Kento Itohara

Kento Itohara (糸原 健斗)

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 9", Weight 176 lbs.

• School Meiji University
• High School Kaisei High School

• Born November 11, 1992 in Unnan, Shimane Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Kento Itohara has played in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Itohara was drafted by the Hanshin Tigers in the fifth round of the 2016 NPB draft, and he was promoted to the big club as a rookie. He set the NPB rookie record for reach on base for 10 straight at-bats, but he hurt his right knee on July 20 and missed the rest of the regular season. He came back at the 2017 CLCS, went 2-for-5 against the Yokohama BayStars. Itohara ended up hitting .259/.362/.358 in 66 games in 2017. He became the starting shortstop of Hanshin in 2018, and played all 143 games with a .286/.390/.362 batting line. He was also selected into the 2018 NPB All-Star Game and went 0-for-2 in Game 1. He made a fatal error in the 7th inning of Game 2 which helped PL scored their first run, but he then made it up as he hit a RBI double against Ren Kajiya.

The Shimane native played all 143 games again in 2019, hitting .267/.353/.336 with 3 homers. He fractured his right hand in 2020, so he only played 63 games. Itohara bounced back and hit .286/.347/.351 in 2021, but slumped to .247/.307/.299 in 2022. When Seiya Kinami shined in 2023, Itohara's spot was taken so he only had 69 appearances with a .236/.337/.250 batting line. He was 2-for-5 with a walk in the first five games in the 2023 Nippon Series, then started as designated hitter in Game 6. Itohara collected two singles against Yoshinobu Yamamoto, but couldn't stop him from winning that game for the Orix Buffaloes. Itohara pinch-hit Fumihito Haraguchi in the 8th inning of Game 7 and Soichiro Yamazaki retired him, but he still won his first Nippon Series title.