Susumu Watanabe

Susumu Watanabe (渡辺 進)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 193 lb.

• High School Choshi Commercial High School

• Born August 25, 1952 in Choshi, Chiba Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Susumu Watanabe played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 16 years.

Watanabe was drafted by the Yakult Swallows in the 4th round of the 1970 NPB draft, and he spent his first five seasons primarily in the NPB Farm Leagues; he only got 58 at-bats combined for the big club. He hit .226/.305/.345 in 84 games in 1976, and he hit .204/.284/.351 with 8 homers in 1977. Watanabe recorded a .193/.270/.351 batting line in 1978, and he went 0-for-2 in the 1978 Nippon Series. The Swallows beat the Hankyu Braves in 7 games. He struggled in 1979 as he went 4-for-40, and he hit .253/.330/.439 in 87 games in 1980.

The Chiba native was named Yakult's starting second baseman in 1981, and he crushed 16 homers with a .267/.324/.448 batting line in 125 games. Watanabe slumped to .211/.293/.363 in 1982, and he bounced back in 1983. He blasted a career-high 19 homers with a .278/.351/.459 batting line that season, and he collected 19 doubles with a .281/.336/.399 batting line in 1984. Watanabe hit .277/.369/.401 in 1985, and he lost his spot as Katsumi Hirosawa shined in 1986. He batted .247/.360/.384 in 50 games in '86 season, and he announced his retirement after he went 1-for-24 in 1987. He later became the fielding coach for the Swallows from 1988 to 1989 and from 1992 to 1999. Watanabe was also their batting coach in 1991, and he became their bench coach from 2000 to 2005.

Overall, Watanabe hit .245/.317/.393 with 677 hits and 93 homers in 16 seasons in NPB.

Sources

• Wiki Japan