Japanese baseball player
Baseball player
Sho Nakata
(
中田 翔
,
Nakata Sh?
, born April 22, 1989, in
Hiroshima
)
, nicknamed "
Sho Time
",
[1]
is a Japanese professional baseball player playing for the
Chunichi Dragons
of the
Nippon Professional Baseball
(NPB). He previously played for the
Yomiuri Giants
and
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
. He plays outfield and first base.
Career
[
edit
]
Early baseball career
[
edit
]
As a high school student, he played as a pitcher for
Osaka Toin High School
and his fastball was clocked at 94 mph.
[2]
In 2006, he took part in Japan's
National High School Baseball Championship
, but he was defeated by his opponent
Yuki Saito
in his second game.
Nakata was a highly hyped prospect out of high school, hitting a total of 87 home runs, a Japanese record. On November 3, 2006, during a prefectural tournament game, the 17-year-old cracked a home run that was estimated to have traveled 550' out of the park then over a couple houses before landing across the street. That shattered the old record for the park, 425' by future NPB regular
Osamu Hamanaka
. The
Minnesota Twins
,
New York Mets
and
Seattle Mariners
all expressed interest, with Seattle offering $2.5 million. Nakata turned all of them down to play in Nippon Pro Baseball.
Nippon-Ham Fighters
[
edit
]
He was in the first pick by
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
in the 2007 draft (High School Players). He succeeds the number 6, previously belongs to "Mr. Fighters"
Yukio Tanaka
.
[3]
He struggled in his first spring training in 2008, and was sent down to ni-gun for seasoning. He fared well, hitting .255/.339/.464 with 11 HR in 196 AB. He was five homers behind Eastern League leader Yohei Kaneko despite missing the last two months after knee surgery.
Nakata starred in the minors in 2009, tying the Eastern League RBI record (95, previously set by Corey Paul) and setting a new homer record (30, also held by Paul). He made it into 22 official games, debuting on May 23 and singling off
Ricky Barrett
in his first at-bat in Nippon Pro Baseball. He was 10 for 36 with two doubles, three runs, one RBI, one walk and 15 whiffs for Nippon Ham.
Nakata was moved to the outfield in 2010, but once again missed two months due to knee surgery. He hit .233/.291/.395 with 9 HR but 61 strikeouts in 210 at-bats. His first NPB homer came off
Yuta Omine
on July 20. He got six votes for the 2010 Pacific League Rookie of the Year Award, well back of Ryo Sakakibara's 87. He also trailed
Keisuke Katto
,
Masahiko Morifuku
and
Takashi Ogino
.
As a regular in 2011, Nakata hit .237/.283/.408 with 32 doubles, 18 home runs and 91 RBI. In a low-offense season, he ranked among the Pacific League leaders in many departments. He was third in RBI (behind
Takeya Nakamura
and
Hiroyuki Nakajima
), second in doubles (to
Kazuo Matsui
), tied for third in homers (with
Aarom Baldiris
, trailing Nakamura by 30 and
Nobuhiro Matsuda
by 7), tied for 5th in total bases (215, even with
Mitsutaka Gotoh
), second in sacrifice flies (8, behind Nakajima), third in strikeouts (133, one behind co-leaders Chung-Shou Yang and Nakamura), tied for 6th in double play grounders (12, even with Baldiris) and 9th in slugging (between Goto and
Atsunori Inaba
).
He is the first Fighters player to hit at least 20 homers over three consecutive seasons since
Michihiro Ogasawara
(now the 2nd team coach of the Chunichi Dragons).
[4]
Together with then-rookie pitcher
Shohei Ohtani
, the duo were dubbed the "O-N tandem of the Heisei Era", referencing
Sadaharu Oh
and
Shigeo Nagashima
's "O-N cannon" back in their prime with the
Yomiuri Giants
.
Nakata was named the
most valuable player
of the 2016
Pacific League
Climax Series
.
