Kōhei Shibata

is a Japanese professional baseball outfielder for the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball. Following a college career that included representing Japan at the 2008 World University Baseball Championship, Shibata was drafted by the Tigers in 2008 and made his first-team debut for the club in the following year. After having regular playing time in the Tigers' first team early in his career, his opportunities have reduced in recent years due to injury and the emergence of younger players.

Early life Shibata started playing baseball when he was in the fourth grade of elementary school. In junior high school he played for the Yahata Eagles in the Japan Boys League. He attended Fukuoka Jyoto High School and became the starting center fielder for the school's baseball club in the autumn of his second year. In his third year, he helped the school advance to the quarter-finals of the 2004 Japanese High School Baseball Invitational Tournament, playing alongside Takuma Sadaoka and Ken Nishimura.

Shibata attended International Budo University and twice led the Chiba University League in batting average, including a .500 average in the spring 2008 league.

In June 2008 it was reported that the Hanshin Tigers were considering drafting Shibata at the end of the year and he was billed as "Akahoshi Jr." due to his foot speed.

Professional career

2009 Shibata was assigned uniform #2 and was expected to start his rookie season in the first-team squad. However, poor form during the pre-season saw him start the year in the Hanshin farm team in the Western League. He spent the year with the second-team squad, where he registered a .320 batting average

2010 During the off-season Shibata gave up uniform #2 for Kenji Johjima, who joined Hanshin from the Seattle Mariners; Shibata took uniform #00 that was previously worn by the retiring Shuta Tanaka. In February 2010 Shibata suffered a broken bone in his hand during a practice match against the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters, but recovered in time for the opening match of the Western league season on April 10.

2013 Shibata's opportunities to play in Hanshin's first team were reduced in 2013 due to Matt Murton, Maeda and Kosuke Fukudome forming a stable outfield lineup, however he was called up to the first team in May after Fukudome suffered an injury. On May 22, in his second start of the year, he hit his first career home run against the Chiba Lotte Marines at Chiba Marine Stadium. On 3 June, in a match against the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in his native Fukuoka Prefecture and with his family in the stands, he batted in the game winning runs and was recognized with his first solo post-match "hero interview". Whilst enjoying his career-best batting average of .297, Shibata injured his foot sliding into second base on a steal and was removed from the first-team roster the following day. He was unable to make his return to the first-team roster until September and finished the year with a batting average of .229 in 36 games. At the end of the season his contract salary for the following year was reduced 13% to 10 million yen.

2015 Shibata's opportunities remained limited in 2015 due to the emergence of young outfielders Hayata Ito and Taiga Egoshi. He finished the season having appeared in only 20 first-team games and batting .190.

Playing style Whilst in university Shibata was noted for his foot speed (50m in 5.7 seconds) and ability to throw long distances (110m). He has also been described as having "baseball smarts" that complement his speed. and their first daughter was born in June 2013.