Taiki Sekine

Taiki Sekine (関根 大気)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 6", Weight 157 lbs.

• High School Toho High School

• Born June 28, 1995 in Ama-gun, Aichi Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Taiki Sekine has played in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Sekine was selected by the Yokohama BayStars in the fifth round of the 2013 NPB draft, but he spent the vast majority of his rookie year in the NPB Farm Leagues, only played 3 games with the big club. He became the first player to blast his first career homer as a pinch-hitting home run on Opening Day, when he did so in 2015, but only hit .222/.261/.326 for the year. He slumped to .204/.235/.235 in 2016, and the BayStars demoted him back to ni-gun. He only played 90 games combined with the big club in the next three seasons. In 2019-2020, he hit .292/.365/.378 with 20 steals in 28 tries for the Yaquis de Obregón. He was second in the Mexican Pacific League in runs (one behind Rico Noel), led with five triples (one ahead of Noel and Sebastián Elizalde) and was third in swipes (behind Elizalde and Noel).

The Aichi native finally got some chances in 2021. He used his solid defense and speed to secure the 4th outfielder spot, and recorded a .226/.284/.298 batting line in 103 games. He improved and hit .254/.293/.313 in 2022, then hit .257/.325/.328 for the 2022-2023 Yaquis. He got a starting spot in 2023. Sekine was selected into the 2023 NPB All-Star Games because his batting average was above .300 at that time, but he went 0-for-5. He struggled after that and ended up batting .261/.308/.334 with 4 homers. He shined in the 2023 CLCS, as he hit a RBI double against Shota Nakazaki in Game 1, then collected 3 hits in Game 2. However, he still couldn't prevent the BayStars from being swept by the Hiroshima Carp.