was a Japanese professional baseball outfielder for the Hanshin Tigers Nippon Professional Baseball. He played for the Tigers from 2014 to 2019.

Early baseball career

Born in

Hioki, Kagoshima is a city in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. As of May 1, 2010, the city had a population of 51,819

, Shintaro was the son of Masashi Yokota, a former outfielder for the Lotte Orions (now Chiba Lotte Marines). His family migrated to Kagoshima when he was 3, and he started playing softball in third grade all the way to junior high. Yokota entered Kagoshima Jitsugyō High School, and batted fourth in his first year. From his third year onwards, he doubled as a pitcher and, with a fastball that surpassed 140 km/h, became the school's ace. Unfortunately, his team always got eliminated during the prefectural tournament. He recorded a total of 29 home runs during his high school career.

Professional career

Yokota was the 2nd pick of the Hanshin Tigers in the

2013 Nippon Professional Baseball draft The 2013 Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) Draft was held on October 24, , for the 49th time at the Grand Prince Hotel Takanawa to assign amateur baseball players to the NPB.　It was arranged with the special cooperation of Taisho Pharmaceutic ...

. He inherited

Shinjiro Hiyama is a Korean baseball player from Ukyō-ku, Kyoto, Japan. He plays as an outfielder for the Hanshin Tigers of the Central League. Biography A second-generation Zainichi Korean, Hiyama graduated from Heian High School and entered Toyo University ...

's former jersey number, 24. He spent the 2014 and 2015 seasons with Hanshin's Western League affiliate. Yokota made his debut with the Tigers on Opening Day of the 2016 season in centerfield. He would play 38 games in the Central League in 2016, again spending the bulk of the season in the Western League. After a lost 2017 season due to treatment for a brain tumor, Yokota returned to Hanshin on a development player contract for the 2018 season. However, Yokota continued to be plagued by after-effects from his cancer treatment, forcing him to retire at the end of the season.

Playing style

Yokota's physical prowess was highly praised, and even likened to that of

Yoshio Itoi is a Japanese former professional baseball player who played for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, the Orix Buffaloes, and the Hanshin Tigers. Itoi bats left-handed and throws right-handed. He played for team Japan in WBC 2013, and hit for Japa ...

's, earning him the moniker "Itoi junior". He employed solid batting techniques, was also known to have a good sense for the ball.「週間ベースボール」(Weekly Baseball) November 11, 2013 edition He possessed arm strength worthy of a pitcher, and his speed (6.1 seconds for a 50-meter dash) was also one of his better selling points.

Illness and death

In February 2017, Yokota experienced headaches; he was later diagnosed with a brain tumor. He underwent treatment over the following six months. On September 3, 2017, he announced that he was in remission. Yokota made an attempt at returning to baseball after treatment, but due to dealing with the after-effects of his treatment, including blurred and double vision, his comeback attempt was short-lived. Yokota later cited fellow teammate Fumihito Haraguchi, who also dealt with cancer, as an inspiration for his recovery. Yokota died of brain cancer on July 18, 2023, at age 28. After the Tigers won the

2023 Japan Series The 2023 Japan Series (known as the '' SMBC Nippon Series 2023'' for sponsorship reasons) was the championship series of Nippon Professional Baseball's (NPB) season. The 74th edition of the Japan Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between ...

, the team celebrated by throwing closer Suguru Iwazaki in the air, with Iwazaki holding Yokota's #24 jersey.

References

External links

NPB stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yokota, Shintaro 1995 births 2023 deaths Baseball people from Kagoshima Prefecture Nippon Professional Baseball outfielders Japanese baseball players Hanshin Tigers players Deaths from brain cancer in Japan