Akinori Otsuka...he and wife Akemi have one son, Toranosuke (8), and one daughter, Hikaru (5)...attended Yokoshiba High School and Tokai University...joined Los Angeles' Kazuhisa Ishii and Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki as just the third Japanese player to sign with a Major League team under the U.S.-Japan Protocol posting system...hobbies include golf and ping pong...signed by Padres scout Randy Smith.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Was signed in the offseason after playing seven years in the Japanese league... made his Major League debut April 6 at Los Angeles and suffered the loss allowing one run in 1.1 innings... tallied his first-ever win in the Major Leagues April 24 at Arizona with a scoreless frame... earned his first Major League save April 30 vs. the New York Mets tossing a perfect ninth inning... finished with a 7-2 record, tying Scott Linebrink for the bullpen-high in wins and the most by a Padre reliever since Kevin Walker won seven in 2000.

HOLD IT: Led the National League in holds with 34 and trailed only the New York Yankee's Tom Gordon (36) for the Major League lead... tallied the win (seven), save (two) or hold (34) in 43 of his 73 outings.

NICE STRETCH: From June 21-July 31 the Padres went 17-2 in his 19 appearances... included in that streak the Padres won nine consecutive games from June 21-July 6, during in which he went 1-0 with four holds.

ROAD WARRIOR: Appeared in 73 games in 2004, including 37 on the road where he posted a 1.36 ERA (6 ER/39.2 IP)... posted a 3-2 road record and held opposing hitters to a .189 average... struck out 44 hitters while walking just 15... had a stretch of nine scoreless road appearances from May 19-June 16 (9.1 IP).

RIGHT VS. LEFT: Held right-handers to a .183 average (26-for-142) but surrendered five of his six home runs to righties... left-handers tallied a .214 average (30-for-140) but connected for just one home run.

STRONG FINISH: Posted a 0.98 ERA (3 ER/27.2 IP) in his final two months of the season (August -September, did not appear in October)... in August he appeared in nine games and finished the month with a 1.50 ERA (2 ER/12.0 IP) striking out 18... he showed no signs of slowing down in September when he went 1-0 with a 0.57 ERA (1 ER/15.2 IP) in 14 games... did not allow a run in his final 13 appearances of the season (14.2 IP)