Japanese-Born MLB Home Run Leaders

[Centerfield]

Kaz Sasaki is your all time JBMLB leader in saves. Number 2 on that list is pretty pissed off you haven't named him yet. Yusei Kikuchi made the most famous sushi reservation in MLB history last winter when twitter decided his party meant Ohtani was going to the Jays.



Here's Kikuchi showing up to dinner wondering why reporters were storming his cousin's birthday party.

https://ftw.usatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/90/2023/09/USATSI_21335494.jpg?w=1000&h=600&crop=1>





1. Shogo Akiyama

2. Nori Aoki

3.

4.

5. Steve Chitren

6. Yu Darvish

7. Bobby Fenwick

8.

9. Shintaro Fujinami

10. Kosuke Fukudome

11.

12. Shigetoshi Hasegawa

13.

14.

15. Ryota Igarashi

16.

17. Tadahito Iguchi

18.

19. Hideki Irabu

20. Kazuhisa Ishii

21. Hisashi Iwakuma

22.

23. Kenji Johjima

24. Takashi Kashiwada

25.

26.

27. Masao Kida

28. Yusei Kikuchi

29.

30. Satoru Komiyama

31. Hiroki Kuroda

32.

33. Jung Hoon Lee

34. Kenta Maeta

35.

36. Hideki Matsui

37. Kazuo Matsui

38.

39. Daisuke Matsuzaka

40.

41.

42. Masanori Murakami

43.

44.

45. Norihiro Nakamura

46.

47. Hideo Nomo

48.

49. Tomo Ohka

50. Shohei Ohtani

51. Hideki Okajima

52. Akinori Otsuka

53.

54. Dave Roberts

55. Takashi Saito

56. Kazuhiro Sasaki

57.

58. Kodai Senga

59. Tsuyoshi Shinjo

60. Ichiro Suzuki

61. Mac Suzuki

62. Seiya Suzuki

63. Kazuhito Tadano

64. So Taguchi

65. Hisanori Takahashi

66. Ken Takahashi

67. Shingo Takatsu

68.

69. Masahiro Tanaka

70.

71.

72.

73.

74.

75.

76. Yasuhiko Yabuta

77.

78. Yoshinobu Yamamoto

79.

80. Masato Yoshii

[Centerfield]

32 Answers left. Without the list I'd know maybe 4-5 of them.



A couple of easier ones still left, including some current players. The number 2 saves leader all time for JBMLB. Another is a former Yankee.

[Cowtipper]

Kei Igawa's the Yankee, I've been holding off on him. I have a handful more in my reservoir, but the ranks are thinning. There's a few more after that I remember the first or last name of, or can describe, at least.



One I'm having trouble with is a big name that is at the tip of my tongue. He played for the Red Sox, Orioles and I think he finished his career with the Cubs. A reliever, had some low-ERA seasons. I wanna say he played like 49 games his final year. I know all that but I can't even remember his name.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Did anyone guess the reliever for the Red Sox and Orioles whose name I can't remember?

[Cowtipper]

^^ that's who I'm trying to figure out!! I keep thinking Hideki Okajima, who was a Red Sox reliever, but that's not it.

[Edgy MD]

I'm at the point where I'm close to typing names of people that don't exist, but kind of sound like that guy from that team.



The worst is when I spend twenty minutes on ... that Expos pitcher ... you know the one ... he mostly started ... and he kind of stood out because the Expos disappeared before Japanese players became more ubiquitous ... and it was a less polysyllabic name ... Oh something ... but that can't be right ... Oh is more of a Chinese name ... but it kind of sounded like that ... or kind of like a Japanese emperor or famous general ... maybe like Tojo? ... AND I'M THINKING OF TOMO OHKA!!



And then after all that ... I find out he's already been named. Frus-ter-a-ting.

[Cowtipper]

Can we just dump all the rest we can think of? Or are we still doing the 1 per post rule?

[Fman99]

Mac Suzuki

[Centerfield]

=Cowtipper post_id=153149 time=1713887594 user_id=166]
Can we just dump all the rest we can think of? Or are we still doing the 1 per post rule?

[Centerfield]

https://dims.apnews.com/dims4/default/8b07dc3/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4067x2714+0+0/resize/599x400!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.apnews.com%2Fd6%2Faa%2Fd8f5224aac8d416d0c1a2848da04%2F2ad483f9c2d24e7288b4aa6cf4977dd2>



Trouble transitioning from Japan? Maybe for losers. I'm 3-0 with 0.84 ERA. But still you name that other guy first.

