Kohei Shibata

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Kohei Shibata is a Japanese professional baseball outfielder who has played in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Hanshin Tigers and the Chiba Lotte Marines. Born on July 17, 1986, he bats and throws left-handed. He made his NPB debut on September 26, 2009 with Hanshin and later joined the Chiba Lotte Marines in 2017. Through 2016, his career batting average was .247 with 1 home run and 28 RBIs.

Shibata began playing baseball in elementary school and starred at Fukuoka Jyoto High School. In college, he played for International Budo University and twice led the Chiba University League in batting, including a .500 average in spring 2008. He represented Japan at the 2008 World University Baseball Championship in the Czech Republic. Hanshin drafted him in 2008 (second round) and he was briefly nicknamed “Akahoshi Jr.” for his speed. He started in the farm system and debuted for Hanshin’s first team in 2009.

In the following years, injuries and competition limited his playing time. In 2011 he appeared in 104 games with a .271 average, and in 2012 he hit .234 in 73 games. He hit his first pro home run in 2013 and had a season-high batting average of .297 before injuring his foot; he finished the year at .229 in 36 games. 2014 brought only 27 first-team games and a .179 average. In 2015 he played 20 games for Hanshin with a .190 average, while excelling for the farm team. He also trained in the offseasons with MLB outfielder Nori Aoki to learn from him. Shibata is known for his speed and baseball smarts, along with solid defense.

Off the field, Shibata married in 2012 and their first daughter was born in 2013.