Takahiro Kumagai

Takahiro Kumagai (熊谷 敬宥, Kumagai Takahiro, born November 10, 1995 in Sendai, Miyagi) is a Japanese professional baseball infielder, playing for the Hanshin Tigers in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball.

Takahiro Kumagai
Kumagai playing for the Tigers, 05/18
Hanshin Tigers – No. 4
Infielder
Born: (1995-11-10) November 10, 1995
Bats: Right Throws: Right
NPB debut
May 19, 2018, for the Hanshin Tigers
Career statistics
(through 2020 season)
Batting average.276
Home runs0
RBI5
Teams

Early Baseball Career

Born in Sendai City, he started playing baseball with his friends as early as 2nd grade, played little league for the Nankodai Shonen baseball club, and joined the Nankodai Tobu Seniors in junior high.[1]

He entered Sendai Ikuei Gakuen High School, a known baseball powerhouse, and played short stop as his team participated twice in the Summer Koshien Tournaments.[2] In his senior year, his team made it all the way to the Spring Koshien semi-finals, and during the summer nationals, he notched a walk-off hit to win the first round against Urawa Gakuin High.[3] After the nationals, he joined the national team as an outfielder to play in the 2013 18U Baseball World Cup. As the 2nd batter, he helped Japan win the runner up by recording 8 hits and 5 stolen bases.[4]

He entered Rikkyo University and secured the short stop position as his team participated in Tokyo Big6 tournaments.[4] As team captain in his 4th year, he earned the league title for most stolen bases, and led his team to win both the Tokyo Big6 championships and Japan National Collegiate Baseball Championship, a feat that hasn't been achieved by his school in the last 59 years.[5] In 61 league appearances, he finished with a batting average of 0.220, 12 RBIs including a single home run. He again joined the national team to compete at the Baseball at the 2017 Summer Universiade, where Japan took home the gold medal.[2]

Hanshin Tigers

He was the Hanshin Tigers' 3rd round pick in the 2017 annual professional baseball draft. He inked a 60 million yen contract with the Tigers for a 10 million yen annual salary.[6] He was assigned the jersey number 4.[7] The 1st round pick of the same draft, pitcher Kosuke Baba, was his teammate in high school.[8]

2018

He joined the main squad during spring training in Okinawa but was sent back to the farm before the season began.[9] He spent the first few weeks playing shortsop or 2nd baseman in minor Western League games. By mid-May, although he batted a lackluster average of 0.214, he topped the league in stolen bases (20 SBs out of 42 games).[10] He was then called to the main squad on May 19 to debut as a 1st base pinch runner for Hayata Ito in the 8th inning, and recorded his career first stolen base during the next batter's at-bat.[11] His first plate appearance came on May 27th as a pinch hitter at the bottom of the 8th, and recorded his first career hit against the Giants in Koshien.[12] After a few more scattered plate appearances, he made it to the starting line-up as 2nd batter on June 30. His 2nd at-bat resulted into his first RBI as a right-handed batter, while he got his 1st hit batting left in his 4th at-bat.[13] He alternated between the main squad and the farms for a few more matches, but was eventually sent back to the farms for the remainder of the season. Out of 19 main squad games, he finished with a 0.231 average, 2 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. He also participated as shortstop during the post-season farm championship match where Hanshin won (8-4), and he was awarded the game's MVP (1 RBI, 1 earned run, 1 stolen base).[14]

2019

He spent the entire season playing in the farms. Out of 114 Western League game appearances, he finished with a batting average of 0.234, 43 RBIs including 2 home runs, and 17 stolen bases.

Playing Style

A 1.75 meter infielder, his 50-meter dash was clocked at 5.8 seconds while his farthest distance throw as recorded at 115 meters.[15] He was initially being groomed to be a switch hitter and was registered as such after his draft, but in 2019, he decided to focus on right-handed hitting and master it.[16]

References
  1. "阪神3位立大・熊谷「日本を代表するショートに」". Nikkan Sports. 2017-10-27.
  2. "阪神ドラフト3位・熊谷、立教の大先輩・ミスターに成長見せる". Sankei Sports. 2017-11-03.
  3. "ドラ３熊谷、ミスターに勇姿見せる　母校大先輩の前で伝統の一戦に". Daily Sports. 2017-11-03.
  4. "大学野球で仙台育英出身の３人の主将が誕生！日本一を目指し競うライバルへの想い". Sports Hochi. 2017-04-06.
  5. "立大59年ぶり4度目の日本一／全日本大学野球結果". Nikkan Sports. 2017-10-27.
  6. "ドラ３・熊谷が仮契約、金本監督印象は「熱い方だな」". Daily Sports. 2017-11-27.
  7. "ドラフト1位馬場は「18」　2位高橋は「29」新入団会見で背番号発表". Daily Sports. 2017-12-04.
  8. "阪神ドラフト3位・熊谷、ドラフト1位・馬場打って一軍！堅実遊撃守備に定評／ドラフト". Sankei Sports. 2017-11-27.
  9. "阪神ドラフト3位熊谷　二軍合流「走攻守すべて足りなかった」". Sports Nippon. 2018-02-21.
  10. "阪神ドラフト3位熊谷初昇格　二軍で20盗塁　西岡ら抹消". Nikkan Sports. 2018-05-18.
  11. "阪神ドラフト3位熊谷、初出場&初盗塁に「自信になった」". Nikkan Sports. 2018-05-18.
  12. "阪神ドラフト3位・熊谷、初打席で初安打「食らいつく!」". Sankei Sports. 2018-05-28.
  13. "阪神熊谷プロ初打点　スイッチ挑戦の左打席でも安打". Nikkan Sports. 2018-06-30.
  14. "2018年プロ野球ファーム日本選手権 表彰選手". NPB Official Website. 2018-10-06.
  15. "【阪神】ドラ３立大・熊谷、仙台育英でのチームメートのドラフト1位馬場と再び甲子園沸かせる". Sports Hochi. 2017-11-27.
  16. "阪神・熊谷　スイッチヒッターやめ、右打ちに専念「どうやったら生きていけるかと考えた」". Sports Nippon. 2019-03-01.


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