Kokubo Cleaning Up in Number Four Slot

Last Year's Japan Series champions, the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks,
have been floundering a bit for most of this season, finding it
difficult to get the consistency necessary to overtake The Orix Blue Wave and the Seibu Lions in the fight for first place.

In an attempt to juice up the club's offense, manager Sadaharu
Oh moved third baseman Hiroki Kokubo up from the number five and
six holes, where he had been the greater part of this campaign, to
cleanup, with slugging first baseman Nobuhiko Matsunaka hitting behind
him. So far, Kokubo is making Oh look like a genius and may be putting
himself in contention for an MVP and his club back in the Japan
Series.

Kokubo began the 2000 season hotter than a Fugendake eruption,
hitting six homers in his first 19 official at bats, four of them in
a series against the Kintetsu Buffaloes, including two in one game
April 4th as Daiei took four of their first five contests this year.
After winning two games against Nippon Ham, the Hawks fell victim
to a six game losing streak. Then they lost five more in a row in
early June, as they were struggling to tread water in the Pacific
League. Kokubo was struggling as well.

However, after Kokubo went deep in back to back games the last
week of May, Oh promoted him to the four hole. At first, this scheme
seemed to bring dividends, as Daiei ripped off three quick victories,
Kokubo going 7-15 in that time, a .467 clip. Then his bat went silent
during the aforementioned five game skid, going three for 20 with four
strikeouts, one homer, two RBIs and just one run scored.

But then Kokubo caught fire, and how! Since the five game
nightmare ended, Kokubo has gone an astonishing 32-74 (.432),
including his last ten games where he has hit at a .500 (22-44) pace.
This has set the table nicely for Matsunaka, enabling him to rise up
to second in the RBI race.

Too, with Matsunaka becoming more of
a threat, Kokubo has been able to feast on more desirable pitches to
hit and the Hawks are now perched atop the PL after going 12-4-1,
a .700 clip that is due, at least in part, to Kokubo's hot bat.

Kokubo has 16 homers now for the season, hitting a ball out every 20 at bats following his barrage against Kintetsu, which is in line with his career average of one every 18 offical at bats. Since
May 31, he has raised his average from .268 to a PL fourth best .332
as I write this, is first in slugging percentage at .636, fourth in total bases with 139, Tied for seventh in runs with Kintetsu's Tuffy Rhoades and Orix' Yoshitomo Tani with 43, is tied for sixth in doubles with 14 and is fourth in RBIs with 59. He has also been an asset in
the field, making less than five errors so far. He has become a target
of opposition pitchers, getting plunked seven times up to now.He
has also exhibited more discipline at the plate, whiffing on just
eight occasions in those last 74 at bats, an exemplary 10% rate. His
rate overall for the season is around 16-17%. Nevertheless, he hardly
walks at all despite that, doing so only four times over the last
26 games. He has 16 for the season. Nonetheless, he has gotten on
enough to have scored 25 runs in the same period, a testament to both
his consistency and Matsunaka's clutch hitting.

With the Orix and Seibu offenses lacking any frequent pop,
Kokubo has brought Daiei up to a point where they could start to run
away from the rest of the pack. Could this be the first V2 for the
Hawks since the early 50's? If Kokubo and his buddy Matsunaka have
anything to say about it, they got a real shot.