On 20 October 2016, Kinoshita was selected as the 1st round development draft pick by the Chunichi Dragons at the 2016 NPB Draft and on 9 November signed a provisional contract with a ¥2,000,000 sign-on bonus and a ¥3,000,000 yearly salary.[3]
On 23 March 2018, Kinoshita was upgraded to a fully rostered contract and presented with the number 98.[4]
Kinoshita collapsed due to cardiopulmonary arrest[5] on 6 July 2021, during rehabilitation training on his right shoulder at Nagoya Stadium and was rushed to the hospital, where he was put on a ventilator. He died without regaining consciousness on 3 August 2021. There was some media speculation that his death was connected to his having received his first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine eight days prior to his collapse, but no such causal link has been established.[6]
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