Seiya Kinami

Seiya Kinami (木浪 聖也, Kinami Seiya, born June 15, 1994 in Aomori City, Aomori, Japan) is a professional Japanese baseball infielder for the Hanshin Tigers.

Seiya Kinami
Kinami batting for the Tigers
Hanshin Tigers – No. 0
Infielder
Born: (1994-06-15) June 15, 1994
Aomori City, Japan
Bats: Left Throws: Right
debut
March 29, 2019, for the Hanshin Tigers
Career statistics
(through 2019)
Batting average.262
Home runs4
Runs batted in32
Teams

Early Baseball Career

Seiya started playing little league softball in 1st grade for the Yasuda Yanyan Baseball club, then continued as a baseball player in junior high in his hometown in Aomori.[1] He then went to play various infielder positions for Aomori Yamada High School, but his team never made it to any national tournaments.[2]

He entered Asia University in Tokyo, and participated regularly as a starter in the Tohto University Baseball League. From his 3rd year, he helped his team win two successive league championships, as well as two championships in the Meiji Jingu National Tournament. In his 40 league appearances, he recorded a 0.236 batting average, 7 RBIs and 7 stolen bases.[3]

Wanting to pursue a career in baseball despite not being selected in the professional drafts, he joined the industrial leagues under Honda where he played various infielder positions and batted as lead-off or clean-up during Intercity Baseball Tournaments.[4] Because he never once recorded any home runs, his coaches in Honda helped him develop his lower body strength and changed his batting form which resulted to him hitting a total of 24 home runs during his 2 years in the league.[5]

Hanshin Tigers

He was the Tiger's 3rd pick at the 2018 Nippon Professional Baseball draft. He signed a 60 million yen contract with Hanshin, for an estimated annual salary of 10 million.[6] He was assigned the jersey number 0, the same number he wore when he played for Honda.[7]

2019

He joined the main team for spring training in Okinawa, and competed with Fumiya Hojoh and veteran Takashi Toritani for the shortstop position. On March 23, he broke the NPB record for most hits by a rookie in the pre-season exhibition games when he notched his 22nd hit.[8] This performance earned him the shortstop position and lead-off spot during the season opening card with the Yakult Swallows.[9] On March 29, he and fellow rookie Koji Chikamoto became the first pair of Hanshin rookies in 47 years to bat as lead-off hitters during the season opener.[10] But he eventually got removed from the line-up when he failed to produce a single hit. He notched his first career hit on April 12 as a pinch hitter against the Dragons, and a few days later, hit his first career home run with two runners on base against Tomoyuki Sugano.[11]

His appearances gradually increased by June either as a lead-off or 2nd batter, and he even went on a 7-game hitting streak.[12] But with the entry of newly-imported Yangervis Solarte into the team, he got alternated with Solarte until he was eventually removed from the line up later in July. He redeemed himself in August by batting 0.431, and went on a 13-game hitting streak which tied the team rookie record notched by Chikamoto earlier in the season.[13]

He finished the season with an average of 0.262, and scored 32 RBIs including 4 home runs in 113 games.

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References
  1. "阪神ドラ３木浪「虎1号」指名後初実戦２安打２打点". Nikkan Sports. 2018-10-28.
  2. "ドラ３・木浪聖也、黄金世代に挑戦状　"虎のセイヤ"になる！]". Daily Sports. October 25, 2018.
  3. "阪神Ｄ３位・木浪、虎１号！指名後初実戦２安打２打点". Sankei Sports. 2018-10-28.
  4. "阪神Ｄ３位・木浪、遊撃ポジション奪う！青森の同級生・北條に「負けないぞ」". Sankei Sports. 2018-10-26.
  5. "Ｈｏｎｄａルーキー木浪　先制３ラン含む４打点「最高です」". Sports Nippon. 2017-07-16.
  6. "阪神３位木浪、指揮官の望む「準備力」で開幕１軍だ". Nikkan Sports. 2018-11-20.
  7. "阪神近本ら７選手入団会見「幸せな日を」矢野監督". Nikkan Sports. 2018-12-03.
  8. "阪神ドラ3木浪　マルチでOP戦21安打、12球団新人最多安打更新". Sports Nippon. March 24, 2019.
  9. "木浪＆近本の新人１、２番／阪神開幕スタメン - プロ野球". Nikkan Sports. 2019-03-29.
  10. "阪神D1・近本＆D3・木浪、新時代出撃！新人コンビが矢野虎元年飾る". Sankei Sports. 2019-03-29.
  11. "阪神のルーキー木浪がプロ初本塁打　前日の懲罰交代の汚名返上". Sankei Shimbun. 2019-04-19.
  12. "阪神木浪聖也が7試合連続安打「どうしても先頭で」". Nikkan Sports. 2019-06-30.
  13. "阪神木浪「明日頑張ります」連続試合安打ストップ". Nikkan Sports. 2019-09-06.
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