is a professional Japanese baseball player. He plays infielder for the Hanshin Tigers.
Early baseball career
Yūsuke started playing softball in 1st grade as both a pitcher and infielder, and continued until junior high. He doubled as a pitcher and infielder for Tsukuba Shuei High, but his team never made it to the national tournaments in Koshien. He hit a total of 27 home runs in high school.
He entered Hakuoh University in Tochigi prefecture, and played solely as 3rd baseman as their team participated in the Kankoshin Student Baseball Federation League. In his 4th year, he batted an average of .417 and set a league record of 8 home runs in a single tournament. He was also awarded for the most runs batted in (20 RBI). In all of his 98-game appearances, he recorded 119 hits and 93 runs, including 16 homeruns.
Hanshin Tigers
He was the Tiger's 1st pick at the 2016 NPB Draft. He signed with Hanshin for a contract of 100 million yen, 50 million signing bonus for an estimated annual salary of 15 million. He inherited the jersey number 3, formerly worn by retired infielder Kentaro Sekimoto.
2017
He joined the main squad spring camp training but struggled at the plate as he went hitless for 17 at-bats. Despite batting .333 in 9 appearances during the pre-season games, he was sent back to the farms as there was a surplus of infielders in the main roster.
He spent the 1st half of the season playing in Western League (farm games), where until June, he averaged .232 and batted in 14 runs (1 HR). Finally on June 23, he was called to pinch hit against the Carps in Mazda Stadium. On July 1, he notched his first career hit and first career home run which won the match against the Swallows in Koshien. He became the 7th Hanshin rookie to notch a home run as his first hit; this was last accomplished 30 years ago by Hiroshi Yagi. By the end of July, he was batting third, and continued to hit well in the succeeding games. On August 18, he recorded the first 5-RBI game of his career including a three-run home run. He was assigned the clean up spot in the next month, and when he notched his 6th homerun on September 2, he became the first Hanshin Rookie to hit a home run as a clean up batter. He ended the season with a .237 average, 7 home runs and 38 RBIs in 198 at bats. He also finished second in the Central League Rookie of the Year voting behind Chunichi Dragons shortstop Yota Kyoda.
He continued to bat clean up during the post-season Climax Series games (playoffs) against the Baystars, and on October 15, he went 4-for-5 (1B9, HR7, 2B9, 2B8, F9) and tied the playoffs record for most hits in a game with 15 other players. He is the first rookie to accomplish the feat during post-season play (including the Nippon Series), and the fourth rookie in Climax Series history to hit a home run. He notched 7 hits and 4 RBIs during the three playoff games before Hanshin got eliminated.
His performance for the season earned him a 10 million pay raise, bringing his annual salary to 25 million yen.。
2018
He played for the Samurai Japan in the 2018 ENEOS Samurai Japan Series versus Australia before the season started. He managed to secure the third-base position during the season-opener, but saw fewer plate appearances as he went on a hitting slump in April, and was eventually sent back to the farm on June 22. He redeemed himself by batting 0.400 in 8 farm games, scored 8 RBIs including 3 home runs, which prompted management to call him back to the main squad a few days later. He continued to hit well in the following weeks, but did not really hit anything beyond the fence. In September however, he hit one home run after another, including 2 home runs in a single inning during the September 16 match against the Baystars, and a rare inside-the-park home run on September 27. This brought his total to 11, and he experienced his first season with double digit home runs.
He finished the season at 0.274, with 48 RBIs out of 117 games. His improved performance earned him an additional 5 million yen pay raise, bringing his annual salary to 30 million yen.
