He started playing little league baseball in 3rd grade for Suka Elementary, and was chosen to play for the Chiba Lotte Marines Junior team in his 6th year.[3] He continued playing baseball for Yokaichiba Daini Junior High, and was selected to pitch for the national team in the 2016 WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup.[4] He helped Japan finish 2nd overall, and he earned the lowest ERA pitcher award as well as a "Super Junior High pitcher" reputation for his 140 km/h fastball.[5]
He entered Yokohama High School, a known baseball powerhouse in Kanagawa prefecture, and became the team's ace in his 2nd year.[6] But despite his team making it to national tournaments for 3 years in a row, he failed to pitch well in several games that at one point he was stripped of the ace jersey (#1).[7] In his final year, his team almost made it to the summer prefectural finals but lost to the opponent when he gave up 3 runs in less than 2 innings of relief. This was the first time his school was defeated by a public high school in the prefectural tournaments, last occurred in 1997 when Daisuke Matsuzaka was a sophomore pitcher there.[3] Nevertheless, his 153 km/h (95 mph) fastball was enough to gain scout attention and he was one of the top high school prospects of the 2019 draft, along with Junya Nishi, Rōki Sasaki and Yasunobu Okugawa.[8]
Hanshin Tigers
He was the Tiger's 3rd round pick during the 2019 NPB draft.[6] He signed a 50 million yen contract with Hanshin, for an estimated annual salary of 6 million yen.[1] He was assigned jersey number 37.
2020 He spent his first year playing in Western League games (farms). He finished with a 2-4 record in 9 outings with a 6.0 ERA.[9]
2021 He debuted as a middle reliever in the May 25 game against the Lions and pitched a scoreless 2/3 innings.[10] Two days later, he earned his first career win as a reliever after pitching 2 scoreless innings.[11]
