Kentaro Sekimoto

Kentaro Sekimoto (関本 賢太郎)

• Bats Right Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 200 lb.

• High School Tenri High School

• Born August 26, 1978 in Kashihara, Nara Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Kentaro Sekimoto played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 15 years.

Sekimoto was drafted by the Hanshin Tigers in the 2nd round of the 1996 NPB draft, but he spent his first five seasons almost entirely in the NPB Farm Leagues; he only got 2 at-bats for the big club combined. He played 71 games with a .254/.314/.415 batting line in 2002 (backing up Atsushi Kataoka at 3B and Shuta Tanaka at SS primarily), and he hit .269/.324/.507 in 74 plate appearances in 2003. Sekimoto was named the starting third baseman in the 2003 Nippon Series after staying on the bench in the first 6 games, and he crushed a solo shot against Tsuyoshi Wada; the Daiei Hawks still beat the Tigers. Sekimoto had a solid .316/.404/.401 batting line in 2004 while playing regularly at 3B, and he batted .297/.361/.362 in 97 games in 2005.

The Nara native extended his solid performance in 2006, and he hit .301/.382/.441 with a career-high 9 homers. Sekimoto slumped to .243/.324/.341 with 7 homers in 2007, and he broke Kazuyoshi Tatsunami's NPB record as he didn't commit an error in 804 consecutive total chances as a second baseman. He then hit .298/.364/.421 with 8 homers in 2008, and he tied the NPB record with 4 sacrifice bunts in a game on June 17. Sekimoto had a .271/.353/.353 batting line in 2009, but he lost the competition with Keiichi Hirano so he only played 79 games in 2010 with a .256/.389/.462 batting line.

Sekimoto hit .263/.353/.321 in 100 games in 2011, and he went 21-for-99 in 2012. He was the first Hanshin player to blast a pinch-hit homer on opening day since Tadakazu Ohshima in 1978. Sekimoto was 12-for-43 in 56 games in 2013, and he went 13-for-50 in 2014. He was 1-for-3 in the 2014 Nippon Series Game 4, and he went 0-for-3 in Game 5; the Tigers lost to the Softbank Hawks in 5 games. Sekimoto hit .262/.407/.262 in 55 games in 2015, and he announced his retirement.

Overall, Sekimoto hit .278/.362/.382 with 807 hits and 48 homers in 15 seasons in NPB. He had fielded .991 at 2B, .992 at 1B, .982 at 3B and .963 at SS.

Sources

• Wiki Japan