Wanisaborou Takakazu:
Wanisaborou Takakazu was a good, though perhaps not great, free-swinging slugger who emerged in the American League towards the end of the first decade of play and into the second decade. He helped Memphis reach the postseason in 2009 and 2010 in his first two seasons, though they fell to Pittsburgh in the World Series in both years. Takakazu made his first two All Star appearances in 2011 and 2012- he would go on to make a total of 9 All Star teams in his career- but at the trade deadline in 2012, he was dealt to Portland for starting pitcher Joseph Olivo. In 2013, he had one of the worst seasons of his career, and strangely, was traded at the deadline
back to Memphis for none other than Joseph Olivo. He bounced back in 2014, but was traded at the deadline for a third year in a row, this time to Knoxville. Like a bad penny, though, he would return to Memphis, signing as a free agent with them. He proceeded to post the three best seasons of his career following that signing. After that, he finished out his career with Rochester.
Takakazu is not one of the greatest members of the Hall of Fame, as his numbers have been overshadowed by many, many players. Still, he was a dangerous bat who was among the best RF of his time.
Takakazu's stats:
Code:
Career Batting Stats
Year G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS Teams
2009 130 467 142 19 2 29 95 71 29 93 4 3 .304 .345 .540 .884 MEM
2010 156 612 194 24 5 34 113 105 37 127 10 1 .317 .356 .539 .895 MEM
2011 156 626 192 27 3 36 103 98 28 140 5 4 .307 .336 .532 .868 MEM,AL
2012 156 645 179 19 4 40 108 92 40 137 4 4 .278 .320 .505 .825 MEM,AL POR
2013 152 624 188 21 3 23 85 83 35 146 3 3 .301 .338 .455 .794 POR MEM
2014 154 639 194 27 0 37 121 104 43 168 7 3 .304 .348 .520 .867 MEM,AL KNO
2015 154 597 202 26 2 45 127 102 42 138 8 0 .338 .382 .615 .997 MEM,AL
2016 152 586 175 14 1 48 128 105 47 145 9 2 .299 .351 .572 .922 MEM,AL
2017 154 581 186 32 3 42 131 101 32 140 0 3 .320 .356 .602 .958 MEM,AL
2018 155 577 164 14 0 31 82 94 41 139 1 0 .284 .332 .470 .801 ROC
2019 151 595 181 28 3 30 91 106 53 131 0 0 .304 .361 .513 .874 ROC,NL
2020 156 625 187 16 3 29 82 108 53 139 2 3 .299 .354 .474 .828 ROC,NL
2021 154 607 199 26 2 28 95 88 43 112 2 1 .328 .372 .516 .888 ROC,NL
2022 153 534 135 19 2 11 53 44 39 124 0 2 .253 .304 .358 .661 ROC
Total 2133 8315 2518 312 33 463 1414 1301 562 1879 55 29 .303 .347 .515 .862
Career Minor League Batting Stats
Year G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS
2007, A 136 544 181 20 2 28 72 81 32 173 12 5 .333 .365 .531 .896
2008, A 12 54 20 2 0 2 6 8 0 9 1 0 .370 .370 .519 .889
2008, AA 126 511 170 25 1 22 83 78 43 114 9 4 .333 .381 .515 .896
Career Postseason Batting Stats
Year G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS
2009 9 34 8 2 0 0 6 2 2 10 0 0 .235 .278 .294 .572
2010 9 35 11 2 0 2 8 5 1 8 2 0 .314 .333 .543 .876
Total 18 69 19 4 0 2 14 7 3 18 2 0 .275 .306 .420 .726
Player History
Drafted in 1st round, 14th overall pick, by Memphis in 2007...
Injured on 5/31/2007 with a Bruised Ankle, out for 4 days...
Had first career hit (homerun) on 4/19/2009, off Jusai Tetsuzan (NAS)...
Won Player of the Week award on 7/28/2009, hitting .421 with 3 HR, 7 RBI...
Won Batter of the Month award on 10/1/2009, hitting .358 with 11 HR, 24 RBI...
Won Player of the Week award on 6/16/2010, hitting .368 with 4 HR, 9 RBI...
Drove in 6 runs against Knoxville on 7/5/2010...
Won Batter of the Month award on 8/1/2010, hitting .400 with 9 HR, 32 RBI...
Won Player of the Week award on 8/25/2010, hitting .444 with 3 HR, 11 RBI...
Won Player of the Week award on 6/2/2011, hitting .476 with 4 HR, 10 RBI...
Had 5 hits with 1 RBI against Tucson on 6/17/2011...
Was selected to the 2011 Allstar game...
Won Player of the Week award on 8/4/2011, hitting .484 with 3 HR, 7 RBI...
Hit for the cycle against Knoxville on 5/5/2012...
