University of Hawai’i two-way star Itsuki Takemoto has earned All-Big West First Team honors as a utility player for his breakout 2025 season.
Takemoto is a native of Wakayama, Japan, and was one of the top high school players in Japan. His team won the 2021 Koshien Summer Tournament. However, instead of trying to play Nippon Professional Baseball, he decided to play college baseball in hopes of growing as a player.
“I could have gone to play NPB, but my high school coach said, ‘You should not go right now because you need more skill, mentality and everything,’” Takemoto told World Baseball Network in the fall. “So, I understand, and I saw those things too, which is why I chose America.”
Takemoto has also played in the West Coast League and the Cape Cod League. In 2024, he was named an All-Star in the Cape Cod League for the Orleans Firebirds. He was also named most outstanding pitcher, pitching to a 0.71 ERA and striking out 23 batters. However, his 2025 campaign for the Rainbow Warriors really highlights the player he can be.
In 2024, he pitched just 33 1/3 innings and had 16 at-bats as a true freshman. However, in 2025, he started 35 games as a position player and pitched 66 1/3 innings. He struck out 56 batters while slashing .267/.318/.362. He also hit his first home run for the Rainbow Warriors against UC Santa Barbara.
Takemoto opted to play college baseball and continue to grow as a player, but now he has his sights set on MLB not NPB.
“Maybe,” Takemoto said of one day pitching in NPB. “But right now I want to go straight to MLB.”
There is no shortage of Japanese-born stars in the big leagues right now. Most, unlike Takemoto plans to do, played professionally in Japan before signing with an MLB team. Takemoto noted Shohei Ohtani, Yu Darvish, Masataka Yoshida, Yuki Matsui and Yoshinobu Yamamoto as Japanese-born players he looks up to as a young player.
As a two-way player, it is not shocking that Takemoto looks up to Ohtani. However, when talking about the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres postseason matchup, riddled with Japanese stars, it was Darvish and Yamamoto that had his full attention. Darvish and Yamamoto’s winner-take-all Game 5 matchup was the first postseason matchup between two Japanese-born starters.
“I was so excited,” Yamamoto said to World Baseball Network. “I was so excited to watch the play against each other. Yamamoto, his first game was not good. But he bounced back, you saw. I was so excited for him. I was so excited to watch.”
Yamamoto clearly takes great pride in representing Japan and is tuning in to watch other Japanese stars make an impact on the biggest stage. His 2025 season is a step toward him one day joining them in the Major Leagues.
Photo: Itsuki Takemoto (Courtesy of Hawaii Athletics)
