Hiroyuki Watanabe (baseball)
Hiroyuki Watanabe (渡邉博幸, Watanabe Hiroyuki, born June 29, 1970 in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan) is a Japanese former professional baseball utility player. He played for the Chunichi Dragons.
| Hiroyuki Watanabe 渡邉博幸 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Chunichi Dragons – No. 76 | |||
| First baseman/Coach | |||
| Born: June 29, 1970 Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan | |||
| |||
| NPB debut | |||
| September 28, 1996, for the Chunichi Dragons | |||
| Last NPB appearance | |||
| 27 September, 2007, for the Chunichi Dragons | |||
| NPB statistics (through 2007) | |||
| Games Played | 859 | ||
| Batting average | .269 | ||
| Home runs | 11 | ||
| RBI | 123 | ||
| Teams | |||
| As player
As Coach | |||
| Career highlights and awards | |||
He is currently the second team infield defense and baserunning for the Chunichi Dragons in Japan's Western League.
Career
Watanabe was mostly used as a utility infielder for most of his career but captured a golden glove in 2004 as a regular. After Tyrone Woods was brought to the club, Watanabe's appearances became more limited to an off the bench role.
After retirement, Watanabe has worked with the Dragons backroom mostly as a defensive specialist where he was most prominent as 1st base coach under Motonobu Tanishige's reign as manager.[1]
After Tanishige's sacking and the appointment of Shigekazu Mori as manager, Watanabe served as second team defensive coach before moving into a scorers role in 2018. Ahead of the 2020 season, Watanabe was brought back to the second team coaching staff by Tsuyoshi Yoda after the promotion of Masahiro Araki to the first team after the departure of Hiroshi Narahara to the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles.[2]
References
- "中日ドラゴンズ 公式サイト - ドラゴンズニュース ★谷繁監督が休養". Chunichi Dragons Official Website. 2016-08-09. Retrieved 2020-02-22.
- "中日・パウエル新コーチの背番号は「93」栗原コーチは「73」仁村2軍監督は「72」 2020年のコーチングスタッフ発表". Chunichi Sports (in Japanese). 2019-11-23. Retrieved 2020-02-22.