[5]
He was selected for the
2018 NPB All-Star game
[
jp
]
.
[6]
On August 11, 2021, Nakata was suspended indefinitely for committing violence against his teammates.
[7]
Yomiuri Giants
[
edit
]
On August 20, Nakata was traded to the
Yomiuri Giants
in a gratuitous trade.
[8]
[9]
This trade lifted his suspension.
[10]
Chunichi Dragons
[
edit
]
On December 3, it was reported that Nakata had signed a 2-year deal with the
Chunichi Dragons
.
[11]
International career
[
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]
Nakata played for the
Japan national baseball team
in the
2013 World Baseball Classic
, 2013 exhibition series against
Chinese Taipei
,
2014 MLB Japan All-Star Series
,
[12]
2015 exhibition series against Europe,
[13]
2015 WBSC Premier12
,
[14]
and
2017 World Baseball Classic
.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
木下大輔 (April 11, 2018).
"日本ハム中田3? 俺が元祖「SHO TIME」だ"
.
日刊スポ?ツ
(in Japanese)
. Retrieved
September 6,
2019
.
- ^
White, Paul (March 30, 2007).
"Japan frets over talent exodus to North America"
.
USA Today
. Retrieved
November 12,
2010
.
- ^
Jason Coskrey (2008-02-21).
"Power-hitting phenom Nakata thrust into spotlight"
.
The Japan Times
. Retrieved
2009-01-27
.
- ^
"Sho Nakata Starts Slugging for Ham Fighters"
. One World Sports. 2013-08-05
. Retrieved
2013-08-05
.
- ^
"Never-say-die attitude takes Fighters to Japan Series"
.
The Japan Times
. October 16, 2016
. Retrieved
October 19,
2016
.
- ^
"マイナビオ?ルスタ?ゲ?ム2018 出場者"
.
NPB.jp 日本野球機構
(in Japanese). July 3, 2018.
- ^
"Nikkan Sports baseball news 中田翔が暴力行? 日本ハム「?正な??」模範行?違反で出場停止?分"
.
Nikkan Sports
(in Japanese). August 11, 2021
. Retrieved
August 20,
2021
.
- ^
"Nikkan Sports baseball news 「野球?める?悟が」巨人大塚球?副代表、中田翔を無償トレ?ド獲得の?緯"
.
Nikkan Sports
(in Japanese). August 20, 2021
. Retrieved
August 20,
2021
.
- ^
"Yomiuri Giants Press release 2021.08.20 北海道日本ハムファイタ?ズとのトレ?ド合意について"
.
Yomiuri Giants
Official site
(in Japanese). August 20, 2021
. Retrieved
August 20,
2021
.
- ^
"Nikkan Sports baseball news 中田翔が巨人へトレ?ド 日本ハムで暴力行?、20日をもって?分解除"
.
Nikkan Sports
(in Japanese). August 20, 2021
. Retrieved
August 20,
2021
.
- ^
"中日、前巨人?中田翔獲得へ 立浪監督「チ?ムの力になる」"
.
Sankei Sports
(in Japanese). 2023-12-03
. Retrieved
2023-12-03
.
- ^
"選手一?"
.
野球日本代表 侍ジャパン オフィシャルサイト
(in Japanese). October 9, 2014
. Retrieved
August 13,
2018
.
- ^
"?州代表?、侍ジャパン出場選手?表!6選手が小久保?制下で初招集"
.
野球日本代表 侍ジャパン オフィシャルサイト
(in Japanese). January 16, 2015
. Retrieved
August 13,
2018
.
- ^
"「WBSC プレミア12」侍ジャパントップチ?ム最終ロ?スタ?28名?表!!"
.
野球日本代表 侍ジャパン オフィシャルサイト
(in Japanese). October 9, 2015
. Retrieved
May 13,
2018
.
External links
[
edit
]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Sho Nakata
.
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Catchers
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Infielders
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Outfielders
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Development
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First squad
coaching
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Second squad
coaching
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