[6] 2012 On June 23, 2012, Yanagita recorded his first career hit, a single against Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters' Mitsuo Yoshikawa in a 7–6 win.

[4] 2013 Yanagita made the opening day roster in 2013, batting 7th and playing center field, going 1-for-4 in a 7–1 victory against the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles.

[4] 2014 In May, Yanagita batted .395 with 2 home runs and 8 RBIs and was named the Pacific League Player of the Month for the first time in his career.

[14] He was named for his first career NPB All-Star Series via manager selection,[15] hitting a home run against Chunichi Dragons' Daisuke Yamai in game 2.

[16] In 2014, Yanagita said that after his first professional season, he played in Puerto Rico and that one thing that helped him improve his game were tips he received from Hall-of-Famer Iván Rodríguez.

[18] With the Hawks going 78–60 with 6 ties, the team clinched the Pacific League pennant,[19] and went on to win the Japan Series over the Hanshin Tigers.

[31] 2016 On April 15, 2016, Yanagita drew a walk for the 16th consecutive game, breaking Teruo Tabe's Pacific League record in 1951.

[36] Yanagita finished the season hitting .306/.446/.523 with 18 home runs, 73 RBIs, and 22 stolen bases, leading the Pacific League in OBP.

[41] Yanagita returned to the lineup in game 5 of the 2017 Pacific League Climax Series Final Stage, hitting an RBI single in the 4th inning.

[54] He became the 11th player in NPB history to record a batting average above .350 in multiple seasons,[55] and won his fourth Golden Glove[56] and Best Nine Award.

[59] The Hawks swept the Yomiuri Giants to win their third consecutive Japan Series,[60] with Yanagita going 3–13 (.231) with a home run and 3 RBIs.

[62] On December 25, Yanagita held a press conference, announcing that he signed a seven-year contract with the Hawks that would begin from the 2020 season.

[68][69] 2021 In the 2021 season, Yanagita hit .300 with 28 home runs and 80 RBIs in 141 games and was also a member of Japan's gold-winning Olympic baseball team.

[77] Despite being frequently hit by injuries and illness, Yanagita played a key role in carrying a beleaguered Hawks squad to nearly winning their 20th Pacific League pennant, only to lose on a head-to-head tiebreaker with the eventual 2022 Japan Series champions, the Orix Buffaloes.

[78] On December 6, Yanagita extended his existing contract with the Hawks by multiple years (length undisclosed) with an estimated average annual value of ¥620 million.

2023 Yanagida recorded the 69th player in NPB history to hit 250 home runs in a game against the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles on June 28.

[80] Yanagita also achieved the 135th player in NPB history to 1,500 hits, with a home run, in a game against the Saitama Seibu Lions on August 18.

[86] He hit a walk-off two-run home run off of San Diego Padres closer Kirby Yates in the first game of the series.