Sho Nakata

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Sho Nakata
Nakata with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
Chunichi Dragons – No. 6
First baseman, Outfielder
Born: (1989-04-22) April 22, 1989 (age 35)
Hiroshima, Hiroshima, Japan
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
NPB debut
May 23, 2009, for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
NPB statistics
(through 2023 season)
Batting average.250
Hits1,523
Home runs303
Runs batted in1,062
Teams
Career highlights and awards
Medals
Men's baseball
Representing  Japan
2015 WBSC Premier12
Bronze medal – third place 2015 Tokyo Team

Sho Nakata (中田 翔, Nakata Shō, 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

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Early baseball career

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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

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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

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On August 20, Nakata was traded to the Yomiuri Giants in a gratuitous trade.[8][9] This trade lifted his suspension.[10]

Chunichi Dragons

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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

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  1. ^ 木下大輔 (April 11, 2018). "日本ハム中田３号 俺が元祖「ＳＨＯ ＴＩＭＥ」だ". 日刊スポーツ (in Japanese). Retrieved September 6, 2019.
  2. ^ White, Paul (March 30, 2007). "Japan frets over talent exodus to North America". USA Today. Retrieved November 12, 2010.
  3. ^ Jason Coskrey (2008-02-21). "Power-hitting phenom Nakata thrust into spotlight". The Japan Times. Retrieved 2009-01-27.
  4. ^ "Sho Nakata Starts Slugging for Ham Fighters". One World Sports. 2013-08-05. Retrieved 2013-08-05.
  5. ^ "Never-say-die attitude takes Fighters to Japan Series". The Japan Times. October 16, 2016. Retrieved October 19, 2016.
  6. ^ "マイナビオールスターゲーム2018 出場者". NPB.jp 日本野球機構 (in Japanese). July 3, 2018.
  7. ^ "Nikkan Sports baseball news 中田翔が暴力行為 日本ハム「厳正な対応」模範行為違反で出場停止処分". Nikkan Sports (in Japanese). August 11, 2021. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
  8. ^ "Nikkan Sports baseball news 「野球辞める覚悟が」巨人大塚球団副代表、中田翔を無償トレード獲得の経緯". Nikkan Sports (in Japanese). August 20, 2021. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
  9. ^ "Yomiuri Giants Press release 2021.08.20 北海道日本ハムファイターズとのトレード合意について". Yomiuri Giants Official site (in Japanese). August 20, 2021. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
  10. ^ "Nikkan Sports baseball news 中田翔が巨人へトレード 日本ハムで暴力行為、20日をもって処分解除". Nikkan Sports (in Japanese). August 20, 2021. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
  11. ^ "中日、前巨人・中田翔獲得へ 立浪監督「チームの力になる」". Sankei Sports (in Japanese). 2023-12-03. Retrieved 2023-12-03.
  12. ^ "選手一覧". 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.
  13. ^ "欧州代表戦、侍ジャパン出場選手発表！6選手が小久保体制下で初招集". 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.
  14. ^ "「WBSC プレミア12」侍ジャパントップチーム最終ロースター28名発表！！". 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.
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