Kosuke Fukudome

"Fukudome" redirects here. For information on the WWII admiral, see Shigeru Fukudome.

Kosuke Fukudome
Fukudome with the Chicago Cubs
Chicago Cubs – No. 1
Outfielder
Bats: Left Throws: Right
Professional debut
NPB: April 2, 1999, for the Chunichi Dragons
MLB: March 31, 2008, for the Chicago Cubs
MLB statistics (through 2008 season)
Batting average	.257
Home runs	10
Runs batted in	58
Teams
Chunichi Dragons (1998-2007) Chicago Cubs (2008-present)

Olympic medal record
Men's Baseball
	Atlanta 1996	Team Competition
	Athens 2004	Team Competition

Kosuke Fukudome (福留 孝介, Fukudome Kōsuke, (ɸɯkɯdome koosɯke) born April 26, 1977 in Osaki, Soo District, Kagoshima, Japan) is a Japanese outfielder in Major League Baseball for the Chicago Cubs. Prior to arriving in the United States, Fukudome played nine seasons for the Chunichi Dragons of the Japanese Central League. He was also a member of the Japanese national baseball team, winning a silver medal in the 1996 Summer Olympics, a bronze medal in the 2004 Summer Olympics, and placing first in the 2006 World Baseball Classic. He won the Central League MVP award the same year.

Early career

Fukudome entered the prestigious PL Gakuen High School, and was quickly targeted by professional scouts as a potential first round draft pick. Seven teams chose Fukudome in the first round of the 1995 draft, and the Kintetsu Buffaloes won the right to negotiate with Fukudome by winning the lottery. However, Fukudome had already decided that he would not turn pro unless he could play with the Chunichi Dragons or Yomiuri Giants, and joined Nihon Seimei, whose baseball team belonged to the industrial leagues. In 1996, at the age of 19, he became the youngest player to ever be chosen for an Olympic baseball team, and his team won a silver medal in the Atlanta Olympics.

Career in Japan

The Chunichi Dragons drafted Fukudome in 1998 in the first round as a shortstop. Fukudome had grown up a fan of Dragons infielder Kazuyoshi Tatsunami, and received an autograph from Tatsunami, who would be his teammate when he joined the Dragons.

Manager Senichi Hoshino used Fukudome in 132 games in his rookie year, and Fukudome batted .284 with 16 home runs, and contributing to his team's league championship. However, he also led the league in strikeouts. While Fukudome was fast and had a strong throwing arm, he simply could not field ground balls well at shortstop. He made several errors which led to his team's loss in the Japan Series, and was often taken out of games in later innings.

He was converted to third base in his second year, but his fielding made little improvement, and his hitting dropped down as well. The next year, he was moved to the outfield. While he played poorly at first, he gradually improved to become the everyday right fielder. His natural speed and strong arm worked wonders from then on, and he has since received four Golden Glove awards in the outfield.

His hitting also improved dramatically. He stopped Hideki Matsui in his run for the triple crown in 2002, by leading the league in batting average (.343). He hit .313 with 34 homers the next year, establishing himself as one of the best hitters in the league.

In 2004, he joined the Japanese Olympic baseball team for the second time, winning a bronze medal in the Athens Olympics. He was chosen for the 2006 World Baseball Classic team, and pinch-hit for a two-run home run off Byung-Hyun Kim in the semi-finals against Korea. He pinch-hit again in the finals for a two-run hit against Cuba.

In 2006, he batted .351 with 31 home runs and 104 RBIs, winning the Central League MVP award.

Career in the United States

Fukudome with the Cubs

Fukudome at bat with the Chicago Cubs

When asked whether he had any interest in the Major Leagues on a television show in the 2006 off-season, Fukudome answered, "It would be a lie to say I didn't. Playing in the World Baseball Classic increased my desire to play in the majors."

