Career
Born in Nara Prefecture, Hiroya started playing baseball in 1st grade for the Yamatotakada Eagles (little league), then for the Kashihara Condor Boys when he was in junior high In his junior year however, due to the involvement of his teammates in a scandal, their team was banned from participating in games. They also didn"t make it to Kōshien tournaments.
In October 28, 2010, he was chosen as the 2nd pick in the annual professional baseball draft.
In November 12, he signed with the Tigers for an estimated 3 million yen annual salary. He was assigned the jersey number 126.。 2011-2014
He appeared in a handful of Western League (farm) games in his first two years.
In 2013, he was able to pitch as a reliever in 25 farm games, but the opposing batters seemed to get the best of him and he finished with an European Research Area of 4.94. Because he was unable to make it to the main roster for three years, he was released from his contract on October 31, and was offered to sign a 1-year Ikusei (development) contract on November 12.
His appearances in farm games increased in 2014, and upon release from his Ikusei contract, he was again offered a regular contract on November 21.
With a lean build listed at 176 centimeters, Shimamoto is a southpaw pitcher whose fastballs are clocked at a maximum of 144 km/h. While he can also deliver sliders and forkballs, he learned the shuuto from pitching coach Yutaka Ohno during the 2014 spring camp. He was also deemed to possess excellent ball control.