Was managed throughout his career in Japan by Shingo Takatsu, who pitched for the White Sox in 2004-05 as the first Japanese-born player in franchise history … Takatsu finished second in the 2004 American League Rookie of the Year voting and was a member of the 2005 World Series championship club...After hitting 52 career home runs at Kyushu Gakuin High School in Kumamoto, Japan, was selected in the first round of the 2017 NPB Draft by Yakult, Yomiuri and Rakuten, with the Swallows winning the lottery for his services...To share in the celebration of his arrival in Chicago, donated $100 grocery gift certificates served by the St. James Food Pantry to 100 Chicago families who faced food insecurity during the holiday season … also donated $10,000 to the Food Pantry.
2025
Was limited to 56 games in an injury-shortened season, hitting .273/.379/.663 (51-for-187) with 22 home runs and 47 RBI...His 22 homers still ranked fifth in NPB, and his .663 slugging percentage would have led the league among qualifying players...Suffered a right oblique injury in spring training and aggravated the injury in his season debut on 4/17 vs. Hanshin (first career start in right field) … played in 13 games with Yakult in the Japan Eastern League (Minors) on a rehab assignment...Returned to the Swallows lineup on 7/29 at Yokohama, going 2-for-4 with a solo homer, the 225th of his career to break Toru Sugiura's club record by a left-handed hitter...Batted .291/.342/.699 (30-for-103) with 12 home runs and 22 RBI over 27 games in August … his 12 homers led all NPB teams … went 4-for-4 with a home run and three RBI on 8/3 vs. Hanshin...Hit his fourth career walk-off homer on 8/12 vs. Yokohama, a two-run shot off Koh Nakagawa … matched his career high (second time) with three home runs on 8/30 vs. Hiroshima … homered twice with six RBI on 9/4 at Yomiuri, including his eighth career grand slam.
2024
Led the CL with 33 home runs, 86 RBI and 105 walks … finished sixth in the CL MVP voting and won his fourth "Best Nine" award... Hit his 200th career home run on 5/15 vs. Hiroshima, the youngest player in NPB history to reach that milestone...Was selected to the NPB All-Star Game … hit a double and two-run homer in the second inning of Game 1 and added a double in the fourth … hit a solo homer in Game 2...Homered twice on 7/26 vs. Hiroshima and 9/20 vs. Chunichi.
2023
Ranked among the CL leaders in home runs (second, 31), walks (second, 90), RBI (fourth, 84), on-base percentage (fourth, .375), OPS (fourth, .875), slugging (ifth, .500) and runs scored (sixth, 76)...Hit a pair of home runs on 5/13 and 7/12 vs. Chunichi … homered in three straight games twice (8/8-10 and 9/12-14)...World Stage: Represented Japan in the World Baseball Classic … went 2-for-3 with two doubles in a quarterfinal victory over Italy … hit a two-run, walk-off double off Giovanny Gallegos in a 6-5 semifinal victory over Mexico … connected on a game-tying solo home run off Merrill Kelly of Team USA in the final … Japan went on to record a 3-2 victory, earning its third WBC title.
2022
Won his second straight CL Most Valuable Player award, receiving all 299 votes, after batting .318/.458/.710 (155-for-487) with 56 home runs and 134 RBI … became the first CL player since Oh in 1977 to win the award unanimously...At age 22, became the seventh player (11th time) in NPB history to win the batting Triple Crown, the first since Nobuhiko Matsunaka in 2004 and the youngest ever … joined Oh (1973-74) and Randy Bass (1985-86) as the only players in CL history to accomplish the feat … won the batting title by .004, the home run title by 26 and the RBI title by 47 … also led the CL in runs scored (114), walks (118), intentional walks (25), total bases (346), on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS (1.168)...His 56 homers were the second highest total in NPB history and the most ever by a Japanese player, one more than Oh in 1964 … a breakdown: 18 vs. LHP and 38 vs. RHP; 23 at home and 33 on the road; zero in March, six in April, nine in May, 14 in June, eight in July, 12 in August, six in September and one in October...Batted .346/.470/.735 (56-for-162) with a career-high 18 home runs vs. left-handed pitchers...Became the first player in NPB history to hit home runs in five consecutive at-bats when he homered in his final three on 7/31 at Hanshin and his first two on 8/2 vs. Chunichi … doubled in the sixth inning on 8/2 in his bid for six straight home runs...Recorded 12 multi-homer games, including a career-high three on 7/31 at Hanshin, hit four grand slams (5/6-7 at Yomiuri, 6/11 at Fukuoka and 6/23 vs. Chunichi) and drove in four-plus runs 12 times, including a career-high six on 6/11 at Fukuoka and 6/23 at Chunichi … hit his third career walk-off homer on 5/24/22 vs. Hokkaido, a two-run shot off Koki Kitayamain the 11th inning...Entered May with six home runs, June with 15, July with 29, August with 37 and September/October with 49 … batted .410/.515/.940 (34-for-83) with 14 homers, 35 RBI and 23 runs scored in June and .440/.588/.987 (33-for-75) with 12 home runs, 25 RBI and 30 runs scored in August...Hit his 54th and 55th home runs on 9/13 vs. Yomiuri, tying Oh (1964), Tuffy Rhodes (2001) and Alex Cabrera (2002) for the second-highest total in NPB history behind Wladimir Balentien (2013) … went 13 straight games without a homer before hitting his historic 56th in the seventh inning on 10/3 vs. Yokohama (final day of the season), a solo shot off Taisei Irie, to become the all-time NPB single-season leader among Japanese-born players...Played in 10 postseason games, recording two home runs and eight RBI as Yakult lost to Orient in the Japan Series in its bid to repeat at league champions.
