Tatsuhiko Kinjoh (Japanese: 金城龍彦,

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, people from the Korean peninsula or of Korean descent * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Korean **Korean dialects **See also: North–South differences in t ...

: 김용언,

Hanja Hanja (; ), alternatively spelled Hancha, are Chinese characters used to write the Korean language. After characters were introduced to Korea to write Literary Chinese, they were adapted to write Korean as early as the Gojoseon period. () ...

: 金龍彦, born July 27, 1976) is a Japanese professional baseball player of Korean descent from

Higashinari-ku, Osaka is one of 24 wards of Japan, wards of Osaka, Japan. As of September 2010, it had a total population of 79,435. The ward is located east of Osaka City, and is bordered clockwise north by: Jōtō-ku, Osaka, Jōtō-ku ward, the core city of Higashiō ...

, Japan. He plays center field for the

Yomiuri Giants The are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They h ...

. He throws right-handed, and is a switch hitter.

Biography

Kinjoh's father was also a professional baseball player, who played two seasons with the

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 Sta ...

. Kinjoh was drafted as a pitcher 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 fifth round of the 1998 amateur draft, and surprised fans by winning the

Central League The or , also known as the for sponsorship reasons, is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League i ...

batting title in 2000. He ended the season with a .346 batting average, but was hitting well over .400 at the start of the season. He also won the Central League rookie of the year award, becoming the first player in Japanese baseball to receive both awards in the same season. His many errors at

third base A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

led the team to convert him to the outfield in 2001, but he was unable to repeat his success from the previous year. He played a horrific season in 2002, ending the season with a .170 batting average in 111 games. He made a comeback in 2003, hitting 16 home runs with a .302 batting average, and got 191 hits in 2005 (only one hit away from the team record, set by Robert Rose) to mark a .324 batting average. His speed and strong arm also won him a Central League golden glove award the same year. Kinjoh's success in 2005 led to his participation in the 2006

World Baseball Classic The World Baseball Classic (WBC), also referred to as the Classic, is an international baseball tournament sanctioned by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), the sport's global governing body, and organized in World Baseball Clas ...

. He has also played in the all star game in 2003, 2005 and 2006.

External links

*
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kinjo, Tatsuhiko Living people 1976 births 2006 World Baseball Classic players Japanese people of Korean descent Zainichi Korean baseball players Baseball people from Osaka Baseball outfielders Japanese baseball players Nippon Professional Baseball outfielders Nippon Professional Baseball Rookie of the Year Award winners People from Higashinari, Osaka Yokohama BayStars players Yokohama DeNA BayStars players Yomiuri Giants players Japanese baseball coaches Nippon Professional Baseball coaches World Baseball Classic players of Japan