is a former Japanese right-handed

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who pitches in the game after the starting pitcher or another relief pitcher has been removed from the game due to fatigue (medical), fatigue, injury, ineffectiveness, ejection ...

Biography

Fukumori was unable to advance to the

National High School Baseball Championship The of Japan, commonly known as , is an annual nationwide high school baseball tournament. It is the largest scale amateur sport event in Japan. The tournament, organized by the Japan High School Baseball Federation and ''Asahi Shimbun'', t ...

during his high school years, losing in the prefectural final for three consecutive years. He was drafted by the

Yokohama BayStars The are a professional baseball team in the Japanese Central League. Their home field is Yokohama Stadium, located in central Yokohama. The team has been known by several names since becoming a professional team in 1950. It adopted its current ...

in the third round of the draft, and marked his first win against the

Chunichi Dragons The are a professional baseball team based in Nagoya, the chief city in the Chūbu region of Japan. The team plays in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. They have won the Central League pennant nine times (most recently in 2011 ...

on July 3, . He pitched as a fifth and sixth-string starter for the BayStars rotation during his early career, with a career-high 9 wins in . He was traded to the

Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes The were a Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) team based in Osaka, Japan, which was in the Pacific League. In 2005 the team was merged with the Orix BlueWave to become the team now known as the Orix Buffaloes. The team played in Fujiidera Stadi ...

in after pitching in a career-high 62 games in with a 4.50

ERA An era is a span of time. Era or ERA may also refer to: * Era (geology), a subdivision of geologic time * Calendar era Education * Academy of European Law (German: '), an international law school * ERA School, in Melbourne, Australia * E ...

as a reliever in his final year with the BayStars. He became the closer for the Buffaloes midway through 2004, and ended the year with 2 wins and 10 saves with a 5.18 ERA. However, the Buffaloes team was disbanded during the off-season, and Fukumori was handed over to the newly created

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 ...

in a distribution draft. He recorded the first save in history for the Eagles on April 13 against the

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks The are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture. They compete in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) as a member of the Pacific League. Founded on February 22, 1938, as the Nankai Club, being the first Kansai t ...

, and was the only pitcher to not let up a run in the team's epic 0-26 loss to the

Chiba Lotte Marines The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based in Chiba, Chiba, Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region, and owned by Lotte Holdings, Lotte Holdings Co., Ltd. The Marines were a founding member of the Pacific Le ...

in the second game of the season. Fukumori was relegated to setup duty at the start of in favor of

Shinichiro Koyama is a former pitcher and now who played for the Chunichi Dragons and the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles. He is currently a pitching coach for the Chunichi Dragons of Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball is a professional baseball league and ...

, but returned to his closing role early in the year, pitching 26 straight innings without giving up a

run Run(s) or RUN may refer to: Places * Run (island), one of the Banda Islands in Indonesia * Run (stream), a stream in the Dutch province of North Brabant People * Run (rapper), Joseph Simmons, now known as "Reverend Run", from the hip-hop group ...

in the first half of the season. This earned him his first appearance in the Japanese all-star game. However, his pitching quickly deteriorated after the all-star break, and he was relegated to setup duty again after blowing several save opportunities. He pitched decently as a reliever, and returned to his closing role again on September 22 with a save against the

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, ...

. He made two more consecutive saves, ending the season with a career-best 2.17 ERA and a career-high 21 saves. Fukumori continued his success in the closing role during early , but dropped down during the interleague games in June. He made his second appearance at the Japanese all-star game, but admitted that he had been pitching with pain in his right elbow, and was removed from the active roster after the all-star break to receive surgery to remove bone chips from his right elbow. He spent the rest of the season in rehab. Fukumori declared free-agency on November 7, 2007, and began negotiating with both Japanese teams and major league teams on November 13, 2007.

Texas Rangers

On December 13, 2007 it was reported that he had agreed to a two-year $3 million deal with the Texas Rangers.Fukumori, Texas Rangers agree to 2-year deal – Dallas Morning News
/ref> He made an appearance at

Rangers Ballpark in Arlington Choctaw Stadium, formerly Globe Life Park, is a multi-purpose stadium in Arlington, Texas, United States. The venue opened in April 1994 as a baseball stadium with the name The Ballpark in Arlington, serving as the home for the Texas Rangers ...

the following day to officially announce his move to the major leagues. Fukumori was released by the Rangers on May 12, , after having pitched extremely poorly in four games. It was the end of his Major League Baseball career.

Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles

On June 13, , the Texas Rangers released Fukumori so that he could sign with the

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 ...

Pitching style

Fukumori throws a

fastball The fastball is the most common type of pitch (baseball), pitch thrown by pitchers in baseball and softball. Its distinctive feature is its high speed. "Power pitchers," such as former major leaguers Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, relied on the ...

, shootball, and

forkball The forkball is a type of pitch in baseball. Related to the split-finger fastball, the forkball is held between the first two fingers and thrown hard, snapping the wrist. Due to its movement being similar to that of a spitball, the pitch is oft ...

with varying degrees of success. He is also one of the few Japanese pitchers to have experimented with a knuckle curve. His fastball only reaches in the low 90 mph range, and he rarely displays good control of any of his pitches. His shootball comes in at a similar velocity as his fastball, and his forkball can be devastating at times. Fukumori's career in Japan was marked with inconsistency, as he rotated between periods of exceptional and disappointing performances even during his most successful seasons.

References

External links

Fukumori's official blogNippon Professional Baseball league statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fukumori, Kazuo 1976 births Baseball people from Miyazaki Prefecture Japanese expatriate baseball players in the United States Living people Major League Baseball players from Japan Nippon Professional Baseball pitchers Oklahoma RedHawks players Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes players Texas Rangers players Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles players 21st-century Japanese sportsmen Yokohama BayStars players