Seiya Kinami
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Seiya Kinami | |
|---|---|
 Kinami batting for the Tigers | |
| Hanshin Tigers – No. 0 | |
| Shortstop | |
| Born: June 15, 1994 Aomori City, Japan | |
Bats: Left Throws: Right | |
| NPB debut | |
| March 29, 2019, for the Hanshin Tigers | |
| Career statistics (through 2024 season) | |
| Batting average | .245 |
| Hits | 401 |
| Home runs | 11 |
| RBI | 154 |
| Stolen bases | 5 |
| Stats at Baseball Reference | |
| Teams | |
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| Career highlights and awards | |
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Seiya Kinami (木浪 聖也, Kinami Seiya; born June 15, 1994 in Aomori City, Aomori, Japan) is a professional Japanese baseball shortstop for the Hanshin Tigers.
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]