Kosuke Fukudome

Name (Japanese): 福留 孝介

Career Stats:

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Brief Biography:

Kosuke Fukudome is a native of Kagoshima (south Japan), but attended the prestigious (and now defunct) PL Gakuen High School. Instead of turning pro straight out of high school (he really wanted to play only for Chunichi or Yomiuri, but the Kintetsu Buffaloes chose him in 1997), he played industrial league ball for a season before being named top pick in the 1998 draft by the Chunichi Dragons.

Injury became a big story again at the start of the 2014 season, when he and second baseman Tsuyoshi Nishioka collided while chasing a shallow fly ball at Tokyo Dome on March 30 (the third game of the season). Fortunately for Fukudome, the accident did not cost him any playing time (he left the game early but not immediately after the collision), although it all but ruined Nishioka’s season. Whether because of injury or just an unrelated slump, he went a whole month without hitting an extra-base hit (from April 30 until he was deactivated on June 10). For the first time in his NPB career, he found himself losing playing time to his teammates for reasons other than injury. Upon his return from the farm on June 26, he began to show signs of his old (young) self. On July 10, he established an NPB record for most career 12th inning walk-off home runs (3), as he took Scott Mathieson (Giants) to deep right, off the foul pole. He hit singled to earn the team a walk-off victory on the 90th anniversary of Koshien Stadium’s opening, too. Then in the first round of the playoffs, he scored the only run (in two games!) by taking a Kenta Maeda (Hiroshima) offering deep to center. While still not up to the fans’ expectations, his second half of 2014 indicated that better times were ahead.

At long last, the Kosuke Fukudome that Hanshin was hoping for showed up in 2015. Home runs were more frequent, and on May 27 & 28, he had back-to-back walk-off RBIs (11th inning home run and 11th inning bases-loaded walk, respectively), the latter of which gave the Hanshin organization its 5000th regular-season victory.  He continued his hot play in June, reaching double digits in home runs before the all-star break. On September 25, he reached 20 home runs, and led the team in round-trippers and RBIs (76) on the season. He also won a Golden Glove in right field (committing no errors) and was named to the All-Central League team at season’s end. His solo home run in Game 3 of the Climax Series was unfortunately not enough to help Hanshin stave off elimination against the Giants.

With expectations high in 2016, Fukudome reached many milestones while leading the team in hitting most of the way. On June 20, he became the 121st player in NPB history to reach 1500 career hits, and 5 days later (in Hiroshima), got his 2000th career hit (including 498 in MLB). Then on July 30th (vs. Chunichi @ Koshien), he became the oldest player (39 years, 3 months) in NPB history to hit for the cycle. He became just the 4th player in NPB history (including Tigers legend Fumio Fujimura) to accomplish the feat twice. He finished the season with the fifth-best average in the Central League (.311) and was named team captain in the offseason, taking over for the slumping Takashi Toritani.

The 2017 season was a solid one for the 40-year old. He started the year by hitting the team’s first home run on Opening Day, helping the Tigers defeat the defending champion Hiroshima Carp. He continued to play well while hitting fourth, but fell into a major slump during interleague play. Ultimately, he was moved to left field, and upon getting used to the new position, started to hit well once again. He even hit his first-ever home run at Nagoya Dome (his old home ballpark) as a member of the Tigers, a game-winner on July 29. He even helped Hanshin replicate Game 1 of their Climax Series in 2014, when he hit a solo home run in the sixth inning of Game 1 against the BayStars. It held up to be the winning run, just as it did in 2014. He finished the season with 79 RBIs to lead the team in that category.

Though age started catching up with Fukudome in 2018, he still managed to play in an impressive 123 games in his age-41 season. He even spent some time hitting in the #4 spot when Wilin Rosario slumped. On June 14, he became the 33rd player in NPB history to record a home run against all 12 NPB teams. He also became the 57th player ever to hit for 3000 total bases with a single against the Chunichi Dragons on July 3. 

In 2019, Fukudome was given considerably more time off, but still played in over 100 games. Though no longer the team captain, Fukudome was still a strong clubhouse presence and contributor on the field. In fact, he reached 1000 career NPB RBIs on April 6, then less than a month later, he hit the 50,000th home run in Central League history, which also ended up being the first walk-off home run of the Reiwa Era (May 5 vs. Yokohama). He continued to pile up career milestones, becoming the third Japanese player to hit 500 doubles (NPB + MLB combined), reached the 1000 career NPB runs plateau, and at season’s end, became the oldest active professional player in Japan.

Unfortunately for Fukudome, 2020 was not a strong year and his playing time decreased dramatically. His lone bright spot came on July 16 against the Swallows at Koshien, when he hit a sixth-inning double to tie the score, then an eighth-inning home run (the only one he hit all year) to give the team the win. In late September, it was discovered that he was part of a player meal involving several others, which broke the team’s coronavirus protocol. As the oldest player involved, Fukudome was assumed to be at least partly responsible for the meeting itself. All players at the meal, including Fukudome and others who tested negative, were removed from the active roster for a period of isolation. Fukudome never returned to the top squad, and was told in early October that he would not be employed by the team beyond the end of the year. On December 12, the Chunichi Dragons announced that they had reached a deal with Fukudome for the 2021 season.

Fukudome played out the rest of his career with the Dragons, though as age caught up to him and his role diminished significantly, he decided to retire at the end of the 2022 season. He spent the 2023 season doing commentary on TV broadcasts of Dragons and Tigers games.