Kaito Kozono

Kaito Kozono (小園 海斗)

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 185 lbs.

• High School Hotoku Gakuen High School

• Born June 7, 2000 in Takarazuka, Hyogo Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Kaito Kozono has played in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Kozono represented Japan in the 2017 U-18 Baseball World Cup. He had three-hit games against Mexico, Cuba, South Africa and Australia and was 1-for-2 with a walk, steal and run in their Bronze Medal Game win over host Canada. He finished at .378/.395/.378 but fielded .842 with six errors in nine games. Only César Prieto had more hits in the event but only Daniel Monti had more errors. The Orix Buffaloes, Yokohama BayStars, Fukuoka Softbank Hawks and Hiroshima Toyo Carp all selected him in the first round of the 2018 NPB draft, and the Carp won the lottery to his rights. Kozono was soon promoted to the big club, and he became the first rookie to collect 4 hits in a game since Hideki Matsui did it in 1993. He recorded a .213/.241/.324 batting line with 4 homers in his rookie year. However, Kozono struggled at ni-gun in 2020, so he only played 3 games with the big club.

The Hyogo native broke out in 2021, hitting .298/.320/.399 with 5 homers. Kozono was 8th in batting (between Toshiro Miyazaki and Yohei Oshima) and 2nd in triples in the Central League (1 behind Yasutaka Shiomi). He was selected into the 2022 NPB All-Star Games, but he went 0-for-4. Kozono ended up hitting .266/.300/.362 with 7 homers in this season. When Masaya Yano shined in 2023, Kozono needed to share the shortstop spot with him, so he only played 80 games with a .286/.315/.434 batting line. He drew three walks with a hit against the Yokohama BayStars in the first stage of the 2023 CLCS, and he extended his good performance in the final stage versus the Hanshin Tigers. He was 2-for-3 with a triple against Shoki Murakami, and collected two hits with the only RBI of the Carp against Masashi Ito in Game 2. He was 2-for-5 in Game 3, but couldn't stop the Tigers from sweeping the Carp.

Kozono played for Japan in the 2023 Asia Professional Baseball Championship. He was 1-for-4, with a single off Ruei-Yang Gu Lin of Taiwan in their opener, then went 3-for-4 against South Korea. He hit a RBI single against Jack Bushell of Australia, and he drew a walk when bases were loaded from Kieren Hall. In the Gold Medal Game, against Korea again, he had one hit in 4 at-bats against Been Gwak, and Japan won Gold in the event. Kozono was moved to third base after Masaya Yano shined in 2024, and he played all 143 games with a .280/.322/.330 batting line. He was selected into the 2024 NPB All-Star Game, and he was 1-for-3, with a single against Anderson Espinoza, in Game 1. He hit for Tyler Austin in the 9th inning of Game 2, and he hit a double against Tatsuya Imai. He was 7th in hits (151, between Shugo Maki and Kazuma Okamoto) and 3rd in steals (13, tied with Yano).

After the '24 season, he represented Japan in the 2024 Premier 12. Kozono went 2-for-5 with a RBI grounder against Lewis Thorpe in their opener against Australia, and he was 2-for-5 versus South Korea. He was 1-for-4 facing Chinese Taipei, and he had a 2-for-5 record versus Cuba. Kozono shined against the USA, and he crushed a 3-run shot off Zane Mills in the 7th inning. He added a 2-run shot against Cam Vieaux, and he was the first Japanese professional player to knock in 7 runs in an international game. Kozono was 2-for-3 with 2 runs scored against Venezuela, and he was named the starting second baseman in the final. However was hitless in 4 at-bats in the Gold Medal game, and Japan lost to Taiwan and won Silver. He finished 4th in hits (12, between Matt Shaw and Didi Gregorius), tied Maki and Diego Castillo for 5th in RBI (8) and tied Arismendy Alcántara and Shaw for 4th in steals (3). He had hit .387/.441/.677 and handled 17 chances error-free.

Kozono had his career year in 2025, and he hit .309/.365/.388 with 161 hits. He won the batting title (.008 ahead of Yuta Izuguchi) and OBP title (.002 ahead of Yusuke Ohyama). He was 2nd in hits (7 behind Yuki Okabayashi), 9th in doubles (24, tied with Shota Morishita, Keita Sano and Maki), 4th in triples (4), 10th in slugging (tied with Okamoto) and 8th in steals (12, tied with Mikiya Tanaka). He did not make the Best Nine, though, as Izuguchi was picked at SS and Teruaki Sato at 3B. He then made it onto Japan's roster for the 2026 World Baseball Classic.