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Hiroki Kokubo

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Hiroki Kokubo
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – No. 90
First baseman / Third baseman / Manager
Born: (1971-10-08) October 8, 1971 (age 54)
Wakayama, Japan
Batted: Right-handed
Threw: Right
NPB debut
April 9, 1994, for the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks
Last NPB appearance
October 8, 2012, for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
NPB statistics
Batting average.273
Hits2,041
Home runs413
Runs batted in1,304
Stats at Baseball Reference Edit this at Wikidata
Teams
As player
As manager
As coach & manager
Career highlights and awards
As player
As manager/coach
Medals
Men's baseball
Representing  Japan
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place1992 BarcelonaTeam

Hiroki Kokubo (小久保 裕紀, Kokubo Hiroki; born October 8, 1971) is a Japanese former professional baseball infielder, and current manager for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).[1] He played in NPB for the Hawks and Yomiuri Giants, and recorded over 2,000 hits across his 19 year career.[2]

Early baseball career

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Kokubo went on to Aoyama Gakuin University, where he became captain and helped his team win its first 1993 Japan National Collegiate Baseball Championship in his senior year.[3]

Professional career

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Active player era

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Kokubo was selected by the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks in the second round of the 1993 Nippon Professional Baseball draft under the system for expressing a team of choice.[4]

He debuted in the Pacific League in his rookie season of 1994, playing in 78 games.

Kokubo was one of Japan's leading power hitters during the 1990s and early 2000s. He hit over 40 home runs in 2001 and 2004 but only led the league in the category once (1995), with only 28 home runs. He also led the league in RBIs in 1997. However, he played in just 17 games in 1998, which saw him marred by a tax evasion scandal that had broken out in late 1997 where he was indicted on charges of evading at least $215,000 on his income tax in 1994 by falsely recording expenses on receipts; he pled guilty to the charge.[5][6] He suffered a knee injury in spring training that knocked him out for the entire 2003 season.[7] He was suddenly given away to the Yomiuri Giants in November of that year despite being the team's cleanup hitter. Kokubo was seemingly given away for free, since the Giants did not give a player to the Hawks in exchange. The motives behind this transaction remain a mystery.[8] The Hawks replaced him during his injuries with foreigner Julio Zuleta.

He played with the Yomiuri Giants for three years before signing with his former team (now the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks) during the 2006 off-season as a free agent.[9]

In 2011, as team captain, he helped lead the Hawks to victory in the Japan Series, winning the Most Valuable Player Award.[10]

On June 24, 2012, Kokubo recorded his 2,000th career hit, becoming the 41st Japanese professional baseball player to reach the milestone. On August 14 he announced his intention to retire at the end of the 2012 season.[11] His retirement ceremony was held on October 8, after the last regular-season match against the Orix Buffaloes, which SoftBank lost after being no-hit.[12]

After retirement

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After his retirement, He worked for NHK as a baseball broadcast commentator.

Coaching career

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On December 3, 2020, Kokubo became the head coach of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks,[13] returning to the team for the first time since his retirement in 2012.

On November 1, 2021, Kokubo was named the manager of the Hawks second level team,[14] where he managed the Hawks to a Western League and Japan Farm League championship in 2023.[15] Afterwards, he replaced Hiroshi Fujimoto as the manager of the first team in 2024, after Fujimoto announced he was going to step down as manager following the conclusion of the 2023 Pacific League Climax Series.[16] Kokubo immediately led the Hawks to the Pacific League pennant in 2024, setting the NPB record for the most wins in a season by a first-year manager,[17] but the Hawks would be upset by the Yokohama DeNA BayStars in the 2024 Japan Series. Kokubo would once again lead the Hawks to another pennant in 2025, this time defeating the Hanshin Tigers in 5 games to take home the 2025 Japan Series, the Hawks' first Japan Series championship since 2020. In 2026, he led the Hawks to their third PL pennant in a row, a feat they hadn't accomplished since 1964-1966, becoming only the third manager in NPB history, behind Masaaki Mori and Satoshi Nakajima, to win three pennants in a row in their first three seasons as a manager.[18]

International career

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He won a bronze medal in the 1992 Summer Olympics before entering the Japanese professional leagues.[19]

In October 2013, Kokubo was named the manager of the Japan national baseball team, becoming the first Japanese national team manager since the advent of baseball becoming a medal sport in the 1992 Summer Olympics to hold the position without any prior coaching experience.[20] He would lead Samurai Japan to a 3rd place finish at the 2017 World Baseball Classic. He would resign from his managerial position following the semi-final defeat in 2017 at the hands of the United States.[21]

