"I Won't Be a Doctor for Now"…The Chosen Profession Despite Passing the Medical License Exam

Graduated from Gunma University Medical School... Aiming for Rookie Draft Selection
Found Out About Acceptance from Mother's Text Message in Locker Room

A rookie player in Japanese professional baseball made headlines by passing the medical license exam during his debut game.

On the 20th, local media including the Chunichi Shimbun reported that on the 15th, Keito Takeuchi (24), a right-handed pitcher for the Gufu Hayate Ventures Shizuoka team in the Western League (the second division of Japanese professional baseball), not only played his professional debut game but also passed the Japanese national medical examination on the same day. Takeuchi threw his first pitch at 1:59 PM. The medical exam results were announced one minute later at 2:00 PM. After pitching until the 7th inning, he left the mound and, while in the locker room, saw a late text message from his mother saying "You passed," learning of his success.

On the 4th of last month, Keito Takeuchi is smiling brightly in front of the examination hall after completing the national medical licensing exam.
Photo by X (formerly Twitter) capture

Born in 1999, Takeuchi started playing baseball in the first grade of elementary school and was the ace of his team in middle school. In 2014, he was selected for Japan’s under-15 national team and also participated in the Baseball World Cup held in Mexico that same year. During his time at Shizuoka High School, he played in the Koshien tournament, known as "the flower of Japanese high school baseball." However, since the second year of middle school, he had dreamed of becoming a doctor. While playing baseball, he hoped to become an orthopedic surgeon to help people suffering from injuries. Even while active in his high school baseball club, he studied more than twelve hours a day and later enrolled in the School of Medicine at Gunma University, a national university. Takeuchi applied to the university professional baseball league last year and took the 118th national medical examination on November 3-4. Coincidentally, he achieved both his goals of professional debut and passing the medical license exam on the same day.

Takeuchi passed the professional entry test of his current team last November. He has excellent physical attributes, standing 181 cm tall and weighing 83 kg, with fast legs that run 50 meters in 6.3 seconds, combined with pitching skills. His personal best fastball speed is 147 km/h.

Pitcher Takeuchi Keito of the Kofuhayate Ventures Shizuoka in the Japanese Professional Baseball Western League is pitching in the league opener on the 15th.
[Image source=Captured from X (formerly Twitter)]

Takeuchi is known to be the first player in Japanese professional baseball history to hold a medical license. However, it appears he will put his medical career on hold for the time being. His primary goal is to be selected in the upcoming NPB rookie draft this fall. In an interview with the media, Takeuchi said, "I hope young students who are balancing baseball and studies and face the choice between the two will see me and feel that they can do both."