[1] He doubled as a pitcher and infielder for Tsukuba Shuei High, but his team never made it to the national tournaments in Koshien.

[2] He entered Hakuoh University in Tochigi prefecture, and played solely as 3rd baseman as their team participated in the Kankoshin Student Baseball Federation League.

He spent the 1st half of the season playing in Western League (farm games), where until June, he averaged .232 and batted in 14 runs (1 HR).

He also finished second in the Central League Rookie of the Year voting behind Chunichi Dragons shortstop Yota Kyoda.

[15] He managed to secure the third-base position during the season-opener, but saw fewer plate appearances as he went on a hitting slump in April, and was eventually sent back to the farm on June 22.

[16] He redeemed himself by batting 0.400 in 8 farm games, scored 8 RBIs including 3 home runs, which prompted management to call him back to the main squad a few days later.

By June 20, he notched his 10th home run during the interleague games and became the first home-grown Hanshin player to hit double digit homers as cleanup since Osamu Hamanaka in 2003.

[21] As he fell into a slump in July however, the cleanup position was eventually assigned to the newly hired import Jeffry Marte on August 10.

[27] Only after Marte suffered from an injury on July 4 did he become a regular in the line up, and he continued to be the main clean-up man (4th batter) all throughout the pandemic-shortened season.

[28] But despite his good hit production, he did not manage a single home run for 18 straight matches in October and was overtaken for the title by 3 homers.