Tsuyoshi Nishioka

Tsuyoshi Nishioka (西岡 剛) is a Japanese former professional baseball infielder.

He played in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Chiba Lotte Marines and Hanshin Tigers, as well as Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Minnesota Twins.

He hit just .268 but led the Pacific League in triples (11) and stolen bases (41), playing a key role in the Marines' first Japan Series championship since 1974.

His splitting time between the two middle infield positions created an unusual situation in which he won the Pacific League Best Nine Award at shortstop and the Golden Glove Award at second base (incidentally, double-play partners Hori and Kosaka were awarded the Best Nine Award at second base and the Golden Glove Award at shortstop, respectively).

Nishioka led Osaka Tōin to the 84th National High School Baseball Championship in his senior year of high school as the team captain and leadoff hitter, but the team lost in the first round to Tōhō High School, the Aichi champions.

Despite his lack of success on the national stage, Nishioka hit 42 home runs in his high school career, mostly as a second baseman, and was considered one of the top high school prospects in the country by NPB scouts.

He was selected in the first round of the 2002 NPB amateur draft held that fall by the Chiba Lotte Marines.

In 2003, his rookie season, Nishioka was assigned to the ichigun (Japanese equivalent of "major league") team during Spring training, but he was sent down to the nigun team ("minor league" or "farm team") for the season opener.

He was called up to the ichigun team in mid-June and made his professional debut on June 23 as a pinch runner, hitting a double off then-Orix BlueWave right-hander Hisashi Tokano in his very first plate appearance on June 28 for the first hit of his professional career.

However, he was sent back down to the minors after a few games.

His .216 batting average was the lowest among all qualifying players in the Eastern League.

Nishioka followed the advice of coach Yoshihiko Takahashi and become a switch hitter in his second year in the pros (2004).

(He remains one of the few examples of a naturally right-handed player switching from hitting left-handed to hitting switch in Japanese professional baseball today.) He hit his first career home run at the ichigun level off then-Seibu Lions right-hander Mitsutaka Goto on June 27 and recorded his first career stolen base in the same game.

He finished with six homers and 35 RBI for the season (though his average was just .255 and his on-base percentage a mere. 304).

Nishioka had a breakout year in 2005, starting as a backup infielder but starting at both second base and shortstop alongside veterans Koichi Hori and Makoto Kosaka in an unorthodox platoon system as the season went on.

Nishioka played in the 2006 World Baseball Classic as well as the 2008 Beijing Olympics as a member of the Japanese national team.

Coming off a strong showing in the inaugural World Baseball Classic, his first major international tournament, Nishioka was named one of the cornerstones of the team by manager Bobby Valentine in 2006 and was used exclusively at shortstop for the first time in his career to reduce the risk of injury (Nishioka had hurt his knee the previous year after switching between second base and shortstop so frequently).

Though the Marines finished fourth that year, Nishioka improved on his batting average (hitting .282) and on-base percentage (.358) from the previous season.

Though he led the league in triples (seven, tied with Munenori Kawasaki, Shogo Akada and Teppei Tsuchiya) and stolen bases (33) for the second straight season, he was also caught stealing a league-high 17 times, resulting in a stolen base percentage of just 66 percent.

On January 7, Nishioka publicly announced that he would have his name listed on the Marines' official roster as "TSUYOSHI" (much like how Ichiro Suzuki used his first name on the back of his uniform during his years with the BlueWave, but in the Latin alphabet capital letter rather than in Katakana) rather than his actual Japanese name in Kanji characters for the 2007 season.

This is the third case a Japanese player's register name use capital letter after Tsuyoshi Shinjo and Michael Nakamura

Despite being hampered by a wrist injury as well as neck pain, Nishioka reached .300 while accumulating enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title for the first time in his career.

However, while he succeeded in improving on both his batting average and his on-base percentage from the previous season (.300 and .366, respectively), he managed to steal only 27 bases in 40 attempts for a mediocre 67.5 percent success rate.

Nishioka announced that he would have his name listed as "Tsuyoshi Nishioka" again for the 2008 season, exactly one year (January 7) after his announcement to change it to "TSUYOSHI".

He continued to be plagued by injuries (both to his knee and neck as well as to his feet) but chose to play through them, determined to keep the Marines within reach of the Climax Series (playoffs).

His injuries limited him to just 18 stolen bases (his lowest total since becoming the team's regular shortstop) in 29 attempts for a success rate of 62.1 percent and hindered his play both on the basepaths and in the field.

On the other hand, he hit .300 for the second straight year, hitting double-digit home runs (13) and slugging over .400 over a full season (.463) for the first time in his career even though he missed time due to the Beijing Olympics held in August.

Nishioka was named to the national team's preliminary roster for the upcoming World Baseball Classic in early 2009 along with teammate Shunsuke Watanabe, but was ultimately cut from the final 28-man team.

He continued to be bothered by injuries once the regular season began, hitting .263 for the month of April (albeit with a .391 on-base percentage) but missing several games in the opening weeks of the season with a right hamstring injury as well as a bruise to the right tarsus suffered when sliding into second base to break up a double play and colliding with second baseman Yosuke Takasu in the fifth inning of a game against the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles on April 16.

In 2010, he became the fifth person to record 200 hits in a single NPB season.

Nishioka was born in Daitō, Osaka, and grew up in the city of Nara.

He played in the national tournament as a member of Kōriyama Senior while attending Nara Prefectural Heijō East Junior High School, starting baseball as a right-handed hitter and switched to the left side during junior high.

Following the 2010 season, in which Nishioka led the league with 206 hits, a .346 batting average and 121 runs scored, the Chiba Lotte Marines accepted a $5 million bid through the posting system, giving the Minnesota Twins thirty days to work out a contract with Nishioka.

Nishioka joined the Minnesota Twins for spring training at their facility in Fort Myers, Florida to start the 2011 MLB season.

During spring training, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire announced that Nishioka would play second base for the Twins, allowing Alexi Casilla to become the starting everyday shortstop.

Nishioka made his MLB debut with the Twins on April 1.

In his first major league game he went 1–3 with one strikeout and one fielding error.

On April 7, just one week into his Major League career, Nishioka suffered a broken left fibula as New York Yankee outfielder Nick Swisher slid into second base attempting to break up a double play.

After missing 59 games, Nishioka returned on June 16 to start against the Chicago White Sox, going 1 for 4 while batting third and playing shortstop.

On December 17, Nishioka officially signed with the Twins for $9 million over three years, with a club option for 2014 or a $250,000 club buyout.