| Hiroki Kokubo | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – No. 90 | |||||||||||||||
| First baseman /Third baseman /Manager | |||||||||||||||
| Born: (1971-10-08)October 8, 1971 (age 54) Wakayama, Japan | |||||||||||||||
Batted: Right-handed Threw: Right | |||||||||||||||
| NPB debut | |||||||||||||||
| April 9, 1994, for the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks | |||||||||||||||
| Last NPB appearance | |||||||||||||||
| October 8, 2012, for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | |||||||||||||||
| NPB statistics | |||||||||||||||
| Batting average | .273 | ||||||||||||||
| Hits | 2,041 | ||||||||||||||
| Home runs | 413 | ||||||||||||||
| Runs batted in | 1,304 | ||||||||||||||
| Teams | |||||||||||||||
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| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||
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Medals
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Hiroki Kokubo (小久保 裕紀,Kokubo Hiroki; born October 8, 1971) is a Japanese former professionalbaseballinfielder, and current manager for theFukuoka SoftBank Hawks ofNippon Professional Baseball (NPB).[1] He played in NPB for the Hawks andYomiuri Giants, and had 2,000 hits.[2]
Kokubo went on toAoyama Gakuin University, where he became captain and helped his team win its first1993 Japan National Collegiate Baseball Championship in his senior year.[3]
Kokubo was selected by theFukuoka Daiei Hawks in the second round of the1993 Nippon Professional Baseball draft under the system for expressing a team of choice.[4]
He debuted in thePacific League in his rookie season of 1994, playing in 78 games.
Kokubo was one of Japan's leading power hitters during the 1990s and early 2000s. He hit over 40 home runs in 2001 and 2004 but only led the league in the category once (1995), with only 28 home runs. He also led the league in RBIs in 1997. However, he played in just 17 games in 1998, which saw him marred by a tax evasion scandal that had broken out in late 1997 where he was indicted on charges of evading at least $215,000 on his income tax in 1994 by falsely recording expenses on receipts; he pled guilty to the charge.[5][6] He suffered a knee injury in spring training that knocked him out for the entire 2003 season.[7] He was suddenly given away to theYomiuri Giants in November of that year despite being the team's cleanup hitter. Kokubo was seemingly given away for free, since the Giants did not give a player to the Hawks in exchange. The motives behind this transaction remain a mystery.[8] The Hawks replaced him during his injuries with foreignerJulio Zuleta.
He played with the Yomiuri Giants for three years before signing with his former team (now the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks) during the 2006 off-season as a free agent.[9]
In 2011, as team captain, he helped lead the Hawks to victory in theJapan Series, winning theMost Valuable Player Award.[10]
On June 24, 2012, Kokubo recorded his 2,000th career hit, becoming the 41st Japanese professional baseball player to reach the milestone.[2] On August 14 he announced his intention to retire at the end of the 2012 season.[11] His retirement ceremony was held on October 8, after the last regular-season match against theOrix Buffaloes, which SoftBank lost after beingno-hit.[12]
After his retirement, He worked forNHK as a baseball broadcast commentator.
On December 3, 2020, Kokubo became the head coach of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.[13]
He had been the second squad manager until the 2023 season, when he was set to replaceHiroshi Fujimoto as the manager of the first team in 2024, after Fujimoto announced he was going to step down as manager.[1]
He won a bronze medal in the1992 Summer Olympics before entering the Japanese professional leagues.[14]
In October 2013, Kokubo was named the manager of theJapan national baseball team.[15] He led the team to a third place finish at the2017 World Baseball Classic.
