Photo: ウィ貴公子 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Kenta Imamiya arrived from Meihō High School in Beppu as a pitcher who could touch 150 kilometres per hour, and the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks promptly moved him to shortstop. On paper that looks like a waste. Watch one throw from deep in the hole and it stops looking like a waste — the arm that was built for the mound is the arm that turns an infield single into an out. He is 172 centimetres tall, which is small for a professional infielder and very small for a player defined by arm strength. What he has instead is a kind of relentless, unglamorous competence. He holds the Pacific League record for sacrifice bunts. He has been an All-Star six times, has played for the national team, and has seven Japan Series championships with the Hawks. That last number is the one I keep returning to. Seven. You do not collect seven titles by accident, and you do not collect them as the man who hits the dramatic home run either. Championship teams are built on players who convert the routine play, every time, for years, and who will give up their own at-bat to move a runner ninety feet. Sacrifice bunts are the least celebrated statistic in baseball. They exist to make someone else's number look better. Leading a league in them across a career is, in a strange way, a record about character more than talent. He has anchored that infield for more than fifteen years. Fans of rival teams know his name mostly as an obstacle. That is a compliment.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Kenta Imamiya
- Name (Japanese)
- 今宮健太
- Born
- July 15, 1991 (age 35)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Cancer / Goat
- Origin
- Beppu, Ōita Prefecture, Japan
- Height
- 172 cm
- Occupation
- baseball player
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Frequently asked questions
When was Kenta Imamiya born?
Born July 15, 1991 (age 35).
Where is Kenta Imamiya from?
Kenta Imamiya is from Beppu, Ōita Prefecture, Japan.
What does Kenta Imamiya do?
Kenta Imamiya works as baseball player.
How tall is Kenta Imamiya?
Kenta Imamiya is 172 cm.
Baseball player — see all → · More people from Japan →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-07-27
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.