Wednesday, May 20

Laura Wolff/Charlotte Knights

CHICAGO -- Rikuu Nishida works diligently every day at his hobby.

That hobby is not golf, tennis, or ceramics. The 25-year-old’s passion is practiced toward perfection at Truist Field in Charlotte, among other locales.

“Yeah, I mean baseball is just my hobby,” the second baseman/outfielder for Triple-A Charlotte told MLB.com with a laugh during a recent phone interview. “So, I don’t feel like baseball is my job. I just like baseball, so I keep playing baseball.”

Baseball likes Nishida, judging by his results.

Through 27 games and 102 at-bats since being promoted to Charlotte, the 5-foot-6, 150-pound Nishida is slashing .363/.468/.422 with 28 runs scored, 17 walks against 23 strikeouts and seven stolen bases. He’s not a power hitter, with one home run and three doubles for the Knights, and he doesn’t have a set defensive position.

Yet, his skillset will play at the highest level.

“You look at him and he’s embraced who he is as a player,” said White Sox director of hitting Ryan Fuller of the player from Osaka, Japan by way of the University of Oregon. “Rikuu has a very unique skillset.

“He’s going to find ways of getting to first base any way possible. You look at his OBP, how often he gets on first base, second base, wherever it may be, and it’s about .400. He understands who he is and how to get there.”

As for Nishida, the individual, White Sox director of player development Paul Janish once described the left-handed hitter as leading the league in personality. This trait hasn’t changed as he moves closer to the Majors, and Nishida’s outgoing nature would fit in perfectly amidst the daily fun being had by the White Sox.

The fact that Nishida considers baseball his hobby shows the balance the young man has in his life.

“Loves to talk about his wife, his business, baseball, his friends off the field who he is hanging out with,” a smiling Fuller said. “He’s a really unique guy and whenever you get to spend time with him, you are really appreciative of what he brings to the field and off the field.

“His energy he brings every day, the way he loosens up the clubhouse, the dugout. He constantly is talking, saying something to someone and it makes the clubhouse a great environment.”

If baseball ranks as his industrious hobby, then what exactly is Nishida’s job? It’s One-Hanne, meaning “single wing” and “one percent” in Japanese, which is a company founded by Nishida to “provide offseason training space and connections for coaches interested in Japanese talent,” according to its page on X. Nishida is not just helping baseball players but also cheerleaders, as his wife, Rimi, was “a cheerleading professional” in Japan.

There are three employees for One-Hanne along with Nishida, who wakes up at 8 or 9 a.m. and does company stuff until the Knights clubhouse opens.

“Then when the clubhouse opens, I focus on my hobby,” Nishida said. “I like the city [of Charlotte], and I like the baseball. I’m so happy to be here. I still need to adjust defensively and hitting-wise, too.”

That baseball learning point was made in a couple of separate ways by Nishida. He prefers to play second base but continues to learn the outfield nuances, where Nishida has played 99 games in left, 25 in center and 47 in right over his Minor League career.

“I’m getting better right now because I practice infield and outfield every day,” Nishida said. “I like right field, because right field is behind second base.”

On offense, Nishida talks to everyone on the Knights roster to pick up tidbits for improvement. Mario Camilletti and LaMonte Wade Jr. have been especially big influences.

Getting to the Majors would make Nishida the fifth player from Japan to reach the White Sox, joining Kosuke Fukudome, Tadahito Iguchi and Shingo Takatsu, who were significant contributors to the 2005 World Series champions, as well as current first baseman Munetaka Murakami, who has become a leader and focal point for the White Sox resurgence.

Murakami met Ichiro prior to Tuesday’s game in Seattle, something Nishida did in Spring Training last season, which did the impossible of leaving him momentarily speechless. But his focus is joining Murakami, who he called the White Sox “captain” with a laugh.

“He’s one of the best players ever,” said Nishida of Murakami.

“Murakami is great, he’s awesome. I like Murakami and I like Murakami’s translator, Kenzo [Yagi]. I think Kenzo is doing a really good job.

“He was confident. When he was 22 years old, he hit 56 home runs [in Japan]. If I hit 56 home runs in one season, I’m going to have confidence too, right?”

Nishida’s biggest number within his “hobby” was 49 stolen bases in ’24. But as Nishida pointed out with a laugh, those steals came in the Minors.

Chicago baseball hasn’t had a regular season series as stunning as this past one in seven or eight years. Three straight sellouts between the Cubs and White Sox, three straight crowds of 38,000-plus and three outstanding contests. The Cubs controlled Game 1, the White Sox hit five home runs in Game 2 and the series finale moved near the top of most memorable moments from this rivalry.

Our city is better when both baseball teams are solid, and through one quarter of the schedule played, both teams look good. The White Sox return for more home baseball action on Memorial Day, with their first matchups against the Twins and Tigers.

• Another tough injury issue for catcher Kyle Teel. He was ready to be part of the White Sox season back at the end of Spring Training, but his body hasn’t cooperated.

• Here are the only things that brought White Sox and Cubs fans together this past weekend: Two wedding proposals in the stands, and the anti-Green Bay chants.

• It was great to see David Letterman back on Stephen Colbert’s show.

• I’ll be on FOX Chicago Wednesday, so please tune in for more White Sox talk.

• Best of luck to Morez Johnson Jr. moving on to the NBA. His contributions to the Michigan men’s basketball championship will not be forgotten.

“I take the most pride in my defense. Just because I was questioned a lot about it coming up through the Minor Leagues, just because of my size and things like that.” -- shortstop Colson Montgomery

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