Hikaru Ito
| Hikaru Ito | |||
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Ito with the Orix Buffaloes
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| Orix Buffaloes – No. 22 | |||
| Catcher | |||
| Born: April 23, 1989 | |||
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| NPB debut | |||
| 2008, for the Orix Buffaloes | |||
| NPB statistics (through 2016) |
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| Batting average | .248 | ||
| Home runs | 12 | ||
| RBI | 152 | ||
| Teams | |||
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| Career highlights and awards | |||
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| Last updated on: January 29, 2015 | |||
Hikaru Ito (伊藤 光, born April 23, 1989 in Okazaki, Aichi) is a Japanese professional baseball catcher for the Orix Buffaloes in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball.
A native of Okazaki, he began playing baseball at the age of five due to the influence of his father. He played as a pitcher and infielder for the Okazaki Little League club during his elementary years. When he entered Tokai Junior High, he joined the East Nagoya Stars baseball club and changed his position to catcher. In his 2nd year in Meitoku Gijuku High School, he led his team in RBIs during the Kochi prefectural spring baseball tournament, and was also selected to play in friendly matches with USA and Taiwan. His school also won the runner up in the Kochi summer tournament finals in his 3rd year. He hit 13 home runs in his entire high school career.
He was chosen by the Orix Buffaloes as their third round pick during the 2007 high school draft.
2008
He spent his first year training to improve his skills as catcher in the team's Western League games. But due to his young age and lack of experience, he only batted at an average of 0.192 in 40 games with a strike-out rate of 0.25. Defense-wise, he had the most number of passed balls. Nevertheless, he had the most number of game appearances among the team's rookie catchers. He was finally given a chance at the first squad when he made his debut on the September 19 match against the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters.
Even though he didn't hit any home runs in any of his League games, he was able to hit two during inter-squad games.
2009
On the spring of his 2nd year, he underwent surgery to treat his herniated disc. Even though he only required 2 weeks of rest after surgery and aimed to return to play after 3 months, he was not given any plate appearances for the season. Also, because his left calf muscle suffered at the aftermath of his surgery, Manager Daijiro Oishi thought it best not to rush him into play.
2010
Upon being allowed to play in 2nd squad games after a year of absence, he was reported to have burst into tears when he made his first hit. He was given another chance to appear in two ichi-gun matches during the latter part of the season.
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Wikipedia