Akinori Otsuka, Date of Birth, Place of Birth

Akinori Otsuka

baseball player

Date of Birth: 13-Jan-1972

Place of Birth: Hanamigawa-ku, Chiba Prefecture, Japan

Profession: baseball player

Nationality: Japan

Zodiac Sign: Capricorn

Akinori Otsuka (?? ??, Otsuka Akinori) (born January 13, 1972) is a retired Japanese baseball pitcher who coaches for the Chunichi Dragons in Nippon Professional Baseball.
He was formerly the set-up man for the San Diego Padres and the Texas Rangers.
He was also the closer for Japan's 2006 World Baseball Classic winning team. Otsuka threw a low-90's 4-seam fastball (tops out at about 94 mph) that is very straight, along with a hard, late-breaking slider.
He employed an unorthodox pitching delivery wherein he lifted his lead leg up very slowly, tapped his glove, then fired to home plate, making his pitches look faster coming out of his hand and thus harder to pick up.