[MFS62]

Craig House



Later

[Cowtipper]

There was another big guy signed this year by the Padres I think. Very good reliever in Japan.



Anyway, Kenshin Kawakami, Micheal Nakamura, Akinori Iwamura, Munanori Kawasaki. There was a Masahide, but I don't recall the last name.



Wanna say there was a Rangers pitcher that we're missing, too, from the past few years. He was older.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Uehara!



don' recall his first name

[Cowtipper]

Koji!

[Centerfield]

Koji Uehara, former All-Star, is number 2 on the all time saves list for JBMLB.



1. Shogo Akiyama

2. Nori Aoki

3.

4.

5. Steve Chitren

6. Yu Darvish

7. Bobby Fenwick

8.

9. Shintaro Fujinami

10. Kosuke Fukudome

11.

12. Shigetoshi Hasegawa

13.

14. Craig House

15. Ryota Igarashi

16. Kei Igawa

17. Tadahito Iguchi

18.

19. Hideki Irabu

20. Kazuhisa Ishii

21. Hisashi Iwakuma

22. Akinori Iwamura

23. Kenji Johjima

24. Takashi Kashiwada

25. Kenshin Kawakami

26. Munenori Kawasaki

27. Masao Kida

28. Yusei Kikuchi

29.

30. Satoru Komiyama

31. Hiroki Kuroda

32.

33. Jung Hoon Lee

34. Kenta Maeta

35.

36. Hideki Matsui

37. Kazuo Matsui

38.

39. Daisuke Matsuzaka

40.

41.

42. Masanori Murakami

43.

44. Micheal Nakamura

45. Norihiro Nakamura

46.

47. Hideo Nomo

48.

49. Tomo Ohka

50. Shohei Ohtani

51. Hideki Okajima

52. Akinori Otsuka

53.

54. Dave Roberts

55. Takashi Saito

56. Kazuhiro Sasaki

57.

58. Kodai Senga

59. Tsuyoshi Shinjo

60. Ichiro Suzuki

61. Mac Suzuki

62. Seiya Suzuki

63. Kazuhito Tadano

64. So Taguchi

65. Hisanori Takahashi

66. Ken Takahashi

67. Shingo Takatsu

68.

69. Masahiro Tanaka

70.

71.

72.

73. Koji Uehara

74.

75.

76. Yasuhiko Yabuta

77.

78. Yoshinobu Yamamoto

79.

80. Masato Yoshii

[Centerfield]

25 JBMLB players left. You guys have already named a lot more than I would have ever gotten.



You're still missing this guy. He's the one guy left I thought would have been named by now.



https://dims.apnews.com/dims4/default/8b07dc3/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4067x2714+0+0/resize/599x400!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.apnews.com%2Fd6%2Faa%2Fd8f5224aac8d416d0c1a2848da04%2F2ad483f9c2d24e7288b4aa6cf4977dd2>



He's one of two active players left. The other guy finished 6th in ROTY voting last year.

[Centerfield]

A couple of clues.



4 western names remain.



There is a Masahide.



There's also this guy. Pitched 9 years on the bigs. Third all time in appearances for JBMLB. A little hurt we've forgotten him.



https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/licensed-image?q=tbn:ANd9GcRD2kkTZ4hFD5a-VKG0MXQLDQFdA9OIE23MtVrZqxLOfAyKY3Wzq6fMaibu6H81RRKJY2li_0NAWEr2F24>

[DocTee]

Val Pascucci?



Vinnie Pasquantino?

[Cowtipper]

A couple of clues. 4 western names remain. There is a Masahide. There's also this guy. Pitched 9 years on the bigs. Third all time in appearances for JBMLB. A little hurt we've forgotten him. https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/licensed-image?q=tbn:ANd9GcRD2kkTZ4hFD5a-VKG0MXQLDQFdA9OIE23MtVrZqxLOfAyKY3Wzq6fMaibu6H81RRKJY2li_0NAWEr2F24>

I cheated and looked up the rest of the guys I didn't know. This one I should have guessed.

[Cowtipper]

Don't leave the people hanging!

