Yuma Mune

Yuma Mune (宗 佑磨)

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 172 lb.

• High School Yokohama Hayato High School

• Born June 7, 1996 in Musashino, Tokyo Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Yuma Mune has been a Best Nine pick.

Mune, whose father is from Ghana, was a second-round pick of the Orix Buffaloes in the 2014 NPB draft. He battled back problems in 2015, seeing a little action on the farm. He got his first Nippon Pro Baseball at-bat the next year, against Rick van den Hurk, but was 0 for 4 with 3 strikeouts while making one error in five chances at short. He hit .272/.331/.400 in ni-gun, showing some potential. He played in the Asia Winter Baseball League, batting .240.

In 2017, he hit .279/.324/.345 in the minors, with six triples and eight steals in ten tries. For the big team, he was 4-for-22 with 3 walks, a double and two runs, getting caught stealing in all three attempts. He tied Ryosuke Ogata for second in the minor Western League in three-baggers. He became a semi-regular outfielder for Orix in 2018, producing at a .233/.281/.372 clip and fielding .985. His first NPB homer came off Kenichi Nakata. He split 2019 between the big club (.270/.370/.365 in 54 G) and the farm (.266/.341/.338 in 48 G). Again shipped out to winter ball, he played for the Melbourne Aces in the 2019-2020 Australian Baseball League, manning third base primarily, forming an infield with Luke Hughes, Jarryd Dale and Ryan Dale. He hit .387/.457/.538 with 19 runs in 23 games. Among players with 100+ plate appearances, he was second in average (.040 behind Colin Willis), 4th in OBP and 6th in OPS (between Zach Wilson and Aaron Whitefield). He tied for 10th in the loop with six swipes.

Back in Japan for 2020, he struggled at .225/.288/.308 for the top team, though he was the most-used third baseman for Orix. Retaining that role in 2021, he fielded .977 there and had a slash line of .272/.355/.393. He had 7 triples and 71 runs scored. He tied Ryoya Kurihara for 5th in the Pacific League in runs, led third basemen in the league in putouts (91) and assists (200), tied Sosuke Genda for the triples lead, tied for 9th with 14 sacrifice hits and led with 13 times hit by pitch (one ahead of Takashi Ogino). He won the Gold Glove and made the Best Nine as the league's top third sacker and got one third-place vote for the 2021 PL MVP. Orix made it to the 2021 Japan Series. In Game 1, he came up to bat in the bottom of the 9th with the bases loaded, no outs and a 3-1 deficit. His two-run single off Yakult Swallows closer Scott McGough tied it as Orix rallied to win. Yakult took the Series in six games, while Mune hit .286/.321/.310. His eight hits led the Series, one ahead of MVP Yuhei Nakamura, José Osuna, Kotaro Kurebayashi and Yutaro Sugimoto.