Baseball has its own language.
It’s a sport where different players from any background can come together and form bonds inside and outside the chalked lines.
When Takumi Nishiwaki moved from Kariya, Aichi, Japan, to Indiana three years ago, he spoke little English upon enrolling at Seymour High School.
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While he adjusted to American life and linguistics — on top of all of the other challenges that go along with a high school teenager — Nishiwaki knew without a doubt he would join the baseball team his junior year.
In two years, Nishiwaki left an impact on the Owls’ baseball program.
Now graduated, he’s going to continue producing on the diamond at Hanover College.
When Owls head varsity baseball coach Jeremy Richey first met Nishiwaki, he knew how to approach having a player who struggled to communicate.
Over the past few years, the Owls have rostered four Japanese baseball players on their team: Ikutoshi Kamiya, Chihuro Kamiya, Satoshi Hirose and Nishiwaki.
Richey said all of the players moved to Seymour because of their parents’ work at either Aisin or Seymour Tubing.
However, the biggest difference with Nishiwaki was that he came into the program as a junior. All of the other student-athletes went through all four years at SHS.
“It was a struggle at first with the language barrier, but the good thing was we had dealt with it before,” Richey said. “We had an idea of how to communicate with him. Last year, he played third base all year. Third base is a position that there isn’t a whole lot of communication. We knew he was a middle infield-type guy. This year, he came in and moved around.
“The one thing that both Takumi and (Hirose) came here with was the ability to speak baseball. They understood baseball. They understood how to play the game. It just became how to play the game within the framework of how we do it. He really did a great job with that. He is such a special player because he can do so many things.”
In his senior season, Nishiwaki had 30 hits with a .470 average, 22 stolen bases and a fielding percentage of .922 for the Owls.
While he was a strong defensive player as a junior, he didn’t have anywhere near the hitting ability he has now.
Richey said Nishiwaki made a huge jump in a short amount of time.
“His junior year, he spoke little to no English, and the weight room wasn’t a priority,” Richey said. “It was trying to get him acclimated to America and to high school. He had a pretty good year for us. Defensively last year, he was solid for us. He struggled a little bit on offense because he wasn’t very big; however, because of the work he put in last year going into this year, he had a huge jump.”
Nishiwaki, who has played baseball for more than a decade, said he was approached by Richey at the possibility of staying in the United States and playing baseball in college.
“Coach asked me if I wanted to play college baseball. I didn’t really expect him to ask me that question,” he said. “I hadn’t really thought about it. I like playing baseball, and I’m happy to be able to play in college.”
Hanover, an NCAA Division III school, competes in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference. Owls senior pitcher Hunter Ahlbrand also is joining the Panthers’ program.
In their 2018-19 season, the Panthers finished 15-19 (7-11 HCAC) under first-year coach Grant Bellak.
“You look at Takumi and some of the skill set he has, he is good enough to compete at the college level,” Richey said. “When we started talking about it, I knew that it was going to be a smaller, Division III-type school just because of how limited he is physically.”
Nishiwaki believes his defense will carry over with him to the college game.
“I’m happy to be able to keep playing baseball,” he said. “I think my fielding will translate to college, and I think my batting made huge progress this year.”
The Panthers are getting a guy who will continue to improve, Richey said.
“He’s just going to keep getting better, and that’s what I told all of the coaches I’ve talked to,” he said. “He will be a better player for them than he was for us because he is just going to keep getting better physically. The tools and ability are there. He just needs to get bigger and stronger. I have no doubt he’s going to be a very good college baseball player.”
Richey said he also had Nishiwaki in an economics class at SHS and that he was a strong student.
Nishiwaki said he will miss playing baseball at American Legion Field.
“I’m going to miss all my friends, teammates and coaches,” he said.