Mitsuyasu Hirano

Mitsuyasu Hirano (平野 光泰)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 180 lb.

• High School Meisei High School

• Born April 23, 1949 in Osaka, Osaka Japan
• Died September 9, 2023 in Himeji, Hyogo Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Mitsuyasu Hirano played in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Hirano was drafted by the Kintetsu Buffaloes in the sixth round of the 1971 NPB draft. He spent the first five years of his career in the NPB Farm Leagues, and only had 177 at-bats combined with the top team. Hirano finally took the starting center fielder spot from Narihiro Abe in 1977, and hit .262/.304/.379 with 8 homers. He was the main leadoff hitter for the Buffaloes in 1978 with a .270/.315/.347 batting line. Hirano broke out in 1979 with a .279/.344/.431 batting line and 18 homers. He was selected into the 1979 NPB All-Star Game, but went 0-for-2. He was 4th in runs (18 behind Yutaka Fukumoto), 6th in steals (39 behind Fukumoto), and also won the first NPB Gold Glove award in his career as an outfielder. In the 1979 Nippon Series, Hirano went 0-for-13 in the first five games, but drove in 3 RBI in Game 6 and blasted a clutch 2-run game-tying homer off Kazuo Yamane in Game 7.

1980 was Hirano's career year. He attended the All-Star Game again. He went 0-for-3 in Game 1, then blasted a clutch 2-run shot off Masaji Hiramatsu and won the MVP in Game 2. He also collected a single from Osamu Nomura in the 9th inning of Game 3. Hirano ended up hitting .284/.373/.486 with a career-high 23 dingers in the 1980 season. He ranked 2th in runs (10 behind Fukumoto), 3rd in walks (9 behind Fukumoto) and won the Gold Glove Award again. He completed the 32th cycle in NPB history on July 17, 1980. Hirano blasted 2 homers in the 1980 Climax Series - both off Lotte's Tokinari Nishina, and won the most valuable player award of the series. In the 1980 Nippon Series, he hit .346/.484/384 and won the Outstanding Player Award.

Hirano slumped to .259/.307/.386 with 10 homers in 1981, but still made it onto the roster of the PL for the 1981 NPB All-Star Game. He hit a double off Tamotsu Nagai in Game 2, but went 0-for-4 for the rest of the games. The Osaka native was selected into the All-Star Game for the fourth consecutive year in the next summer, and went 2-for-7 in 3 games. He recorded a .245/.321/.385 batting line with 15 homers in the 1982 season. Hirano hit .292/.330/.414 with 10 homers in 1983, but declined to .251/.300/.335 in 1984. He then announced his retirement after the 1985 season.

Overall, Hirano had hit .264/.320/.391 in 14 seasons in NPB.