Takayoshi Noma

Takayoshi Noma (野間 峻祥)

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 176 lb.
• School Chubu University
• High School Murano Technical High School

• Born January 28, 1993 in Miki, Hyogo Japan

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Biographical Information

Takayoshi Noma is an outfielder in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Noma was picked by the Hiroshima Carp in the first round of the 2014 NPB draft, after they failed in the lottery to secure the rights to Kohei Arihara. He debuted on March 27 as the pinch-runner for Ryuhei Matsuyama, and he crushed his first career homer against Tomohiro Hamada on April 19. It was the first time that a rookie hit his first home run against another rookie, during the latter's debut. Noma ended up hitting .241/.286/.371 with 6 triples in his rookie season, and he was 2nd in triples in the Central League (3 behind Kosuke Tanaka). He suffered from injuries in 2016, and he only played 21 games with a 7-for-24 record. He was used as a pinch-runner and defensive replacement in 2017, and he played 98 games with a .189/.259/.203 batting line among 74 at-bats. He appeared in 2 games as a 4th outfielder in the 2016 Nippon Series, and the Carp lost to the Nippon Ham Fighters in 6 games.

The Hyogo native replaced Matsuyama and he was named one of Hiroshima's starting outfielders in 2018, in which he hit .286/.343/.393 with 7 triples and 17 steals. He was 2nd in triples (tied with Yohei Oshima and Yota Kyoda) and 7th in steals (tied with Masayuki Kuwahara). He appeared in the 2018 Japan Series with Hiroshima against the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks, which the Carp lost four games to one with one tie. In a wild Game 3 on October 30th, he hit an important single in a two-run rally in the 6th, then drew a walk in the 8th and was on base when Tomohiro Abe connected for a grand slam. In the 9th, with the score 9-8 in favor of Fukuoka, he came up with two on and two outs against closer Yuito Mori but was unable to tie the game as he grounded out to 1B Akira Nakamura to end the game.

Noma played for the Japanese national team in an exhibition series against Mexico before the 2019 season. He slumped to .248/.317/.331 with 14 steals in 123 games in 2019, and he was 2nd in triples (5, tied with Kyoda, Tetsuto Yamada and Shuhei Takahashi) and 8th in steals (tied with Shinnosuke Shigenobu, Ryutaro Umeno and Ryosuke Kikuchi). He lost his starting spot in 2020, and he was 12-for-50 in 70 games. Noma hit .272/.323/.340 in 70 games in 2021, and he had a .312/.347/.397 batting line with a career-high 21 doubles in 2022.

The captain of the Carp was still solid and was an outfield regular again in 2023, and he recorded a .286/.351/.321 batting line in 108 games. He collected 5 triples with a .271/.350/.340 batting line in 2024, and he tied Koji Chikamoto for 2nd in triples. Noma missed several games due to injuries in 2025, and he only hit .247/.295/.292 in 79 games.

Sources

• Wiki Japan