The 2025 season saw the best batting performance of all time.

​Ukyo Shuto joined Fukuoka Softbank Hawks as the second pick in the 2017 development draft and has risen to become one of the top NPB players thanks to his exceptional leg strength. He has been a highly-rated player, contributing greatly to defense and base running, as evidenced by his four stolen base titles and two Golden Glove Awards. While his batting contributions have been limited, last season he recorded his highest ever batting average and on-base percentage, even though he didn't reach the required number of at-bats. He also showed impressive performance with the bat, setting a new series record with five hit in one game in the Japan Series.

So, what specifically has changed in his batting? This time, we focused on struck out rate and Walk rate. While they are by no means among the best in the league, he recorded his career best numbers in both, which is thought to have led to an improvement in his batting average and on-base percentage. First, let's focus on the increase in Walk and look at the related data.

Last season, he adopted a more cautious swing approach.

The first data point I'll introduce is the swing rate for the first two pitches of each at-bat. In 2023 and 2024, Shuto's swing rate was around the league average, and before that, there were seasons where it was in the 40% range, indicating that he was a batter who tended to swing from early count. However, last season his swing rate decreased, and he had changed to a more cautious swing approach.

Let's look at some more data on swing aggressiveness. The table shows the swing rate in count hitter 's favor when the ball is ahead. This figure also follows a similar trend to the swing rate up to the second pitch, and even in the so-called batting count, when he could be aiming for a hit, he maintained a cautious stance. We won't know his intentions without asking him, but it seems that last season he was stepping up to the plate with a greater emphasis on "getting on base."

The number of at-bats with three balls has increased.

In fact, last season, Shuto had more at-bats with the count at 3 balls. By changing his swing approach, he was able to create more opportunities to get on base with Walk than usual. For a team to score runs, having runner on base is extremely important, and if those runner have top-class base running ability, it can be extremely effective. It can be said that last season Shuto was able to make even greater use of his leg strength, which is one of his strengths.

So far, I've been talking about the positive aspects of changing his swing approach and being able to get deeper into count, but on the other hand, there's also the downside of being more likely to be down to two strike. Last season, the percentage of at-bats where he had two strike was 53.3%, the highest of his career, so the risk of struck out should have increased accordingly. However, as mentioned earlier, his actual struck out rate actually decreased.

Improved contact rate in tight situations

One of the reasons he no longer struck out when he's in a tight spot is his improved contact ability. In recent years, his contact rate after being in a tight spot has increased, and he's now able to make contact with inning shot that the opposing pitcher is throwing in an attempt to struck out.

The number of struck out has decreased significantly

In addition, the aforementioned decrease in swing rate, in fact, the trend remained the same at 2 strike, and last season the swing rate was lower even in a driven situation. As a result, missed struck out have increased, as shown in the table above. Yet, at the same time, the ball zone swing rate has also decreased, which, combined with the increase in contact rate, has resulted in a large decrease in swinging struck out. This compensated for the increase in missed struck out and reduced the total struck out.

By changing his swing approach and improving his contact ability, Zhou Dong was able to both reduce struck out and increase Walk. Of course, the factors that hitter improve performance are not limited to those introduced in this article. He is also continuing his efforts to hit the ball harder, such as by increasing his weight, and it is likely that his career-high hitting performance was the result of rethinking his own style and not fearing the risk of losing what he has built up over the years. In January of this year, he won a major contract, and in the first round of the "2026 WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC," which began in March, he hit a three-run shot against the Czech Republic. The hawk speedster, who has never stopped evolving, is sure to show off his strengths in all aspects of running, offense, and defense in the WBC in order to bring Japan another moment of joy.

All figures in the text and table are as of the end of the 2025 season.

Text: Data Stadium