Takahiro Kumagai

[1] He entered Sendai Ikuei Gakuen High School, a known baseball powerhouse, and played short stop as his team participated twice in the Summer Koshien Tournaments.

[2] In his senior year, his team made it all the way to the Spring Koshien semi-finals, and during the summer nationals, he notched a walk-off hit to win the first round against Urawa Gakuin High School.

[4] He entered Rikkyo University and secured the short stop position as his team participated in Tokyo Big6 tournaments.

He again joined the national team to compete at the Baseball at the 2017 Summer Universiade, where Japan took home the gold medal.

[11] His first plate appearance came on May 27 as a pinch hitter at the bottom of the 8th, and recorded his first career hit against the Yomiuri Giants in Hanshin Koshien Stadium.

He also participated as shortstop during the post-season farm championship match where Hanshin won (8-4), and he was awarded the game's MVP (1 RBI, 1 earned run, 1 stolen base).

Out of 114 Western League game appearances, he finished with a batting average of 0.234, 43 RBIs including 2 home runs, and 17 stolen bases.

In the match against Orix Buffaloes (Kyocera Dome Osaka) on June 11, he was appointed as a pinch runner for Teruaki Sato in the 11th inning.

[23] In the match against Chunichi Dragons on June 26 (Koshien), at bat in the bottom of 11th ining, he hit a walk-off single from Takumi Yamamoto.