It took a while, but veteran area scout Eric Tokunaga said he has landed a full-time job in professional baseball.

After 14 years scouting here for the Kansas City Royals, the former University of Hawai'i player has been hired as an international scout for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball. He has relocated to Charlotte, N.C., where he will scout players in the Triple-A International League.

"It's a dream-come-true job," Tokunaga said. "Not too many times you get to do something you really want to do."

Unlike scouting amateur players for the Royals in which he had to project talent, Tokunaga will look for players mired in Triple-A who might want to make the jump across the Pacific Ocean to play for the Hawks. These would be players who are close to getting to the big leagues, but for various reasons are stuck at Triple-A. Playing in Japan gives them an option.

"I'll be looking for established pro players," Tokunaga said. "When you're looking at high school and college players, you're evaluating potential, whereas (minor leaguers), what you see is what you get."

He said he was approached about the Hawks job through a mutual friend.

Joining Tokunaga in scouting is former Hawaii Islanders pitcher Lee Tunnell, who spent the past season as pitching coach at Triple-A Louisville in the Cincinnati Reds organization. Tunnell, who lives in Oklahoma City, said in a telephone interview his job with the Hawks will allow him more time to spend with his family. Tunnell pitched for the Hawks from 1991 to 1993.

"The team I played for in Japan needed somebody to head up North America scouting," Tunnell said. "I've worked with them in finding them players over the years."

Since Tokunaga started scouting for the Royals in 1993, 17 different players were drafted out of high school or college by the Royals. Three of them signed: First baseman Chad Santos (Saint Louis 1999), pitcher Kahi Ka'anoi (Kamehameha 2000) and first baseman Kila Ka'aihue ('Iolani 2002). Santos made his major league debut, albeit with the San Francisco Giants last summer, while Ka'aihue has reached Double-A. Ka'anoi has since retired.

"I was lucky he turned out to be everything a scout could ask for," Tokunaga said of Santos, who signed with the Giants after becoming a minor league free agent after seven seasons in the Royals organization. "Only Joey Meyer (former Rainbow out of Punahou and retired major leaguer) had more power. He would be No. 1. Chad would be No. 2."

Tokunaga is a 1976 graduate of McKinley High, which had the distinction of handing 'Aiea's Derek Tatsuno his only pitching loss of his high school career in the O'ahu Interscholastic Association championship game. Ironically, they would become teammates at UH.

Tokunaga played four seasons for the Rainbows, including on the only team that reached the College World Series in 1980, when they finished runner-up to an Arizona team led by Terry Francona, currently the Boston Red Sox manager. Tokunaga was named the shortstop of the CWS all-tournament team.

He said then-Royals' cross checker Guy Hansen got him into scouting. Hansen, now the Royals' special assistant for baseball operations, is the older brother of former Rainbow outfielder Jon Hansen, who played the same time as Tokunaga.

Tokunaga said baseball is in an "upswing" locally, citing success of youth leagues on the national level, the level of play in high school and the strength of the three collegiate programs in the state, all of which have contributed players to pro ball.

"I'm going to miss going to the games, watching players fulfill their potential," he said.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.