Hiroaki Takaya

Hiroaki Takaya (高谷 裕亮)

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 185 lb.
• School Hakuoh University
• High School Oyama Kitazakura High School

• Born November 13, 1981 in Oyama, Tochigi Japan

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Biographical Information

Catcher Hiroaki Takaya hit .235/.300/.355 as Japan's starting catcher in the 2006 Intercontinental Cup. He began playing for the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks of Nippon Pro Baseball's Pacific League in 2007, and stayed there for 15 seasons and 643 games, largely as a back-up, until his retirement following the 2021 season. He was a very weak hitter, with a career average of .194 at the top level, with an OBP of .258 and a slugging percentage of just .254, which makes it obvious that it was his defensive play that kept him employed. He was known for his quick release to second base, and his excellent pitch framing ability. He was regularly below the Japanese equivalent of the Mendoza Line and never played 100 games in a single season, coming closest in 2015, when he played 93 games at the top level (and hit .175) and in 2017, when he hit .216 in 92 games. He was sent down to Softbank's ni-gun squad in the minor league Western League just about every season, but always managed to find his way back to the main team. After being a quasi-regular in the mid-2010s, he gradually lost playing time to Takuya Kai who became the starting catcher. Repeated knee injuries limited his playing time in his final seasons.

The Hawks were a powerhouse team during his stay, taking seven Pacific League pennants during his time with them and winning the Japan Series all seven times. Obviously, he was not one of the team's star players, but in Game 3 of the 2018 Japan Series, he did hit an important homer in a wild 9-8 win over the Hiroshima Carp on October 30th. The homer came off Ren Nakata in the bottom of the 7th and gave Softbank a 9-3 lead at the time, and it proved to be key as Hiroshima scored 5 runs in the 8th, thanks in large part to a grand slam by Tomohiro Abe in the 8th, and had two runners on base when closer Yuito Mori managed to put an end to the game. He had star turns on two other occasions. In Game 1 of the 2015 Japan Series against the Yakult Swallows on October 24th, he had an RBI single, part of a record string of six consecutive hits off Masanori Ishikawa, in a three-run outburst in the bottom of the 4th that secured a 4-2 win. In Game 3 of the 2017 Japan Series on October 31st, he hit a two-run single off Joe Wieland in the 4th in a 3-2 win over the Yokohama BayStars.