Tetsuto Yamada

Tetsuto Yamada (山田 哲人, Yamada Tetsuto; born July 16, 1992) is a Japanese professional baseball infielder for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). Yamada made his NPB debut in 2012 with Yakult, and has played with them for his whole career. He has won the Central League MVP award, has received the Best Nine Award six times, has been selected to six NPB All-Star Series appearances, and has a Japan Series championship. He has led the Central League in stolen bases three times and home runs once, hitting 30 home runs and stealing 30 bases in a single season on four occasions. In 2014 he broke the single season record for most hits by a Japanese right-hander in the NPB, and in 2015 became the first player in NPB history to lead his league in home runs and stolen bases in the same season. He has been compared to Mike Trout for his combination of power and speed.

Yamada has also played for the Japanese national team Samurai Japan. In 2014 and 2018, he won the MLB Japan All-Star Series with them. He has played for Japan in the WBSC Premier12 tournaments of 2015 and 2019, and was on the Japanese team during the 2017 World Baseball Classic. In 2021, he was selected to the host nation's team for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where he won both the gold medal and the MVP award.