The Orix Buffaloes have acquired former Rakuten Eagles first baseman/designated hitter Fernando Seguignol, the club said Thursday.
Seguignol shared the Pacific League home run title with the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks' Nobuhiko Matsunaka in 2004 at 44 when he was playing for the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters.
The 35-year-old Seguignol is a career .274 hitter with 172 homers and 480 RBIs in seven seasons in Japan, with the Orix BlueWave, Fighters and Eagles.
"He has a wealth of experience in the Pacific League. We expect he will boost our offense," senior Buffaloes official Yoshio Murayama said.
Seguignol's $300,000 contract runs through the end of the 2010 season.
He was playing for the Newark (N.J.) Bears of the independent Atlantic League, with three homers and 16 RBIs in 28 games, as well as a .337 batting average.