is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

. He played for the

Chunichi Dragons The are a professional baseball team based in Nagoya, the chief city in the Chūbu region of Japan. The team plays in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. They have won the Central League pennant nine times (most recently in 2011) ...

of the

Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

(NPB). His father is former Dragons pitching coach, Shinichi Kondō the only NPB pitcher to throw a

no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher wh ...

on debut.

Early career

Under his father's influence, former

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

Shinichi Shin'ichi or Shinichi (しんいち, シンイチ) is a masculine Japanese given name. ''Shin'' and ''ichi'' are separated and it is pronounced . Possible writings Different kanji that are pronounced are combined with the kanji for " to give dif ...

, Kondō started playing baseball in the 3rd grade of elementary school. In junior high school he joined a rubber ball baseball team but hated practice. In his 3rd year of junior high, young Kondō was concerned over which high school he should go to and after being shown a video of his father pitching at the 68th Koshien with Kyoei High School, it was decided that he would join his father's alma mater. He was a bench player in his second year, but rose to be vice-captain. However, he was unable to make appearances with his team in either the summer or spring koshien tournaments. In 2011, Kondō started university at

Meijo University is a private university in Japan. Its main campus is in Tempaku-ku, Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, and it has two other campuses in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture. It had two faculty members who were Nobel laureates as of 2021. History The name Meijō ...

with the law department. In his sophomore year of university, Kondō was mostly deployed as a third baseman or outfielder but in his junior year he became a regular in the outfield where he took out best nine honours in both the Spring and Fall Aichi University Leagues. In 2014, his senior year, Kondō would captain his side and receive the fighting-spirit award for the Spring league.　He was also selected 2 years in a row (2013 and 2014) for the Baseball Association in Aichi representative team. While he had the desire to continue his baseball pathway in the industrial leagues, GM

Hiromitsu Ochiai Hiromitsu Ochiai (落合博満 ''Ochiai Hiromitsu'', born December 9, 1953) is a Japanese professional baseball manager and former player. He is former manager of the Chunichi Dragons in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball. He is considered to b ...

ensured that Kondō would be a Dragons player by selecting him as their 4th pick in the 2014 development draft.

Professional career

Chunichi Dragons

2015

In 2015, Kondō played 22 games for the Dragons farm team in the Western League getting only 4 hits in 34 at-bats for an average of .125.

2016

On 14 July, he was moved off a development player contract and added to the overall roster. His number was changed from 213 to 67. On 2 August, Kondō made his first team debut for the Dragons against the

Yomiuri Giants The are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They ...

starting in left-field and batting number 2 in the line-up. He shined on his debut proving to be the most effective hitter for the Dragons on the day getting 3 hits and 2 RBIs in 5 at-bats. On 14 August, he hit his first pro

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

in an 8-1 loss to the

Hanshin Tigers The Hanshin Tigers (Japanese: 阪神タイガース ''Hanshin Taigāsu'') are a Nippon Professional Baseball team playing in the Central League. The team is based in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and is owned by Hanshin Electric Railway ...

Kyocera Dome The (official name: ) is a baseball stadium located in Osaka, Osaka, Japan. Opened in 1997, the stadium was the home field of the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes. In 2005, the stadium became one of the homes of the Orix Buffaloes, a result of the merg ...

off

Suguru Iwazaki is a Japanese Nippon Professional Baseball pitcher for the Hanshin Tigers in Japan's Central League. Iwazaki is a 6-foot tall left-handed pitcher, and wears jersey No. 67. His surname is often misread as "Iwasaki" rather than "Iwazaki". Early b ...

. Kondō finished his first season in pro baseball playing in 21 games, hitting .186 with 2 homeruns. On November 27, 2019, Kondō announced his retirement.

References

External links

NPB.jp
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kondō, Hiroki 1993 births Living people Chunichi Dragons players Japanese baseball players Baseball people from Nagoya Meijo University alumni