[Player History] The Power Hitter Who Overcame Adversity and Forged His Own Path in the World of Professional Baseball - Haruya Inoue (Chiba Lotte Marines) - A Chronicle of His Success / Professional Baseball Retirements in 2024

The reason why he missed out on going pro despite attracting attention for his hitting and power.

Haruya Inoue, born in Hiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture, started playing baseball at the age of three, influenced by his older brother. In elementary school, he played for the Nukushina Young Wolf Club, a soft baseball team. After entering Fukugi Junior High School in Hiroshima City, he honed his skills with the Hiroshima Stars.

At Sotoku High School, he secured the position of cleanup hitter and right fielder from the fall of his first year. In the summer of his second year (2005), he led his team to the prefectural finals, defeating Koryo High School, which boasted players like Yusuke Nomura (former Hiroshima Toyo Carp player), and Inoue himself made his presence felt with a high batting average of .600. Around this time, Inoue began to attract attention for his power hitting, having hit a total of 31 home runs in high school. However, in the spring of his third year (2006), his team reached the quarterfinals of the prefectural tournament, and in the summer of his third year, they were eliminated in the second round, failing to reach the Koshien tournament. After graduation, he went on to Chuo University.

At Chuo University, despite the team being in the second division at the time, he was quickly given the cleanup hitter position in the spring league games of his freshman year (2008), and contributed to the team's second division championship and promotion to the first division in the fall league games of his freshman year. He also showcased his power hitting in the second division, achieving a batting average of .359 in the fall league games of 2009, winning the batting title and being selected for the Best Nine team. From the spring of his sophomore year to the spring of his junior year (2010), he made his presence felt with three consecutive seasons of batting averages above .400, and in 2010 he was selected for the Japanese collegiate national team. However, due to a significant drop in his batting performance from the fall of his junior year onward, he was not drafted by the NPB.

After graduating from Chuo University, Inoue joined Nippon Life Insurance Company. In his first year, he was mainly assigned as the fifth batter and contributed to the team's qualification as the third representative in the Intercity Baseball Tournament. However, while the team advanced to the quarterfinals, he had a poor performance, managing only one hit in three games. However, in the 2012 Autumn Japan Championship, he played in three games and recorded a batting average of .545 (6 hits in 11 at-bats) and 4 RBIs. The following year, in 2013, thanks to Inoue's performance, the team qualified for the Intercity Baseball Tournament, but they were defeated by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Yokohama in the main tournament and were eliminated in the qualifying rounds.

He led the Lotte offense by winning the monthly MVP award and achieving 20 home runs.

Inoue, who joined the Chiba Lotte Marines as the 5th pick in the 2013 draft, attracted attention from his rookie year in 2014 as the "heaviest rookie" due to his weight of 110kg. He played in 15 exhibition games and had a batting average of .435, 2 home runs, and 7 RBIs. He attracted attention as the long-awaited power hitter for the team and, despite being a rookie, was used as the cleanup hitter in the opening game (March 28th, against Fukuoka SoftBank). Many eyes were on the rookie cleanup hitter, the first time in 64 years that a rookie had appeared on the team, but his performance in the regular season was disappointing. He played in 36 games and finished with a batting average of .211, 2 home runs, and 7 RBIs. However, he won the MVP award at the Fresh All-Star Game with 3 hits and 3 RBIs, including 2 home runs in one game.

After spending almost the entire 2015 season in the minor leagues, he secured a regular position from the start of the 2016 season, hitting a double off Shohei Ohtani in the opening game. However, he was removed from the roster at the end of April and spent the rest of the season in the minor leagues, but recorded a batting average of .342 in the Eastern League. Although he was 45 plate appearances short of the required number of plate appearances, he won the batting title due to an exception rule. In 2017, he started the season with the first team as in previous years, but was sent down to the minor leagues in the middle of the season. On October 5th, he hit his first career walk-off hit against Rakuten.

Illustration by Korematsu Emu

In 2018, his fifth year as a professional, Inoue started the season batting fourth and showed impressive form in the second game against Tohoku Rakuten, hitting two consecutive home runs. In May, he had a slump with a batting average of .208, 2 home runs, and 12 RBIs, and even spent some days on the bench during the interleague games. However, on June 25, after the interleague games ended, he hit his first career grand slam off Seibu's Imai Tatsuya, and hit another home run the following day, showing signs of recovery. Inoue regained his form and gained momentum, and in July he had a great month with a batting average of .400, 7 home runs, and 23 RBIs, earning his first monthly MVP award. In August, he had another slump, but on September 8 against Seibu he hit a home run, reaching 20 home runs for the season. In 2018, he played in a career-high 133 games. He finished the season with a career-best batting average of .292, 24 home runs, and 99 RBIs.

The power hitter's talent shone through amidst his struggles.

In 2019, he started the season as the cleanup hitter, but was demoted to the minor leagues in April. However, he became the first player in 20 years since Kiyoshi Hatsushiba to hit 20 home runs for two consecutive years. His batting average of .252 and 65 RBIs were lower than the previous year, but he supported the team with his characteristic power hitting. In 2020, which started in June due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, he played as the seventh batter in the opening game against SoftBank (June 19). In the third game on the 21st, he hit a grand slam, and on July 28 against Rakuten (ZOZO Marine), he hit his first career three-homerun game, showing great spirit. He went through a difficult period at the end of the season, but on September 13 against Rakuten (ZOZO Marine), he recorded his third career walk-off hit. With this hit, he won the "Monthly Walk-Off Award" and the "SKY PerfecTV! Dramatic Walk-Off Award Grand Prize". In 2020, he played in 113 games, finishing the season with a batting average of .245, 15 home runs, and 67 RBIs.

On June 2, 2021, he injured his right wrist as a result of a diving catch during a game against the Chunichi Dragons. He spent the rest of the season in the minor leagues and underwent surgery to repair the triangular fibrocartilage in his right wrist during the offseason. In July 2022, he returned to the first team, playing in 60 games as a first baseman, batting .246 with 7 home runs and 34 RBIs. In 2023, he played as the cleanup hitter in the opening game against the SoftBank Hawks, but was unable to secure a permanent spot on the first team, playing in only 32 games and finishing with a batting average of .179, 1 home run, and 8 RBIs. In 2024, he was unable to make it back to the first team and announced his retirement at the end of that year. The long-ball hitter, affectionately known as "Aja," after the professional wrestler Aja Kong, ended his 11-year career.

profile

name:Seiya Inoue
Birthplace:Hiroshima Prefecture
date of birth:July 3, 1989
Height/Weight:180cm/115kg
Pitching/batting:Right-handed pitcher/batter
position:Infielder
draft:2013 Draft, 5th pick

Overall record

Active career (11 years): 601 games, .250 batting average, 1944 at-bats, 486 hits, 76 home runs, 313 RBIs, 2 stolen bases

Monthly MVP (July 2018)
SKY PerfecTV! Sayonara Award (October and November 2020)
SKY PerfecTV! Dramatic Farewell Award Grand Prize (2020)

*The information in this article is current as of the time of publication (as of November 2024).