Akinori Otsuka
Akinori Otsuka (大塚 晶則, Ōtsuka Akinori) (born January 13, 1972) is a Japanese former baseball pitcher who coaches for the Chunichi Dragons in Nippon Professional Baseball. He was formerly the set-up man for the San Diego Padres and the Texas Rangers. He was also the closer for Japan's 2006 World Baseball Classic winning team.
| Akinori Otsuka | |||||||||||||||
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Otsuka with the Texas Rangers | |||||||||||||||
| Chunichi Dragons – No. 76 | |||||||||||||||
| Pitcher / Coach | |||||||||||||||
| Born: January 13, 1972 Chiba, Japan | |||||||||||||||
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |||||||||||||||
| Professional debut | |||||||||||||||
| NPB: May 13, 1997, for the Kintetsu Buffaloes | |||||||||||||||
| MLB: April 6, 2004, for the San Diego Padres | |||||||||||||||
| Last appearance | |||||||||||||||
| NPB: 2003, for the Chunichi Dragons | |||||||||||||||
| MLB: July 1, 2007, for the Texas Rangers | |||||||||||||||
| NPB statistics | |||||||||||||||
| Win–loss record | 14–23 | ||||||||||||||
| Earned run average | 2.39 | ||||||||||||||
| Strikeouts | 474 | ||||||||||||||
| Saves | 137 | ||||||||||||||
| MLB statistics | |||||||||||||||
| Win–loss record | 13–15 | ||||||||||||||
| Earned run average | 2.44 | ||||||||||||||
| Strikeouts | 217 | ||||||||||||||
| Saves | 39 | ||||||||||||||
| Teams | |||||||||||||||
As player
As coach
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Medals
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Otsuka threw a low-90's 4-seam fastball (tops out at about 94 mph) that is very straight, along with a hard, late-breaking slider. He employed an unorthodox pitching delivery wherein he lifted his lead leg up very slowly, tapped his glove, then fired to home plate, making his pitches look faster coming out of his hand and thus harder to pick up.
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