[Centerfield]

The complete list. Some of these are impossible. But on the other hand, you guys guessed a few that I never would have thought would be guessed. Junichi Tazawa is the Red Sock pictured in this thread. Shota Imanaga is the lefty in the Team Japan uniform. We're facing him this week. The reliever is Yuki Matsui



1. Shogo Akiyama

2. Nori Aoki

3. Kohei Arihara

4. Jim Bowie

5. Steve Chitren

6. Yu Darvish

7. Bobby Fenwick

8. Kyuji Fujikawa

9. Shintaro Fujinami

10. Kosuke Fukudome

11. Kazuo Fukimori

12. Shigetoshi Hasegawa

13. Yoshihisha Hirano

14. Craig House

15. Ryota Igarashi

16. Kei Igawa

17. Tadahito Iguchi

18. Shota Imanaga

19. Hideki Irabu

20. Kazuhisa Ishii

21. Hisashi Iwakuma

22. Akinori Iwamura

23. Kenji Johjima

24. Takashi Kashiwada

25. Kenshin Kawakami

26. Munenori Kawasaki

27. Masao Kida

28. Yusei Kikuchi

29. Masahide Kobayashi

30. Satoru Komiyama

31. Hiroki Kuroda

32. Masumi Kuwata

33. Jung Hoon Lee

34. Kenta Maeta

35. Kazuhisa Makita

36. Hideki Matsui

37. Kazuo Matsui

38. Yuki Matsui

39. Daisuke Matsuzaka

40. Jeff McCurry

41. Keith McDonald

42. Masanori Murakami

43. Toru Murata

44. Micheal Nakamura

45. Norihiro Nakamura

46. Tsuyoshi Nishioka

47. Hideo Nomo

48. Takahito Nomura

49. Tomo Ohka

50. Shohei Ohtani

51. Hideki Okajima

52. Akinori Otsuka

53. Steve Randolph

54. Dave Roberts

55. Takashi Saito

56. Kazuhiro Sasaki

57. Hirokazu Sawamura

58. Kodai Senga

59. Tsuyoshi Shinjo

60. Ichiro Suzuki

61. Mac Suzuki

62. Seiya Suzuki

63. Kazuhito Tadano

64. So Taguchi

65. Hisanori Takahashi

66. Ken Takahashi

67. Shingo Takatsu

68. Kensuke Tanaka

69. Masahiro Tanaka

70. Yoshinori Tateyama

71. Junichi Tazawa

72. Yoshi Tsutugo

73. Koji Uehara

74. Tsuyoshi Wada

75. Keiichi Yabu

76. Yasuhiko Yabuta

77. Shun Yamaguchi

78. Yoshinobu Yamamoto

79. Masataka Yoshida

80. Masato Yoshii

[Edgy MD]

I should have gotten Imanaga, and might have gotten Kobayashi, but most of those, not in a million years.



I thought there was a guy with a western first name and a Japanese surname — Michael Hashimoto, or something.

[MFS62]

Edgy MD wrote: I thought there was a guy with a western first name and a Japanese surname — Michael Hashimoto, or something.

Were you thinking of Ken Takahashi? (It isn't short for Kenji, according to baseball reference)

Later

Edited April 29, 2024 by Guest

[Edgy MD]

No, I'm the one who offered Ken earlier.



I assumed his name is a shortened version of Kenzo or the like.

[Edgy MD]

This guy https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/n/nakammi01.shtmlhttps://www.baseball-reference.com/players/n/nakammi01.shtml



But now I see he's on the list and I just missed him.

[Cowtipper]

In retrospect, I should have known Tazawa, Tsutugo, Wada, Murata and the American guys. Especially Randolph...I kept thinking there was a black guy but I couldn't place him. I was thinking he played for the Mariners.

[Frayed Knot]

btw, there is a tight little grouping for the winningest Japanese pitcher when MLB & NPB wins are combined



Hiroki Kuroda 203, 79 MLB (LAD & NYY)* + 124 NPB

Hideo Nomo 201: 123 MLB (LAD, KCR, TBR, NYM, BOS, DET, MIL) + 78 NPB

Yu Darvish 199** (TEX, SDP, CHC, LAD): 106 MLB + 93 NPB





* I have absolutely no memory of this guy, even from his time w/the Yanx

** Likely 200 before the night is out

[Edgy MD]

He's the guy who always made you think about Rookie Carroca.

[Frayed Knot]

Yeah, the name is familiar but I have no specific memories of him at all.

I was shocked to discover he pitched three seasons and made 97 starts for the Yanquis.