Hirokazu Ibata began his professional baseball career with the Chunichi Dragons in Nagoya in 1998. He played for 15 seasons with the club as an infielder, winning seven Golden Gloves and making five season-ending Best Nine teams. Ibata left the Dragons after the 2013 season, and when he retired two years later it was as a member of the Tokyo-based Yomiuri Giants.
As Ibata prepares to manage Samurai Japan at the Premier12 in November, the longtime NPB star might feel he was destined to lead his team along the same path in the fall. Japan will begin its Premier12 campaign in Nagoya and hopes to end it by winning the title in Tokyo.
“I feel like it's fate in a way,” Ibata said Friday. “But I just want our team to gain momentum in Nagoya and eventually win the whole thing in Tokyo.”
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