Toshiki Abe
Toshiki Abe | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Professional baseball infielder |
| Known for | Playing for Chunichi Dragons and Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) |
is a professional Japanese baseball infielder currently playing for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He previously spent time with the Chunichi Dragons.
Early career
Abe started his baseball journey playing with rubber balls during his elementary school years and continued through junior high school.
While attending Ichinoseki Daiichi Senior High School, he contributed to winning both the Iwate Prefectural and Tohoku regional tournaments, although he did not participate in the national Koshien championship.
At Meiji University, Abe was initially a substitute during his freshman year but secured a regular position at third base by his junior year. In the fall season of his senior year, he played a key role in capturing Meiji’s first league championship in 15 years.
Following university graduation, Abe joined Honda, where he worked in wiring while also competing for their corporate baseball team. In his second year with Honda, he competed in the industrial league Japan championships.
On October 22, 2015, Abe was chosen as the Chunichi Dragons’ fifth pick in the 2015 NPB Draft. He finalized a provisional contract on November 26 that included a ¥50 million signing bonus and an annual salary of ¥10 million.
2016-2018
Abe made his first appearance for the top team on August 11 as a pinch-runner during a 2-8 loss against the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. He recorded his inaugural home run and RBI on September 14 facing the Yomiuri Giants at Nagoya Dome. Throughout the season, Abe remained with the first squad, appearing in 24 games at shortstop, third base, and second base while posting a .170 batting average.
In 2017, Abe participated in 21 games for the main team and posted a .244/.309/.333 slash line over 85 appearances in farm league play. The following year, his role diminished to mostly pinch-hitting and defensive substitution across 18 first-team games; during this period, he began training to play outfield positions. His farm league performance saw a slight downturn, hitting .212/.296/.318 with five home runs over 82 contests.
2019
During spring training, Abe was positioned to compete for a starting role alongside utility player Naomichi Donoue and featured in the opening day lineup at second base. On April 5, he hit his first home run since his rookie season against the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. Abe led Chunichi’s second basemen in Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR) and concluded the season with a .291 batting average and a .742 OPS.
2023
On November 19, 2022, Abe was traded to the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in exchange for Hideaki Wakui.
Career statistics
| Nippon Professional Baseball | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Age | Team | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | TB | RBI | SB | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| Template:Npby | 26 | Chunichi Dragons | 25 | 49 | 2 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 4 | 1 | .184 | .212 | .265 | .477 |
| Career | 24 | 47 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 1 | 1 | .170 | .200 | .255 | .455 | ||
Bold indicates league leader; statistics current as of September 29, 2016