Yoichi Fukuzawa

Yoichi Fukuzawa (福澤 洋一)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 165 lbs.

• School Kyushu Sangyo University
• High School Nogata Higashi High School

• Born May 26, 1967 in Iizuka, Fukuoka Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Catcher Yoichi Fukuzawa played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 14 years.

Fukuzawa signed with the Lotte Orions after he went undrafted in the 1988 NPB draft, and he soon replaced Hidetoshi Hakamada to become Lotte's starting catcher. He hit .173/.217/.194 in 98 games in 1989, and he led the Pacific League with a .407 CS%. Fukuzawa had a .250/.297/.346 batting line in 1990, and he played 70 games with a .243/.269/.296 batting line in 1991. However, his spot was taken by Susumu Aoyagi in 1992, so he only got 32 at-bats that season. Fukuzawa never had more than 30 at-bats a season in the rest of his career, and he announced his retirement in 2003.

He later became the battery coach for the minor league team of the Chiba Lotte Marines in 2004, and he went to the Yokohama BayStars as battery coach from 2005 to 2006 and from 2009 to 2011. Fukuzawa was the minor league battery coach for the Nippon Ham Fighters from 2012 to 2013 and for the Marines from 2014 to 2016. He managed them in 2017, and he was their bench coach in 2018. Fukuzawa then became a scout, signing Rikima Ichijo, Raito Ikeda, Riku Kikuchi, Misho Nishikawa, Haru Sakai, Toshiya Satoh, Shoma Sato and Akito Takabe.

Overall, Fukuzawa hit .202/.246/.257 with 124 hits and 6 homers in 14 seasons in NPB.

Sources

• Wiki Japan