Fukudome became a free agent in November 2007. On December 11 2007, the Chicago Cubs signed Fukudome to a four-year, $48 million contract. Fukudome said in an interview that one of the main reasons he chose the Chicago Cubs over the other three teams trying to sign him to their roster was because he wanted to be the first Japanese player to play for the team. He also thought Chicago had a great Japanese community, and that it was a great place to raise his children.

2008

Fukudome made his Major League debut on March 31, 2008, against the Milwaukee Brewers at Wrigley Field. He went 3-for-3 with a walk, including a double on his first Major League pitch, and a three-run game-tying home run off Brewers' closer Eric Gagné in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Brewers went on to win 4-3 in extra innings.

In April 2008, a souvenir stand selling unlicensed Cubs apparel sold a t-shirt bearing the Cubs cartoon bear wearing over-sized Harry Caray-style glasses encircled by the phrase "Horry Kow" (an Engrish play on Caray's "Holy Cow!" catchphrase) in cartoonish Asian script below. Mark Kolbusz, the souvenir stand operator, said the shirt was his top seller so far that season, and that 1 in 10 customers complained that it was offensive. After he was shown the shirt, Fukudome said through his interpreter, "I don't know what the creator of the shirt meant this to be, but they should make it right. Maybe the creator created it because he thought it was funny, or maybe he made it to condescend the race. I don't know." After a story on the t-shirt appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times, the Cubs ordered Kolbusz to pull the shirt off the stand and to stop production.

After a fast start, Fukudome's 2008 MLB performance faded. After a .327 batting average in April, each successive month reflected less success as Fukudome batted .293 in May, .264 in June, .236 in July, .193 in August, and .178 in September, followed by .100 in the postseason. He ended the year with a .257 average, and a .370 slugging percentage. He hit .251 against righthanders, and .137 when there were 2 outs and runners in scoring position. Fukudome's slide was detailed in a New York Times article.

Nonetheless, on July 7, 2008, Fukudome was voted a starter in the 2008 MLB All-Star Game. Cubs manager Lou Piniella defended him from criticism, and said, "[Fukudome] does such a good job in right field we hate to take him out of the lineup," and further stated the team would continue to give him more opportunities.

After the Game 2 loss to the Dodgers in the NLDS, a reporter asked Piniella, enraged about the loss, about starting Fukudome. Piniella responded, "I'm going to play [Mike] Fontenot or Reed Johnson or somebody else, and that's the end of that story. The kid is struggling, and there's no sense sending him out there anymore." Fukodome managed only one single in 10 at bats in the postseason.

2009

The Cubs are planning to shift Fukudome to center field in 2009.

Trivia

Fukudome is not yet part of the MLBPA, so his actual name cannot be used in video games. For example, in MLB 2K8, Fukudome was replaced with "Kazuhito Fortunato".

Career statistics

Nippon Professional Baseball
Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
1999	Chunichi	132	461	76	131	25	2	16	52	4	.284	.359	.451	.810
2000	Chunichi	97	316	50	80	18	2	13	42	8	.253	.350	.446	.796
2001	Chunichi	120	375	51	94	22	2	15	56	8	.251	.352	.440	.790
2002	Chunichi	140	542	85	186	42	3	19	65	4	.343	.406	.537	.943
2003	Chunichi	140	528	107	165	30	11	34	96	10	.313	.401	.604	1.005
2004	Chunichi	92	350	61	97	19	7	23	81	8	.277	.368	.569	.937
2005	Chunichi	142	515	102	169	39	6	28	103	13	.328	.430	.590	1.020
2006	Chunichi	131	496	117	174	47	5	31	104	11	.351	.438	.653	1.091
2007	Chunichi	81	269	64	79	22	0	13	48	5	.294	.443	.520	.963
TOTALS		1074	3852	713	1175	264	38	192	647	71	.305	.397	.543	.940

Major League Baseball
Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG
2008	Chicago Cubs	150	501	79	129	25	3	10	58	81	12	.257	.359	.379

External links

• Nippon Professional Baseball career statistics from JapaneseBaseball.com
• Career statistics from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs