Hiroaki Yoshimi

Hiroaki Yoshimi (吉見 宏明)

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 7", Weight 161 lb.

• School Rissho University
• High School Matsuyama Commercial High School

• Born October 25, 1978 in Ehime Prefecture Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Hiroaki Yoshimi was on the squad that won the 1996 summer Koshien. He played for Mitsubishi Motors in the industrial leagues after college. He was with the Japanese national team in the 1998 Baseball World Cup, going 5 for 12 as a part-time second baseman. He posted a better average than future Nippon Pro Baseball stars Shinnosuke Abe and Tomohiro Nioka.

Yoshimi came to the President Lions of Taiwan in 2003; little was expected as he had no pro experience. He went on to dazzle, winning the starting second base job and hitting .334/.387/.410 with 13 steals in 91 games. He was the first player in Taiwanese pro history who had been on a Koshien Tournament-winning team in Japan. Hiroaki was third in the Chinese Professional Baseball League in average behind Cheng-Min Peng and Chih-Yuan Chen and was named to the Best Ten as the loop's top second sacker. Despite all that, it would be his only season in the CPBL.

Sources

• Chinese Wiki Baseball
• 2004 Baseball Almanac
• Defunct IBAF site