See also

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References

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  1. ↑ "Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks Player Directory (Manager/Coach)". Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (in Japanese). Retrieved September 12, 2026.
  2. ↑ "Nikkansports Sports baseball news 【ソフトＢ】小久保が2000安打達成". Nikkan Sports (in Japanese). June 24, 2012. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
  3. ↑ "Weekly Baseball online News & Column 小久保氏と井口監督、母校に帰る。黄金時代・青学大の思い出とは？". Weekly Baseball online (in Japanese). December 7, 2019. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
  4. ↑ "Nikkansports Sports baseball news 【ソフトバンク】過去のドラフト 第29回（1993年）". Nikkan Sports (in Japanese). Retrieved December 3, 2022.
  5. ↑ "5 Baseball Players Plead Guilty to Tax Charges". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. December 27, 1997. Retrieved September 17, 2026.
  6. ↑ "Arias signs with Phillies". www.tampabay.com. Retrieved 2026-09-17.
  7. ↑ "Gift-giving season came early for the Hawks and Giants | The Japan Times". Archived from the original on 2021-04-19. Retrieved 2026-09-17.
  8. ↑ "full-count baseball news 球界揺るがした小久保裕紀の無償トレード…非情通告した身に残り続ける苦渋の思い". full-count.jp (in Japanese). December 24, 2020. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
  9. ↑ "Weekly Baseball online 【FA史】小久保がホークスへ出戻るなどすべて巨人がらみ/2006年" (in Japanese). Weekly Baseball online. November 18, 2018. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
  10. ↑ "Nikkansports Sports baseball news ソフトＢ小久保MVP最年長40歳／日本S". Nikkan Sports (in Japanese). November 21, 2011. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
  11. ↑ "Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks team's news 2012/08/15(水) 選手 小久保選手、引退表明会見要旨「気持ちが固まった」 王会長、秋山監督らからのメッセージも". Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks Official site (in Japanese). August 15, 2012. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
  12. ↑ "Sports Nippon baseball news 小久保の"ガチで来い"に応えた 西「どう喜んでいいのか」". Sports Nippon (in Japanese). October 8, 2012. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
  13. ↑ "Nishinippon Shimbun baseball news (Japanese) ソフトバンク小久保ヘッドコーチ就任を正式発表 会見で「入って負けたと思われたくない」". Nishinippon Shimbun (in Japanese). December 3, 2020. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  14. ↑ "ソフトバンクが来季の藤本新監督体制を発表 小久保2軍監督や長谷川1軍打撃コーチ". Sankei Sports (in Japanese). November 1, 2021. Retrieved September 12, 2026.
  15. ↑ "2023年プロ野球ファーム日本選手権". NPB.jp (in Japanese). October 7, 2023. Retrieved September 12, 2026.
  16. ↑ "小久保裕紀2軍監督の1軍監督就任について". Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (in Japanese). October 21, 2023. Retrieved September 12, 2026.
  17. ↑ "新人監督の歴代最多勝利を更新 ソフトバンクの小久保裕紀監督がシーズン91勝" [[Professional Baseball Results] Lotte secures 3rd place and advances to the Climax Series]. Sankei Shimbun (in Japanese). October 4, 2024. Retrieved September 12, 2026.
  18. ↑ "【ソフトバンク】３年連続２４度目のリーグ優勝！　福岡移転後初の３連覇達成　今季最長更新の９連勝で圧倒　小久保裕紀監督は史上３人目の就任１年目から３連覇　歓喜の胴上げ７度（スポーツ報知）" (in Japanese). Yahoo!ニュース. 2026-09-17. Retrieved 2026-09-23.
  19. ↑ "Jiji Press Sports medical column （第4回）野球観変えたオリンピック 学生で一人、日本代表参加". Jiji Press (in Japanese). August 14, 2018. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
  20. ↑ "【スポーツ異聞】実は、人材難のプロ野球界　侍ジャパンはまた監督未経験者　３月のＷＢＣ４位の総括もまだしてないのに（2/3ページ）". Sankei Shimbun (in Japanese). July 29, 2017. Retrieved September 12, 2026.
  21. ↑ "ＷＢＣ 小久保監督、退任へ「これで契約満了ということ」". Mainichi Shimbun (in Japanese). March 22, 2017. Retrieved September 12, 2026.
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