is a former professional Japanese

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

and current coach for the

Saitama Seibu Lions The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based north of Tokyo in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture. Before 1979, they were based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture in Kyushu. The team is owned by a subsidiary of Seibu Railway, wh ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

. Noda played with the

. He also played for the

Japan national baseball team The is the national team representing Japan in international baseball competitions. It won the World Baseball Classic in 2006 and 2009, as well as WBSC Premier12 in 2019. The team is currently ranked 1st in the world by the World Baseball Sof ...

at the

2000 Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

in Sydney, Australia.

Early life

Kōsuke Noda was born on December 4, 1977, in

Yatsushiro is a city located in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. Geography Located at the geographic center of Kyushu, Yatsushiro City is situated on the aptly named Yatsushiro Sea in between Kumamoto and Ashikita City. Climate Yatsushiro has a humid subtro ...

(八代市, Yatsushiro-shi), a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

located in

Kumamoto Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Kumamoto Prefecture has a population of 1,748,134 () and has a geographic area of . Kumamoto Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the north, Ōita Prefecture to ...

. As a teenager, he played for th
Yatsushiro Higashi High School
(八代東高) baseball team. After high school, Kōsuke joined the Nippon Steel Kimitsu (新日鐵君津) Baseball Club. He would play well enough to earn a roster spot on the

at the 2000 Olympics along with his Nippon Steel Kimitsu teammate

Shunsuke Watanabe is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher. His submarine pitching form was noted during the 2006 World Baseball Classic. Amateur career Watanabe began baseball at age 6, and began throwing underhanded during middle school at the sugge ...

Professional Life

Kōsuke Noda was selected by the

Seibu Lions The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based north of Tokyo in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture. Before 1979, they were based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture in Kyushu. The team is owned by a subsidiary of Seibu Railway, wh ...

of the

Japan Pacific League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the annual Japan Series. It currently consis ...

in the 6th round of the 2000

draft.

Seibu Lions (2002–2011)

2001 Season In 2001, Kōsuke did not appear with the first team due in part to the presence of regular catcher

Tsutomu Ito Tsutomu is a masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings ''Tsutomu can be written using different kanji characters. Here are some examples: *勉, "make effort" *務, "affairs" *務武, "affairs, warrior" *勤, "diligence" *努, "strive" The ...

2002 Season

Two years after being drafted, at age 24 Kōsuke made his professional debut. Kōsuke played mostly at catcher for the eventual Pacific League Champions, playing alongside notable future

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

players such as

Daisuke Matsuzaka is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher, who pitched professionally for 23 seasons, 16 of them in NPB, 7 in MLB. He is currently a baseball color commentator, critic, reporter, and YouTuber. Daisuke is nicknamed in Japan and "Dice-K ...

and

Kazuo Matsui is a Japanese retired professional baseball player who played as a shortstop and is the current manager of the Saitama Seibu Lions. He is a switch-hitter. Matsui signed with the New York Mets on December 17, 2003, becoming the first Japanese i ...

. Appearing in 34 games, Kōsuke had nine hits in 47 at-bats, giving him a batting average of .191 for his rookie year.

2003 Season

Kōsuke played in 36 games at catcher for the Lions, totaling 75 plate appearances. Kōsuke would improve his batting average to .222, while adding his first professional home run.

2004 Season

In the 2004 season, Kōsuke would continue to improve upon previous years' numbers, seeing his batting average climb to .237 on 103 plate appearances. In 92 at-bats with the Lions, he had 22 hits while adding four doubles and three home runs. The Seibu Lions would go on to win the

2004 Japan Series The Japan Series, the 55th edition of Nippon Professional Baseball's championship series, began on October 16 and ended on October 25, and matched the Pacific League playoffs winner Seibu Lions against the Central League Champion, Chunichi Drago ...

against the

Chunichi Dragons The are a professional baseball team based in Nagoya, the chief city in the Chūbu region of Japan. The team plays in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. They have won the Central League pennant nine times (most recently in 2011) ...

2005 Season

In 2005, Kōsuke would play the fewest number of games since turning professional. In just 26 games, he would manage 11 hits on 48 at-bats, good for a batting average of .229.

2006 Season

2006 was another year Kōsuke would see his utilization drop, playing in only seven games for the season. Kōsuke would make the most of his opportunities, batting for a .267 average on fifteen at-bats. He would also net his first career triple.

2007 Season

Kōsuke would continue to be efficient on fewer opportunities during the 2007 season. He would achieve his highest batting average to date, earning a .280 average from seven hits on 25 at-bats.

2008 Season

Playing for the newly renamed

, Kōsuke would appear in just nine games. In what would be his least productive professional season to date, Kōsuke would notch just one base hit on 11 at-bats for a batting average of .111.

2009 Season

Kōsuke would play in just five games for the Lions in 2009. In those 22 games, he would make 11 plate appearances, going hitless and reaching the base just once on a walk for an average of .000.

2010 Season

During the 2010 season, Kōsuke would play in five games, getting eight at-bats. He would make the most of his opportunities, picking up two doubles and earning a batting average of .250.

2011 Season

In what would be his final professional season at the age of 33, Kōsuke would see action in nine games. In 17 plate appearances, he would reach base six times, all on walks.

International career

2000 Olympic Games Kōsuke played for Japan in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. The team just missed out on a medal, finishing in 4th place.

Coaching

Kōsuke Noda is the current batting coach for the Saitama Seibu Lions in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball, the highest level of

baseball in Japan Baseball was introduced to Japan in 1872 and is Japan's most popular participatory and spectator sport. The first professional competitions emerged in the 1920s. The highest level of baseball in Japan is Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), which ...

References

External links

1977 births Living people People from Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Baseball people from Kumamoto Prefecture Seibu Lions players Saitama Seibu Lions players Olympic baseball players of Japan Baseball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Japanese baseball coaches Nippon Professional Baseball coaches {{Japan-baseball-catcher-stub