Takahiro Kumagai

Born in Sendai City, he started playing baseball with his friends as early as 2nd grade, played little league for the Nankodai Shonen baseball club, and joined the Nankodai Tobu Seniors in junior high.[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.[3] After the nationals, he joined the national team as an outfielder to play in the 2013 18U Baseball World Cup. As the 2nd batter, he helped Japan win the runner up by recording 8 hits and 5 stolen bases.[4]

He entered Rikkyo University and secured the short stop position as his team participated in Tokyo Big6 tournaments.[4] As team captain in his 4th year, he earned the league title for most stolen bases, and led his team to win both the Tokyo Big6 championships and Japan National Collegiate Baseball Championship, a feat that hasn't been achieved by his school in the last 59 years.[5] In 61 league appearances, he finished with a batting average of 0.220, 12 RBIs including a single home run. He again joined the national team to compete at the Baseball at the 2017 Summer Universiade, where Japan took home the gold medal.[2]

He was the Hanshin Tigers' 3rd round pick in the 2017 annual professional baseball draft. He inked a 60 million yen contract with the Tigers for a 10 million yen annual salary.[6] He was assigned the jersey number 4.[7] The 1st round pick of the same draft, pitcher Kosuke Baba, also came from the same university.[8]

• NPB stats

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference (Minors)