Yasutomo Suzuki

Yasutomo Suzuki (鈴木 康友)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 173 lb.

• High School Tenri High School

• Born July 6, 1959 in Gojo, Nara Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Yasutomo Suzuki played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 13 years.

Suzuki was drafted by the Yomiuri Giants in the 5th round of the 1977 NPB draft, but he spent his first five seasons primarily in the NPB Farm Leagues; he only got 77 at-bats combined for the top team. Suzuki hit .275/.339/.396 in 77 games in 1983, but he slumped to .190/.261/.325 in 1984 and the Giants traded him to the Seibu Lions for Junki Kono. Suzuki was 4-for-14 in 1985, and he was sent to the Chunichi Dragons for Norio Ichimura. The Dragons named him their starting third baseman in 1986, and he recorded a .234/.277/.372 batting line while leading the Central League with 35 sacrifice bunts.

When Hiromitsu Ochiai joined the team in 1987, Suzuki lost his spot and he slumped to .186/.231/.247 in 79 games. He was 6-for-26 in 1988, and he recorded a .220/.266/.260 batting line in 80 games in 1989. The Dragons traded him back to the Lions for Terufumi Kitamura, and he hit .217/.301/.301 in 1990. Suzuki went 4-for-19 in 1991, and he was 2-for-3 in the 1991 Nippon Series with a game-winning 2-run single against Kazuhisa Kawaguchi in Game 6 to help the Lions beat the Hiroshima Carp in 7 games. Suzuki went 8-for-23 in 1992, and he announced his retirement.

Suzuki was the fielding coach for the Lions from 1993 to 2000 and for the Giants from 2002 to 2003. Suzuki went to the Orix BlueWave as fielding coach in 2004, and he managed the independent Toyama GRN Thunderbirds from 2007 to 2009. Suzuki returned to the Lions as fielding coach in 2010, and he was the fielding coach for the Rakuten Golden Eagles from 2012 to 2014. He also served as minor league fielding coach for the Softbank Hawks from 2015 to 2016, and he coached the Tokushima Indigo Socks in 2017.

Overall, Suzuki hit .226/.284/.341 with 244 hits and 24 homers in 13 seasons in NPB.

Sources

• Wiki Japan