Fernando Alfredo Seguignol Garcia (born January 19, 1975) is a Panamanian former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

and

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

. Seguignol also played eight years in

Nippon Professional Baseball is a professional baseball league and the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning simply ''Professional Baseball''; outside of Japan, NPB is often referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league ...

. A

switch hitter In baseball, a switch hitter is a player who bats both right-handed and left-handed, usually right-handed against left-handed pitchers and left-handed against right-handed pitchers, although there are some exceptions. Characteristics Right-han ...

, Seguignol is regarded as the best switch-hitter ever to play in Japan, along with Orestes Destrade.

Playing career

Seguignol was signed as an amateur free agent in by the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

at the age of 18. Yankees minor league manager Trey Hillman recommended Seguignol try switch-hitting. (Years later, Hillman became the manager of the

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters The are a Japanese professional Baseball in Japan, baseball team based in Kitahiroshima, Hokkaido, Kitahiroshima, Hokkaidō, in the Sapporo metropolitan area. They compete in the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball, playing the major ...

, and was reunited with Seguignol in Japan.) He spent several years in the minors before making his major league debut in with the

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos () were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in the National League (baseball), National League ...

after being traded by the Yankees on April 5, 1995 along with cash, for John Wetteland. He played a career high 76 games in with the Expos, hitting .278 with 10

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s and 22 RBI playing in the

outfield The outfield, in cricket, baseball and softball is the area of the field of play further from the batsman or batter than the infield. In association football, the outfield players are positioned outside the goal area. In bat and ball games ...

. Seguignol was released by the Expos in , and signed with the

Orix BlueWave , styled as ORIX, is a Japanese diversified financial services group headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, and Osaka, Japan. ORIX offers leasing, lending, rentals, life insurance, real estate financing and development, venture capital, investment an ...

of the Japanese

Pacific League The , or , or the , due to sponsorship reasons, is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the a ...

in . He made appearances as a first baseman and designated hitter with the BlueWave, and hit home runs from both sides of the plate two games in a row, from June 5 to June 6 (becoming the first player to do so in Japanese baseball history). However, Seguignol was inconsistent overall, ending the season with a .204 batting average. He was released at the end of the season, and returned to the major leagues after signing with the New York Yankees. He spent most of with the Yankees' Triple-A affiliate

Columbus Clippers The Columbus Clippers are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians. They are located in Columbus, Ohio, and are named for speedy Merchant ship, merch ...

, and led the league in home runs and RBI (he played in five major league games that year with the Yankees). He was scouted by the

, and traveled to Japan for the second time in . He hit well over .400 in his first month, and ended the year hitting .306 with 44 home runs and 108 RBI, tying

Nobuhiko Matsunaka is a former left fielder and designated hitter for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. He is currently the hitting coach for the Chunichi Dragons in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball league. He played in the Baseball at the 1996 Summer Olympics, 199 ...

for the most home runs in the league to win the Best Nine Award at designated hitter. He remained with the Fighters until , and had continued success, leading the league in doubles in to win a second Best Nine Award. In , he played for Olmecas de Tabasco in Liga Mexicana de Beisbol before signing with the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

on June 12, 2008; he was released by the Tigers on July 21. But about a week after his release, he was acquired by the

Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles The , often shortened as the , are a baseball team based in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. It has played in Nippon Professional Baseball's Pacific League since the team's formation in November 2004. The team is owned by the Internet shopping ...

. He hit 13 home runs in 39 games (157 at-bats), with a .324 batting average and 40 RBI in that season. He was chosen on the 1st round roster for Panama team playing in

2009 World Baseball Classic The 2009 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was an International Baseball Federation, international baseball competition. It began on March 5 and finished March 23. Unlike in 2006 World Baseball Classic, 2006, when the Round-robin tournament, round- ...

. In 2010, after playing for the

Newark Bears The Newark Bears were an American independent league professional baseball team based in Newark, New Jersey. They were a member of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball and, later, the Canadian American Association of Professional Bas ...

, he played for the

Orix Buffaloes The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team formed as a result of the 2004 Nippon Professional Baseball realignment by the merger of the Orix BlueWave of Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes of Osaka, Osaka Prefecture ...

in the Japanese

, where he had previously played in 2002. Seguignol holds the Japanese single-season record for home runs among switch-hitters (44), and homered from both sides of the plate eight separate times in Japan, an NPB all-time record. He also homered against 13 different Japanese teams; the only other player to have done this is Julio Zuleta.

Post-playing career

On November 2, 2021, Seguignol was hired by the

Saitama Seibu Lions The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based north of Tokyo in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture. Before 1979, they were based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture, in Kyushu. The team is owned by a subsidiary of Seibu Railway ...

to be in charge of the team's international affairs, stationed in the USA.

Personal life

Seguignol is married and has two children, Kendall and Jabari. He lives in

Wellington, Florida Wellington is a village west of West Palm Beach in Palm Beach County and north of Miami. It is part of the Miami metropolitan area and the fifth largest municipality in Palm Beach County by population. As of the 2020 census, the village had a po ...

References

External links

* , o
Retrosheet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seguignol, Fernando 1975 births Living people Albany Polecats players Columbus Clippers players Delmarva Shorebirds players Gulf Coast Yankees players Harrisburg Senators players Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters players International League MVP award winners Lancaster Barnstormers players Major League Baseball first basemen Major League Baseball left fielders Major League Baseball players from Panama Major League Baseball right fielders Mexican League baseball first basemen Montreal Expos players Navegantes del Magallanes players Panamanian expatriate baseball players in Venezuela New York Yankees players Newark Bears players Nippon Professional Baseball designated hitters Nippon Professional Baseball first basemen Olmecas de Tabasco players Oneonta Yankees players Orix Buffaloes players Orix BlueWave players Ottawa Lynx players Panamanian expatriate baseball players in Canada Panamanian expatriate baseball players in Japan Panamanian expatriate baseball players in Mexico Panamanian expatriate baseball players in the United States People from Bocas del Toro Province Tampa Yankees players Tigres del Licey players Panamanian expatriate baseball players in the Dominican Republic Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles players Toledo Mud Hens players West Palm Beach Expos players 2011 Baseball World Cup players