is a Japanese former professional baseball player, baseball commentator, baseball critic, coach.
Toritani was one of the most highly coveted position players in years as a senior for Waseda University in 2003. He holds the current NPB record for most consecutive games played without missing an inning as a shortstop, and appeared in every Tigers game for over 13 years from 2005 to May 27, 2018 (1,939 regular season games).
Early life and high school career
Toritani was born in Higashimurayama, Tokyo, the eldest of three brothers. He played for the Higashimurayama Junior Mets, Ozakudai Little League Club in his elementary school days in Higashimurayama and Hamura, and Mizuho Senior in his junior high school days in Hamura.
He played both shortstop and pitcher at Seibō Gakuen Senior High School in Saitama. He played in the 81st National High School Baseball Championship in 1999, coming on in relief in Seibō Gakuen's first game against Hita-Rinkō High School (the Ōita champions) and clocking , but his team lost 5–3.
College career
Toritani went on to enroll at Waseda University as a human sciences major. There, he was surrounded by an impressive collection of talent: his year included then-right fielder Norichika Aoki (Tokyo Yakult Swallows), third baseman Toshimitsu Higa (Hiroshima Carp) and center fielder Shintaro Yoshida (Orix Buffaloes), all three of whom would later go on to the pros. Left-hander Tsuyoshi Wada (Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks) was in the year above him, and second baseman Hiroyasu Tanaka (BayStars) and first baseman Shinichi Takeuchi (Swallows) would join the team one and two years later, respectively.
In the spring of 2001, then-sophomore Toritani led the Tokyo Big6 Baseball League in all three Triple Crown categories (batting average, home runs, runs batted in), tying current Saitama Seibu Lions third baseman Taketoshi Gotoh as the fastest player (by academic year) to win Triple Crown honors in the history of the league. Toritani drew 19 combined walks and hit-batters in the spring 2003 season as a senior, a Tokyo Big6 record (later broken by then-Rikkyo University outfielder Yuichi Tabata in 2004). He won his second batting title that fall.
He won five Tokyo Big6 Best Nine awards during his eight seasons (spring and fall) at Waseda, playing in 96 games and hitting .333 with 11 home runs and 71 RBI for his college career and leading Waseda to a record four consecutive league titles along with the likes of Aoki, Higa and Yoshida. He was one of the most highly touted position players in recent years in the months preceding the and was said to be a complete five-tool player. The Hanshin Tigers signed him as a pre-draft pick in early November.He was assigned the jersey number 1.
Professional career
Hanshin Tigers
In 2004, amid much hype from both fans and members of the media, Toritani was named the Tigers' starting shortstop and No. 7 hitter in the Tigers' season opener as a rookie despite the presence of 26-year-old Atsushi Fujimoto, who had hit .301 at the same position the year before. He got the first base hit of his career off left-hander Yukinaga Maeda in the eighth inning of the opener against the Yomiuri Giants on April 2. However, struggling to make contact with the ball on a consistent basis, Toritani was replaced by Fujimoto in the sixth game of the season and saw most of his playing time at third base until Fujimoto left the team to play for Japan in the 2004 Athens Olympics, hitting his first career home run off then-Yokohama BayStars right-hander Kazumasa Azuma on May 27 and recording his first career stolen base against the BayStars on July 19. As luck would have it, Fujimoto struggled with his hitting upon rejoining the Tigers after the Olympic Games, and Toritani got most of the starts at shortstop for the remainder of the season. He hit just .251 with three home runs and 17 RBI in 235 at-bats, slugging a mere .345 in a disappointing rookie campaign.
In 2005, Fujimoto was permanently moved to second base, and he and Toritani manned the Tigers' middle infield to begin the season. Toritani became the team's No. 2 hitter after Fujimoto and Kentaro Sekimoto, who had platooned in the 2-hole, struggled with their hitting. He played in all 146 games, hitting .278 with nine home runs and 52 RBI and even hitting two walk-off home runs in contributing to the Tigers' league championship.
It was reported that he had married his high school sweetheart, who had been a year older than he was and the baseball team's team manager, on December 20 during the off-season.