Yutaka Takagi

From BR Bullpen

Yutaka Takagi (高木 豊)

  • Bats Both, Throws Left
  • Height 5' 8", Weight 167 lb.

BR register page

Biographical Information[edit]

Yutaka Takagi was a 8-time All-Star in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Takagiwas had 115 hits in college and was second all-time in the Tokyo Metropolitan University League in that area, 18 behind all-time leader Yukio Fujinami. He made four Best Nine teams while in college. The Taiyo Whales took him in the third round of the 1980 NPB draft. Takagi debuted for Taiyo as a pinch-runner on April 9, 1981. He got his first hit 15 days later, facing Takamasa Suzuki. In 156 plate appearances over 88 games that year, the rookie hit only .220/.279/.262, an unimpressive start to his career. His first career homer came on May 3 the next year off Hiromu Matsuoka of the Yakult Swallows. For 1982, Takagi hit .260/.335/.408.

The Yamaguchi improved to .314/.390/.460 with 73 runs and 27 steals in 49 tries in 1983. He won his only Diamond Glove Award at second base and was also chosen for his first Central League All-Star team; he was 0-for-1 in the 1983 NPB All-Star Games. He tied for the CL lead with five triples, and he finished 6th in batting average (between Kenichi Yazawa and Kazunori Shinozuka), 7th in hits (tied with Koji Yamamoto) and 3rd in steals (behind Tadashi Matsumoto and Yoshihiko Takahashi). In 1984, Takagi hit .300/.393/.438 with 76 runs and 66 walks. He stole 56 bases but was gunned down running 28 times, tying a CL record for times caught stealing. He also led the loop in swipes, and he was 4th in walks (between Tatsunori Hara and Leon Lee).

Yutaka's batting line in 1985 was .318/.416/.473 for his best career OPS. He was MVP in the 1985 NPB All-Star Game 1 thanks to a 2-run single against Hiroshi Tsuno, but he was 0-for-5 in the rest of the series. For the year, he had 105 runs, 33 doubles, 77 walks to 50 strikeouts and 42 steals in 62 tries. Takagi tied for the CL lead with 5 triples and led the loop in times caught stealing. He was 6th in the CL in average (between Akinobu Mayumi and Toru Sugiura), 2nd in doubles (1 behind Cromartie), 2nd in runs (3 behind Mayumi) and 4th in steals (between Hirokazu Kato and Ryuzo Yamasaki). He was named to his first Best Nine as a pro, picked as the top shortstop in the CL. The competition was fierce as Masaru Uno hit 41 homers, a record for a CL shortstop. In 1985, Takagi hit leadoff in front of Kato and Kaname Yashiki for the first time as part of a speedy attack. They became known as the "Go-kart offense" for their baserunning.

Takagi hit .310/.375/.417 in 1986 with 37 doubles and 24 steals in 40 tries. He finished 6th in the CL in average between Sadaaki Yoshimura and Mayumi; he was second among Japanese natives in a gaijin-heavy leaderboard which had Randy Bass, Cromartie, Carlos Ponce and Leon Lee in addition to Yoshimua ahead of Takagi. Takagi led the CL in two-baggers, and he was 9th in hits (between Ken Hirano and Shinozuka) and 5th in steals (tied with Kiyoyuki Nagashima) He also made his fourth straight All-Star team, and he was 3-for-5 in the 1986 NPB All-Star Game with a 2-run dinger off Yoshiaki Ishimoto in Game 1.

The Chuo alumnus fell to .291/.337/.428 in 1987, scoring 75 runs. He set a CL record by fielding .997 at second base and he tied for the CL lead with five triples. He somehow lost out the Diamond Glove to Kozo Shoda, probably because of Shoda's elite performance at the plate. He was 3rd in hits (between Yashiki and Bass), 5th in doubles (tied with Akinobu Okada) and 4th in steals (tied with Yamasaki). Takagi hit .300/.385/.416 with 29 steals in 43 tries for the 1988 Whales. Takagi was selected into the 1988 NPB All-Star Game, and he had a 1-for-5 record. He led the CL in times caught stealing, and he was 5th in the loop in average (between Norihiro Komada and Hara) and 3rd in steals (between Yoshihiko Takahashi and Hisashi Ono).

In 1989, the 31-year-old produced at a .278/.360/.374 rate and stole 32 bases while being gunned down running 17 times. He tied a NPB record by being thrown out three times on October 15. He ranked 8th in hits (tied with Okada), 6th in doubles (between Toshio Choshi and Shinozuka) and 2nd in steals (tied with Kenji Tomashino, 2 behind Shoda). He rebounded in 1990 to bat .323/.408/.463. He was second in the CL in average, .003 behind leader Jim Paciorek. He had a better OBP than any of the other players who made the top 10 in average but was still .008 behind league leader Hiromitsu Ochiai. Takagi made his second Best Nine in the CL, this time at second base; he also was picked as an All-Star; he was 0-for-1 in the 1990 NPB All-Star Games.

Takagi remained productive in 1991, hitting .333/.427/.427 with 30 doubles, 76 walks and 81 runs for Taiyo. He stole 24 bases and was thrown out 14 times, most in the CL. He made his 7th All-Star team, and he was 1-for-4 in the 1991 NPB All-Star Game with a RBI double against Masaharu Motohara in Game 1. He was 6 runs behind leader Kazuyoshi Tatsunami, was third in average behind Atsuya Furuta and Ochiai and was behind both Ochiai and Furuta in OBP as well. He again made the Best Nine at second base. In 1992, Takagi hit .300/.394/.402 with 32 doubles, 81 walks, 76 runs and 24 steals in 36 tries. He led the league with 7 sacrifice flies and was 10th in average (between Kazuyoshi Tatsunami and Tetsuya Iida). He was one double behind leader Paciorek and 9 steals behind leader Iida, and he ranked 7th in hits (tied with Larry Sheets and Furuta). He made his 8th and final All-Star team, and he was 0-for-4 in the 1992 NPB All-Star Games.

The veteran infielder hit .268/.344/.429 in 1993, finally showing some age. The club led him go after his 13 years of fine play. He retired as the all-time Taiyo/Yokohama BayStars leader in walks+times hit by pitch with 757. Takagi signed with the Nippon Ham Fighters for 1994. In 65 games as the #4 outfielder for them, he batted .249/.347/.290 and he announced his retirement. He later was an announcer for Fuji television. He was also the batting coach of the BayStars in 2001, and he was their bench coach from 2012 to 2013. He coached for the Japanese national team in the 2003 Asian Championship and 2004 Olympics.

In 1,628 games in NPB, Takagi had hit .297/.378/.411 with 877 runs, 316 doubles, 747 walks and 321 steals in 499 tries. Through 2025, he was 32nd in NPB history in average (between Kenjiro Tamiya and Yoshio Itoi), 84th in runs (between Shosei Go and Fumio Fujimura), 97th in hits, 71st in doubles (between Ryosuke Kikuchi and Hiromichi Ishige), 93rd in triples and 25th in stolen bases (between Yashiki and Yasuyuki Kataoka).

Source[edit]

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