Makoto Imaoka

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Men's Baseball
Olympic medal record
Silver	Atlanta 1996	Team Competition

Makoto Imaoka (今岡誠, born September 11, 1974) is a professional baseball player from Takarazuka, Hyōgo, Japan. He is an infielder for the Hanshin Tigers.

Imaoka spent several uneventful seasons in the Japanese professional leagues before being chosen as the lead-off batter by Senichi Hoshino, who managed the Hanshin Tigers from 2002-2004. Imaoka won the batting title in 2003 with a .340 batting average, and his team won the Central League pennant the same year. He had previously played shortstop and second base, but was converted to third base in 2004. He continued his hitting prowess, and led the league with 147 RBIs in 2005. He fell into a huge slump in 2006, and missed half of the season due to injuries.

He won a silver medal playing for the Japanese national team in the 1996 Summer Olympics before entering the Japanese professional leagues.

[edit] Career statistics(through 2006)

SEASON	TEAM	Squad number	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	AVG
1997	HT	7	98	252	18	63	11	1	2	20	1	.250
1998			133	471	48	138	20	3	7	44	6	.293
1999			128	457	36	115	11	1	6	39	4	.252
2000			40	113	8	24	5	0	1	2	0	.212
2001			123	400	36	107	15	0	4	40	3	.268
2002			122	505	46	160	40	0	15	56	0	.317
2003			120	485	67	165	35	1	12	72	1	.340
2004			138	572	87	175	29	0	28	83	0	.306
2005			146	559	71	156	26	2	29	147	1	.279
2006			59	204	16	45	3	2	7	29	1	.220
Total			1107	4018	433	1148	195	10	111	532	17	.285