Kosuke Fukudome

I like many Chicago Cubs fans look at Kosuke Fukudome and see a mystery. I think that our fan base does not know much about him and his past while he played in Japan for nine years prior to Chicago “importing” his talents. In this article I am going to try and shed some light on Fukudome's past.
Kosuke Fukudome was born on April 26th, 1977 in Osaki, Soo District, Kagoshima, Japan. He started out his baseball career attending PL Gakuen High School in Japan. There he excelled as a center fielder and quickly attached the attention of Japanese scouts. Many of these scouts projected him to go in the first round of the 1995 draft. Since the Japanese draft is much different than that of Major League Baseball, Kosuke Fukudome got drafted by seven teams. Upon drafting Fukudome these teams earn the right to negotiate with him. The Kintetsu Buffaloes ended up winning the right to negotiate a final contract with Kosuke Fukudome. Unfortunately for them Fukudome had already made his mind up as to who he would play for. He wanted the chance to play for either the Chinichi Dragons or the Yomiuri Giants. Both of these teams are somewhat familiar to baseball fans here in the states because of the 1992 movie “Mr. Baseball”. In the movie Tom Sellek actually played for the Chinichi Dragons and his team can be seen playing against the Yomiuri Giants. Since Kosuke Fukudome didn't receive an offer from his particular teams he went to play for the Nihon Seimei. The Nihon Seimei would be the equivalent of America's independent league. There he could play baseball earning more experience against decent competition.
In 1996 Kosuke Fukudome was the youngest player selected to the Japanese Olympic team. He would go on to play for Japan in Atlanta and help the Japanese team win a silver medal in baseball. He continued his progression as a player and in 1998 was drafted in the first round by the Chunichi Dragons but not as a center fielder. There he would play his days as a shortstop. Playing for the Dragons had been a dream of Fukudome's since he was a child so he did not care where he played at on the team. In his first season with the Dragons Fukudome batted .284 with 16 home runs. This was a significant contribution to the Dragons' league championship that year. The Dragons went on to the Japan Series where Fukudome would make many errors and taken out of numerous games for it. The errors also proved costly for the Dragons as they lost the Japan Series.
In his sophomore year with the Dragons Fukudome was moved over to third base. The move did not improve his fielding the way management had hoped so in his third season he was moved to right field. There he would become more comfortable and possess a good arm to keep runners from stretching their hits into extra bases. With this improved comfort in the field came more confidence at the plate. In 2002 he would stop future New York Yankee great Hideki Matsui in his run for the triple crown of Japanese baseball. Fukudome batted .343 with 19 home runs. He continued his progression the next year belting a career high 34 home runs while sustaining a .313 batting average. These are the kind of numbers that attracted the Chicago Cubs scouts to him.
In November of 2007 Kosuke Fukudome became a free agent from the Chunichi Dragons. He wanted to weigh his options and see if he had the possibility to play on the World's biggest baseball stage. He saw great players like Matsui and Matsuzaka come over sees and make big bucks playing for some of the best teams in the world. On December 11, 2007 the Chicago Cubs signed the Japanese player to a four year 48 million dollar contract. Fukudome had been quoted as saying he wanted to come to the Chicago Cubs to become their first Japanese player in hopes that more could follow. He indeed set the way for the Cubs as they invited Ken Kadokura to Spring Training. Although things did not turn out quite as well as Fukudome has so Kadokura did not make any roster spots throughout the Cubs' organization. I still believe that the Cubs have a massive presence in Japan and will continue to look for talent that may pop up there.
In Fukudome's rookie season he started off hotter than anybody on the Cubs' roster. Cubs' management looked like geniuses for getting Fukudome to come and play for the Chicago Cubs but a horrendous second half of the season killed Fukudome's hopes at acquiring a Rookie of the Year award. The award would go to his young teammate Geovany Soto instead of Fukudome. He ended up hitting a measly .257 with only 10 home runs in 150 games. Some may say that that the transition from Japan to America hurt him. While others say that the pitchers just saw a huge hole in Fukudome's swing. I say that it was probably a mix of everything. I couldn't go overseas and just perform like everyone else. Especially when you have to talk through another person to say anything.
Again in 2009 Fukudome has started off hot early. Can he put together a solid WHOLE season for the Cubbies? I sure hope so because they are going to need him.