Won Player of the Week award on 5/12/2012, hitting .462 with 3 HR, 12 RBI...
Won Player of the Week award on 6/16/2012, hitting .370 with 4 HR, 6 RBI...
Was selected to the 2012 Allstar game...
Traded from Memphis to Portland on 7/31/2012 (Going to MEM: P J. Olivo, 2B A. Hunziker. Going to POR: RF W. Takakazu)...
Drove in 6 runs against Sacramento on 8/23/2012...
Won Player of the Week award on 8/25/2012, hitting .565 with 4 HR, 13 RBI...
Had 5 hits with 3 RBI against Sacramento on 5/23/2013...
Had 5 hits with 1 RBI against Rochester on 7/15/2013...
Won Player of the Week award on 7/28/2013, hitting .526 with 2 HR, 4 RBI...
Traded from Portland to Memphis on 7/31/2013 (Going to POR: P J. Olivo. Going to MEM: RF W. Takakazu)...
Had 5 hits with 2 RBI against Grand Rapids on 4/29/2014...
Was selected to the 2014 Allstar game...
Traded from Memphis to Knoxville on 7/31/2014 (Going to MEM: P D. Ruiz, C T. Johnson. Going to KNO: RF W. Takakazu)...
Signed as a free agent by Memphis on 2/4/2015 to a 3-year deal worth $7,689,000 per year...
Won Player of the Week award on 4/7/2015, hitting .393 with 3 HR, 8 RBI...
Was selected to the 2015 Allstar game...
Won Batter of the Month award on 10/1/2015, hitting .372 with 13 HR, 24 RBI...
Was selected to the 2016 Allstar game...
Injured on 9/29/2016 with a Hyper Extended Knee, out for 1-2 weeks...
Won Gold Glove Award at Rightfield in 2016...
Won Batter of the Month award on 7/1/2017, hitting .304 with 11 HR, 25 RBI...
Was selected to the 2017 Allstar game...
Drove in 7 runs against Nashville on 7/7/2017...
Drove in 6 runs against Tucson on 7/16/2017...
Had 6 hits with 10 RBI against Tucson on 9/9/2017...
Won Player of the Week award on 9/22/2017, hitting .478 with 3 HR, 8 RBI...
Signed as a free agent by Rochester on 2/11/2018 to a 3-year deal worth $8,398,800 per year...
Was selected to the 2019 Allstar game...
Won Player of the Week award on 7/14/2019, hitting .500 with 1 HR, 2 RBI...
Had 2000th career hit on 4/1/2020, off Damon Boll (PIT)...
Was selected to the 2020 Allstar game...
Hit 3 homeruns against Los Angeles, driving in 3 runs on 9/27/2020...
Won Player of the Week award on 9/29/2020, hitting .440 with 4 HR, 4 RBI...
Signed as a free agent by Rochester on 2/9/2021 to a 4-year deal worth $3,378,100 per year...
Won Player of the Week award on 5/19/2021, hitting .464 with 2 HR, 12 RBI...
Won Batter of the Month award on 6/1/2021, hitting .356 with 5 HR, 21 RBI...
Won Batter of the Month award on 7/1/2021, hitting .387 with 8 HR, 20 RBI...
Was selected to the 2021 Allstar game...
Retired and inducted to the Hall of Fame in 2023.
Batting Leader Boards Appearances
AVG
2010 - .317 - 10th
2015 - .338 - 3rd
2017 - .320 - 5th
2021 - .328 - 3rd
SLG
2009 - .540 - 7th
2010 - .539 - 7th
2011 - .532 - 5th
2014 - .520 - 10th
2015 - .615 - 2nd
2016 - .572 - 7th
2017 - .602 - 5th
2021 - .516 - 9th
OPS
2009 - .884 - 8th
2010 - .895 - 8th
2015 - .997 - 3rd
2016 - .922 - 10th
2017 - .958 - 6th
2021 - .888 - 8th
Hits
2010 - 194 - 5th
2011 - 192 - 7th
2013 - 188 - 10th
2015 - 202 - 3rd
2017 - 186 - 5th
2019 - 181 - 5th
2020 - 187 - 8th
2021 - 199 - 2nd
Homeruns
2009 - 29 - 9th
2010 - 34 - 5th
2011 - 36 - 4th
2012 - 40 - 7th
2014 - 37 - 8th
2015 - 45 - 3rd
2016 - 48 - 5th
2017 - 42 - 4th
2018 - 31 - 6th
2019 - 30 - 8th
RBI
2010 - 113 - 8th
2012 - 108 - 9th
2015 - 127 - 5th
2016 - 128 - 8th
2017 - 131 - 5th
2021 - 95 - 9th
Runs
2019 - 106 - 8th
2020 - 108 - 3rd