Kensuke Tanaka

We knew going into last season that it was going to be Kensuke Tanaka's final one as he had announced it last December when he signed his 2019 contract with Nippon-Ham.  Tanaka was the second round pick of the Fighters in the 1999 draft out of Higashi Fukuoka High School.  He spent most of the 2000 season with the farm team but made his debut with the ichi-gun team in September.  He spent most of the next five seasons bouncing between the farm team and the top team, missing time due to a broken leg in 2004.  He came into his own in 2006, taking over the starting second base job when new import Jose Macias didn't hit.  He kept the job for the next six seasons, although he missed time due to a broken finger and an ankle injury in 2011 and a broken arm in 2012.

In 2013 he decided to try his luck in MLB and signed with the San Francisco Giants.  He played most of the season at Triple A Fresno but he was able to get into 15 games with the Giants over about a three week span in July.  The timing of his stint with the major league team worked out perfectly for him as he was able to attend the White House ceremony honoring the 2012 World Series Champion Giants on July 29th - he was sent back to Fresno the next day.  He was released by the Giants a little over a month later but signed with the Texas Rangers for the 2014 season.  He spent all of that season at Triple-A Round Rock - well, all of it until he was released in July.

He returned to the Fighters in 2015 and pretty much resumed where he had left off, at least for the first two years.  His numbers started to decline in 2017 and his playing time started to fall off.  He considered retiring after 2018 but decided to stick around for another season.

He was named as the second baseman on the Best 9 team six times - 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, and 2015) and won the Golden Glove award five consecutive years from 2006 to 2010.  He made the All Star team three times (2008, 2010 & 2012).  He played for the Fighters in threefour Nippon Series (2006, 2007, 2009 and 2016) but he missed the 2012 Series due to injury.

His rookie BBM card was #367 from the 2000 set.  His first Calbee card was #226 in 2006.  Here's some cards of his from across his career:

2000 BBM #367

2003 BBM Fighters #042

2006 BBM Nippon Series #S15

2008 Calbee #051

2009 Lawson Fighters

2010 BBM All Stars #A57

2011 BBM 1st Version #381

2011 Fighters Victory Card #021

2013 BBM 1st Version #373

2015 BBM Fighters #F81

2017 Epoch Pacific League #04

2019 BBM 2nd Version #344

I did a post for him back in early 2013 when he departed Japan for MLB.