Yuji Kaneko

Yuji Kaneko (金子 侑司)

• Bats Both, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 154 lb.

• School Ritsumeikan University
• High School Ritsumeikan Uji High School

• Born April 24, 1990 in Kyoto, Kyoto Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Yuji Kaneko has played in Nippon Pro Baseball and led the league in steals for two times.

Kaneko was drafted by the Seibu Lions in the 3rd round of the 2012 NPB draft. He debuted on March 29, 2013, and collected his first career hit off Masaru Takeda. Kaneko only hit .223/.278/.291 with 12 steals as a backup infielder in 2013, and improved to .247/.292/.337 with 21 swipes in 2014. However, his poor batting made him spend most of the 2015 season in the NPB Farm leagues; he only played 57 games with the big club with a .224/.271/.308 batting line.

The Kyoto native broke out in 2016, hitting .265/.331/.311 with a Pacific League-leading 53 stolen bases (tied with Yoshio Itoi). Kaneko extended his solid performance in 2017 as his batting line was .272/.333/.399 and he stole 25 bags. In the first round of the 2017 Climax Series, he went 2-for-8 and the Lions was beaten by the Rakuten Golden Eagles in 3 games. However, he slumped to .223/.303/.274 with 32 steals in 2018. Kaneko went 2-for-8 with 4 runs scored in the second round of the 2018 Climax Series, but the Lions lost to the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks in 6 games. The speedy outfielder bounced back soon and had a .251/.324/.292 batting line in 2019. He led the league in steals again with 41 steals, 11 ahead of Sosuke Genda. Kaneko still hit .249/.312/.302 in 2020, but he struggled in 2021 as his batting line fell to .192/.243/.237. Thus, his starting spot was taken and he only played 44 games in 2022.