On the 20th, the Rakuten Eagles announced that they have notified catcher Hikaru Ito (37) that they will not be offering him a player contract for the 2027 season.

Hikaru Ito exercised his international free agent (FA) rights last offseason and joined the Rakuten Eagles from DeNA on a one-year contract. This season, due to injuries during the summer and other factors, he was limited to 22 games, finishing with a .133 batting average, 1 Home Run, and 2 RBI.

He joined the Orix Buffaloes as a third-round pick in the 2007 high school draft. In the middle of the 2018 season, he transferred to DeNA. His career NPB stats were 1,085 games played, a .234 batting average, 264 RBI, and 31 Home Runs.