Ryūku Tsuchida
Japanese baseball player (born 2002)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ryūku Tsuchida (土田 龍空, Tsuchida Ryūku; born December 30, 2002) also known just as Ryūku is a professional Japanese baseball player. He is currently an infielder for the Chunichi Dragons.
| Ryūku Tsuchida 土田 龍空 | |
|---|---|
| |
| Chunichi Dragons – No. 45 | |
| Infielder | |
| Born: December 30, 2002 Maibara, Shiga, Japan | |
Bats: Left Throws: Right | |
| NPB debut | |
| 4 September 2021, for the Chunichi Dragons | |
| NPB statistics (through 2023 season) | |
| Batting average | .215 |
| Hits | 105 |
| Homeruns | 1 |
| RBIs | 32 |
| Stats at Baseball Reference | |
| Teams | |
| |
Early career
Tsuchida started playing baseball with in second grade.[1] While at Maibara Municipal Middle School, he played for Kohoku Boys.[2]
Tsuchida was a first-team regular at short-stop as a freshman for Ōmi High School and played in the 100th anniversary koshien tournament in 2018 where he lost to a Kosei Yoshida led Kanaashi Agricultural High School.[3] In summer of his sophomore year, he would once again get playing time at koshien. In the first game, Tsuchida was responsible for 2 errors leading to a loss to Tokai University Sagami High School.[4] In the fall, he helped his team win the Shiga Prefectural Tournament and in the first game of the Kinki Regional tournament, contributed with a 3-hit game. In his senior year, Tsuchida was installed as Ōmi's captain,[5] and during the August training session for high schoolers trying to turn pro, he would hit a line-drive off future team-mate, Tsubasa Kato.[6]
At the 2020 Nippon Professional Baseball draft, Tsuchida was selected in the 3rd round by the Chunichi Dragons.[7] On 22 November he signed a ¥6,000,000 per-year deal with a ¥45,000,000 sign-on bonus.[8]
Play style
Personal life
Tsuchida thinks Shohei Ohtani is the ideal player and upon being drafted, mentioned his reverence for then team-mate Yota Kyoda. He also said that he would most like to fac Yomiuri Giants pitcher Kai Yokogawa as they had faced each other during their middle-school days.[12]
It is said that he gets along well with Yota Kyoda even in private settings, and after Kyoda was traded he mentioned that "I do feel a bit lonely. I would like to do my best as a fellow short-stop to catch-up to him...or I would love to win a golden glove and overtake him."[13][14]
In junior high, Tsuchida was in the athletics club and has experience coming 6th in the Shiga prefectural tournament high jump competition.[10]
.jpg){kind=small}
