Tsuyoshi Nishioka

[William Malone]

Tsuyoshi Nishioka was born on July 27, 1984 in Japan.

He began his professional career in 2003 with the Chiba Lotte Marines, playing under veteran American manager Bobby Valentine. Nishioka became one of the best shortstops in Japan, and helped lead Chiba Lotte to Japan Series titles in 2005 and 2010. He helped Japan win the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006, hitting two home runs during the tournament. Nishioka also hit .455 during the 2008 Olympics, but a heavily favored Team Japan wound up finishing off the medal stand in fourth place.

The Minnesota Twins signed Nishioka to a three year, $9 million contract on December 17, 2010. Minnesota also paid his former club a $5 million posting fee for the exclusive negotiation rights. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire  announced that Nishioka would move from shortstop to second base, paving the way for Alexi Casilla to be the everyday shortstop.

Nishioka opened his Major League career with a five game on-base streak. This stretch included two RBI and a stolen base. His first double and multi-hit game came on April 4th against the New York Yankees. He suffered a broken left fibula on April 6th when Yankees outfielder Nick Swisher slid hard into second base trying to break up a double play. This injury kept Nishioka out until mid-June.

The rookie infielder returned on June 16th, and he was back at his natural position of shortstop. Nishioka struggled offensively and defensively upon returning, and finished the year slashing .226/.278/.249 across 68 games. He only drove in 19 runs, and never homered. Nishioka was also worth -11 defensive runs saved in 60 games at shortstop.

Minnesota optioned Nishioka to Triple-A at the end of spring training in 2012. He slashed .258/.315/.324 over 101 games for the Rochester Red Wings. Nishioka was briefly called up for a three game big league stint in August, where he was 0-for-12 at the plate. He asked for his release in September, offering to give up the $3 million he was owed in 2013. This allowed him to sign with the Hanshin Tigers and return to Japan.

Nishioka played for Hanshin through 2018, but was never the star level player he had once been during his earlier days in Nippon Professional Baseball.

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