In his sixth season, Softbank Hawks 's Tatsuru Yanagimachi reached the required number of plate appearances for the first time in his career and won the title of highest on-base percentage.

His start to the season wasn't entirely smooth sailing. He played in 16 exhibition games with a batting average of .216 and began the season in the minor leagues. He was registered with the first team on April 1st, and in the early part of the season he mostly appeared as a pinch hitter, causing his batting average to drop to .118 at one point. However, he had a great game against Orix Buffaloes on April 23rd, and then got two hit against Rakuten Eagles on the 25th, which boosted his batting average to .292. He got three hit against Rakuten Eagles on the 27th, raising his batting average to .355, and from there he began to get more opportunities to play as starting line-up.

He finished April with a batting average of .333, followed by a .291 average in May, a .349 average in June, and a .397 average in interleague games, topping the batting averages of the 12 teams. His batting average dropped to .203 in July and .250 in August, but in September, as the race for the league championship intensified, he batted .337. While he ultimately fell short of .300, he finished with a .292 average. He won the title for highest on-base percentage with a .384 average. He also won Best Nine honors, making it a fulfilling year.

With tougher marking expected next season, it will be interesting to see if he can win out the fierce competition among The Hawks 'outfield and become a true regular.