This supplied photo shows SoftBank Hawks slugger Wladimir Balentien. (Mainichi)

       TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Wladimir Balentien, who set Nippon Professional Baseball's single-season home run record with 60 in 2013, will leave the SoftBank Hawks as the Pacific League team has decided not to renew his contract, a source said Wednesday.

       The source said the 37-year-old Curacao-born slugger has expressed a desire to continue his career in Japan, but he will leave the country in early October after the minor league season wraps up.

       Balentien is a former major leaguer who has played in NPB since 2011, first with the Yakult Swallows in the Central League. In his nine seasons with the Tokyo-based Swallows, he hit 288 homers.

       He joined the Fukuoka-based Hawks on a two-year contract in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, but he hit just nine homers with 22 RBIs in 60 games.

       This season, he reached a milestone when he hit his 300th homer of his NPB career in June, but he was sent down to the farm team at the end of the month after a lackluster return of four homers and nine RBIs in 22 games.

       Before his time in Japan, Balentien played in the majors from 2007 to 2009 with the Seattle Mariners and Cincinnati Reds. In 170 MLB games, he hit .221 with 15 home runs and 52 RBIs.

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