Hichori Morimoto (Japanese: 森本 稀哲, Korean: 이희철, Hanja: 李稀哲, born January 31, 1981) is a Japanese professional baseballer of Korean descent for the Saitama Seibu Lions. He was the number 4 draft pick for the Fighters in 1999. For years, he was the backup for the most popular player in the league, Tsuyoshi Shinjo. After the 2006 season in which the Fighters won the Japan Series, SHINJO (registered name with capital letters) announced his retirement, in which Morimoto then took over SHINJO's center field spot, and also his number 1 (Morimoto had worn number 46 when SHINJO was playing). Morimoto has alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease that causes loss of body hair.
Hichori Morimoto | |
---|---|
Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters – No. 80 | |
Outfielder / Coach | |
Born: Tokyo, Japan | January 31, 1981|
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
NPB debut | |
August 2, 2000, for the Nippon Ham Fighters | |
Last NPB appearance | |
September 27, 2015, for the Saitama Seibu Lions | |
NPB statistics (through 2015 season) | |
Batting average | .259 |
Hits | 904 |
RBIs | 267 |
Teams | |
As player
As coach
| |
Last updated on: Nov 18, 2022 |
References
edit- Career statistics from Baseball Reference (Minors)
- Nippon Professional Baseball career statistics from JapaneseBaseball.com
- Hichori Morimoto, JapaneseBallPlayers.com Archived April 26, 2011, at the Wayback Machine