Kakimoto Seiya (柿本晟弥) of Panasonic, a pitcher from the corporate and independent leagues, is attracting attention as a 2026 draft prospect. His background includes a strong showing in the Intercity Baseball Tournament, where he relied on a fastball topping out at 151 km/h and a varied repertoire of pitches.
Kakimoto Seiya (柿本晟弥) is a pitcher for Panasonic whose weapon is a fastball in the 152-km/h range at its fastest. He is a right-hander standing 183 cm tall and weighing 80 kg, and is also described as having a well-regarded balance between his pitching and hitting. This article reports that interest in him has grown ahead of the Nippon Professional Baseball draft.
In addition to his fastball, his repertoire includes a slider, cutter, curveball, forkball and two-seam fastball. He is said to command this wide variety of breaking pitches at a high level, with his potential emphasized as a polished corporate-league pitcher.
At Toyo University, he submitted a professional aspirations form but went undrafted. After joining Panasonic, he developed into the team's ace. In the Intercity Baseball Tournament, he played as a reinforcement player for NTT West and pitched effectively, allowing no runs through 7⅔ innings against NTT East in the second round, helping his team finish runner-up.
The article is positioned as part of a feature listing players from the corporate and independent leagues as 2026 draft prospects, and concludes that his future progress is expected to attract attention.