Hiroki Uemoto

Hiroki Uemoto (上本 博紀)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 8", Weight 140 lbs.

• School Waseda University
• High School Koryo High School

• Born July 4, 1986 in Fukuyama, Hiroshima Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Hiroki Uemoto played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 11 years. His brother Takashi Uemoto also played in NPB.

Uemoto represented Japan in the 2003 Asia Junior Championship, 2006 World University Championship and 2008 World University Championship. In the 2008 event, he had a five-run game against Lithuania. Japan finished second and he was among the leaders in runs (tied Josh Fellhauer and Ryoji Nakata for 3rd with 9), hits (9, tied for 6th), walks (5, tied for 4th), steals (4, tied Jan Toman and Kyohei Iwasaki for 2nd) and assists (21, tied Chih-Hsiang Lin for 3rd). He was at .265/.359/.294 for the event. He hit .265 with 39 steals and 4 homers in his college career, and he won five Best Nine awards as a second baseman. He led the 2007 All-Japan University Baseball Championship Series in batting. The Hanshin Tigers selected him in the 3rd round of the 2008 NPB draft, and he spent the entire 2009 season in the NPB Farm Leagues; his .241 batting average was the least for a qualified player. Uemoto then went 5-for-15 in 2010, and he had a .250/.331/.398 batting line in 2011. He played 62 games with 13 steals in 2012, and his batting line was .254/.333/.345.

The Fukuyama native collided with Hayata Ito in a pre-season exhibition game against the Japanese national team for the 2013 World Baseball Classic, and he only played 25 games with a .254/.353/.407 batting line due to that injury. Uemoto finally broke out in 2014, and he collected 20 steals and 7 homers with a .276/.368/.390 batting line as Hanshin's starting second baseman. He was 7th in steals in the Central League, between Ryosuke Kikuchi and Masahiro Araki. In the 2014 Nippon Series, he hit .235/.294/.350 and the Softbank Hawks beat the Tigers in 5 games. Uemoto hit .253/.338/.339 in 108 games with 19 steals in 2015, and he tied Kikuchi for 5th in steals. He only played 45 games with a .257/.336/.386 batting line in 2016 due to a back injury.

Uemoto came back in 2017, and he batted .284/.366/.403 with a career-high 9 homers and 16 steals. He tied Seiya Suzuki for 7th in steals. Uemoto had a solid .422/.481/.556 batting line in 20 games in 2018, but he suffered a left knee injury on May 5 and his season ended. He then struggled in 2019 as his batting line fell to .192/.267/.260 in 62 games, and he went 7-for-41 in 2020. The Tigers released him after that season, and he announced his retirement. He was named the batting coach for the Tigers in 2025.

Overall, Uemoto hit .265/.349/.373 with 522 hits and 30 homers in 11 seasons in NPB.

Sources

• Wiki Japan
• 2008 World University Championship Final Report