his career year, batting .294/.351/.416 with 10 HR's and 56 RBI. He was 2nd in runs (2 behind Ichiro), 4th in hits (between Phil Clark and Hiroki Kokubo), 4th in doubles (between Ken Suzuki and Ichiro) and 8th in triples (4). He was also voted into the 1997 NPB All-Star Game, and he was hitless in 2 at-bats. He also won his 3rd straight Gold Glove award.

Taguchi fell to .272/.338/.386 with 9 HR's and 41 RBI in 1998, and he was 3rd in runs (between Atsushi Kataoka and Katsuhiro Nishiura) and 10th in doubles (between Taisei Takagi, Neel and Kataoka). His numbers continued to slump in 1999 to .269/.308/.365 with 9 HR's and 56 RBI, and he ranked 8th in runs (between Tanaka and Clark) and 7th in hits (tied with Ichiro). Taguchi had a rebound in 2000 with a .279/.353/.389 and 8 HR's and 49 RBI, and he was 10th in runs (tied with Frank Bolick), 9th in hits (between Tuffy Rhodes and Toshihiro Noguchi) and 7th in doubles (tied with Yoshitomo Tani, Nobuhiko Matsunaka, Kokubo and Norihiro Nakamura). He was named to the Japanese national team for the 2000 Olympics. Taguchi won his fourth Gold Glove. In his final season, he batted .280/.343/.406 with 8 HR's and 42 RBI in 2001. He won his 5th Gold Glove, and he attended the 2001 NPB All-Star Game; he was 4-for-8 with a 2-run shot against Shugo Fujii in Game 2. He tied Arihito Muramatsu for 3rd in triples with 6.

Following the 2001 season, Taguchi announced he would go the majors after qualifying for free agency. On January 9, 2002, Taguchi signed a three year contract with the St. Louis Cardinals. His customary #6 was retired by the Cardinals, as was his second choice #9, so he decided to wear #99. Taguchi spent most of the 2002 season playing with AA New Haven Ravens batting .308/.375/.430 with 1 HR and 15 RBI and batting .247/.286/.352 with 5 HR's and 32 RBI with the AAA Memphis Redbirds. Though, he earned a callup to the Cardinals, batting .400(6-15) with 0 HR and 2 RBI. Again in 2003, Taguchi spent most of the season with Memphis, batting .256/.318/.326 with 2 HR's and 24 RBI. This time, Taguchi earned more time with the Cardinals batting .259(14-54) with 3 HR's and 13 RBI. Taguchi would go on to stick as a useful fourth outfielder on the Cardinals team in 2004 that went to the World Series, batting .291 with 3 HR's and 25 RBI in 109 games. He also went 1-4(.250) with 0 HR's and a RBI in the World Series against the Boston Red Sox. The 2005 season saw Taguchi blossom as he saw record time, batting .288/.322/.412 with 8 HR's and 53 RBI in 143 games and 396 at bats. Taguchi carried on as a fourth outfielder in 2006 and 2007. Taguchi came up clutch in game 2 of the 2006 NLCS by hitting the go-ahead run in the form of a solo shot surrendered by New York Mets closer Billy Wagner, bringing the score to 7-6. The St. Louis Cardinals would go on to win the game 9-6 on their way to the 2006 World Series. So Taguchi would go on to win another ring with the 2008 Phillies. So's MLB career would come to a close as a September call-up with the 2009 Chicago Cubs, lining out in his final at-bat.

Following his time in MLB, So returned to Japan and signed with the Orix Buffaloes. He hit .261/.302/.387 in 53 games in 2010, and he recorded a .273/.333/.323 batting line in 62 games in 2011. Taguchi announced his retirement after that season, and he managed Orix's minor team from 2016 to 2018. He then became their batting coach from 2019 to 2020, and he was their fielding coach from 2021 to 2024.

Overall, Taguchi hit .276/.332/.384 with 1,219 hits and 70 homers in 12 seasons in NPB. He had a .279/.332/.385 batting line with 382 hits in the Major League.

Notable Achievements

• Won two World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals (2006) and the Philadelphia Phillies (2008; he did not play in the World Series)

Sources

• Wiki Japan
• Japan Baseball Daily
• Japanese Baseball
• CBS Sportline