is a Japanese

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

Infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns playing offensive and defensive roles. ...

for the

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks The are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture. They compete in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) as a member of the Pacific League. The team was formerly known as the Nankai Hawks and was based in Osaka. ...

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 ...

Early baseball career

Mimori participated in the 3rd grade spring the 88th

Japanese High School Baseball Invitational Tournament The National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament (選抜高等学校野球大会 ''senbatsu kōtō gakkō yakyū taikai'') of Japan, commonly known as "Spring Kōshien" (春の甲子園 ''haru no kōshien'') or "Senbatsu" (センバツ) ...

as a player of the Aomori Yamada High School with .

Professional career

On October 20, 2016, Mimori was drafted by the

as their fourth and final pick in the 2016 Nippon Professional Baseball draft. In the 2017 & 2018 seasons, Mimori played in informal matches against the

Shikoku Island League Plus The is an independent professional baseball league on the island of Shikoku in Japan. (None of the teams in Nippon Professional Baseball are based in Shikoku.) The league currently has four teams, and has its league headquarters in Takamatsu. Th ...

's teams and other amateur baseball teams as a member of the Hawks' Western League team. On April 18, 2019, Mimori made his

Pacific League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the annual Japan Series. It currently consis ...

debut against the

Chiba Lotte Marines The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region, and owned by Lotte Holdings Co., Ltd. History The Marines franchise began in 1950 as the Mainichi Orions, an inaugural ...

, recording his first

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

and RBI hit on April 21. In the 2019 season, Mimori played 24 games in the Pacific League. In the 2020 season, Mimori played 24 games in the Pacific League, winning the Western League Batting Leader Award and Western League OBP Leader Award in the Western League with a

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

of .323 and an on-base percentage of .397. In the 2021 season, Mimori was registered with the first team on June 4 and was named to the starting lineup as the leadoff hitter and second baseman for

interleague play Interleague play in Major League Baseball refers to regular-season baseball games played between an American League (AL) team and a National League (NL) team. Interleague play was first introduced during the 1997 Major League Baseball season. Pri ...

against 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 Railwa ...

on the same day. He recorded his fifth consecutive hit from the next day's game on the 5th. On June 10 against the

Hiroshima Toyo Carp The is a professional baseball team based in Hiroshima, Hiroshima, Hiroshima, Japan. They compete in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. The team is primarily owned by the Matsuda family, led by , who is a descendant of Mazda ...

, he was active, recording a multi-hit game with four hits. He made 86 appearances and established himself as a regular player at second base, finishing the season with a .249 batting average, 20 RBI, and 16 stolen bases. On December 8, Mimori renewed his contract for three times his estimated annual salary of 24 million yen, up from 7 million yen. On April 5, 2022, Mimori recorded his first home run against the Orix Buffaloes. On July 10, Mimori broke his left thumb, forcing him to undergo rehabilitation. He was diagnosed with a three-month recovery period, but returned to play on August 16, against the

Saitama Seibu Lions The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based north of Tokyo in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture. Before 1979, they were based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture in Kyushu. The team is owned by a subsidiary of Seibu Railway, wh ...

, two months earlier than expected. However, on the 19th, he tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and was struck from the first team registration according to regulations. He returned on September 1 against the Chiba Lotte Marines, and he recorded a leadoff home run against the Chiba Lotte Marines in the final game of the regular season, where the Hawks lost the Pacific League

pennant race The Major League Baseball postseason is an elimination tournament held after the conclusion of the Major League Baseball (MLB) regular season. Starting in 2022, the playoffs for each league— American and National—consist of two best-of-thre ...

on a tiebreaker to the Orix Buffaloes. He finished the season with a .257 batting average, nine home runs, and 36 runs batted in in 102 games, despite a broken bone and a COVID-19 outing. On November 27, 2022, Mimori announced his decision to change his uniform number from 68 to 13 beginning with the 2023 season. He replied that he changed his uniform number to 13 because it was the number he had when he was playing baseball with his older brother, when he was in the third grade, and he had a special attachment to it because he especially enjoyed playing baseball at that time. In 2023 season, Mimori primarily played as a starter at second base, scoring three runs on three hits in a game against the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles on August 10. He also hit his fifth home run on September 13 against the Saitama Seibu Lions. Mimori played 102 games, and finished the season with a .260 batting average, a 5 home runs, a 14 stolen bases, and a 21 RBIs. However, in the first stage of the postseason's 2023 Pacific League Climax Series, he failed to show his potential, making an error in Game 1 and retiring in Game 3 after being hit on the back of the head while defending.

References

External links

Career statistics - NPB.jp

- Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks Official site 1999 births Living people Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks players Japanese expatriate baseball players in Puerto Rico Nippon Professional Baseball infielders Baseball people from Saitama Prefecture Gigantes de Carolina (baseball) players {{Japan-baseball-infielder-stub