2021
Was named CL Most Valuable Player, receiving 287 of 306 first-place votes, after batting .278/.408/.566 (139-for-500) with 27 doubles, 39 home runs, 112 RBI, 82 runs scored, 106 walks and 12 stolen bases in 143 games...Led the CL in walks and total bases (283), tied for the lead in home runs and ranked second in RBI, on-base percentage, slugging and OPS … at age 21, tied Yukihiko Machida (1955) as the youngest player in NPB history to lead the CL in homers...Was named to the CL All-Star Team for the third straight season and Best Nine for the second time...Helped Yakult win the Japan Series, where he was managed by former White Sox pitcher Shingo Takatsu...Homered in back-to-back games nine times … hit two home runs on 4/27 vs. Yomiuri, 7/13 at Yomiuri and 8/20 at Hiroshima … reached base safely six times on 9/7 at Hanshin, going 2-for-2 with four walks, a home run and four RBI. l Hit his 100th career home run on 9/19 vs. Hiroshima (off Kouya Takahashi), becoming the youngest player in NPB history to reach that milestone … connected on his third grand slam on 9/21 at Yokohama (off Yuya Sakamoto)... Played for Japan in the Tokyo Olympics, hitting .333/.474/.533 (5-for-15) with one home run, three RBI and six runs scored in five games to lead his country to its first-ever gold medal … his solo homer off Team USA's Nick Martinez in the Gold Medal game was the winning hit in a 2-0 victory.
2020
Led the CL with a .427 on-base percentage, .585 slugging percentage, 1.012 OPS, 87 walks (11 intentional) and 248 total bases and ranked among the leaders in RBI (second, 86), doubles (tied-second, 30), home runs (tied-second, 28), average (fifth, .307) and runs scored (fifth, 70) in his second full season...Was named to the CL "Best Nine" as the first baseman and finished 11th in the MVP voting...Recorded a CL-best 31 RBI in July … drove in five runs on 7/2 vs. Hiroshima, including his second career grand slam, a game-ending shot off Tayler Scott...Compiled an 11-game hitting streak from 7/5-18, going 20-for-45 (.444) with 14 RBI … posted six multi-hit efforts in seven games from 7/11-18...Went 4-for-5 with three doubles, a home run and five RBI on 10/18 at Hanshin … hit a pair of homers on 10/28 at Hiroshima and 11/7 at Yomiuri.
2019
Was named CL Rookie of the Year ranking third in the league with 36 home runs and 96 RBI … his 36 homers tied the NPB record by second-year rookies, while his 96 RBI were the second-highest total...Was the only Swallows player to appear in all 143 games … at age 19, became the youngest player in franchise history to start the season opener, breaking the mark of Seikichi Nishioka (21) in 1958...Went 2-for-5 with his first career grand slam (off Casey Lawrence) and five RBI on 7/3 at Hiroshima...Was voted into the All-Star Game as the third baseman and also was selected to compete in the Home Run Derby...Hit his first career walk-off homer on 8/12 vs. Yokohama, the youngest player in NPB history to accomplish that feat … recorded his first career multi-homer game on 8/17 vs. Chunichi...Connected on his 30th home run on 8/22 at Hiroshima, becoming the first Central League player drafted out of high school to reach that number within two years of his debut...Recorded his 87 RBI on 9/4 vs. Hiroshima, breaking the NPB record by high school-drafted players in their second season … posted his second multi-homer game on 9/4 at Hiroshima.
2018
Was named Eastern League Most Valuable Player in his professional debut with Yakult (minor leagues) after hitting .281/.383/.485 (106-for-377) with 21 doubles, 17 home runs and 70 RBI in 98 games...His 17 homers ranked second in the EL, and his 70 RBI tied for second...Also made his NPB debut with Yakult on 9/16 vs. Hiroshima, homering off Akitake Okada in his first plate appearance … was hitless over his next 11 at-bats and was sent back to the minors.
