Arihito Muramatsu (村松有人, born December 12, 1972) is a Japanese former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

, and current the first squad outfield defense and base coach for the

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks The are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture. They compete in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) as a member of the Pacific League. The team was formerly known as the Nankai Hawks and was based in Osaka. ...

Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

(NPB). He previously played for the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks, Fukuoka SoftBank and the Orix Buffaloes.

Professional career

Active player era

On November 24, 1990, Muramatsu was drafted 6th round pick by the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks in the 1990 Nippon Professional Baseball draft. He made his debut in the

Pacific League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the annual Japan Series. It currently cons ...

during the 1992 season, playing in 39 games. In the 1996 season, he led the

with 58 steals to win the Pacific League stolen base leader and Pacific League

Best Nine Award The Best Nine Award is awarded annually to the best player at each position in both the Central League and Pacific League of Japanese professional baseball as determined by a pool of journalists. History While the Best Nine Award was first present ...

. On July 1, 2003, Muramatsu recorded a hit for the cycle. Atsunori Inaba of the

Yakult Swallows The Tokyo Yakult Swallows () are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Shinjuku, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Yom ...

also recorded a hit for the cycle on the same day, the first time in NPB history. He also finished fifth all-time in NPB records with 13 triples. And he had won the Japanese Golden Glove award in outfield from 2003 to 2004. Starting in the 2004 season he exercised his free agent rights and joined the Orix Buffaloes, where he played for five seasons until the 2008 season. In the 2009 season, Muramatsu returned to the Hawks in a

trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct excha ...

for Naoyuki Ohmura, played two seasons, and retired after the 2010 season. Muramatsu played in 1673 games during his 20-season career,

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

.277 with 1380

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

s, 18

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s, 393 RBI, and 270 stolen bases.

After retirement

After his retirement, Muramatsu became the scout in charge of the

Tokai region Tōkai ( 東海, literally ''East Sea'') in Japanese may refer to: * Tōkai region, a subregion of Chūbu * Tōkai, Ibaraki, a village, also known as "Tokaimura" (Tokai-village) * Tōkai, Aichi, a city * Tōkai University, a private university in T ...

for the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks. He had been the third squad outfield defense and base coach since the 2014 season and the first squad outfield defense and base coach since the 2017 season.

International career

Muramathu joined the

Japan national baseball team The is the national team representing Japan in international baseball competitions. It won the World Baseball Classic in 2006 and 2009, as well as WBSC Premier12 in 2019. The team is currently ranked 1st in the world by the World Baseball Softb ...

for the 2004 Summer Olympics, and won a bronze medal. On February 6, 2015, he was appointed as Japan national baseball team's outfield defense and base running coach for the GLOBAL BASEBALL MATCH 2015 Samurai Japan vs. Europe.

References

External links

Career statistics - NPB.jp

- Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks Official site 1972 births Baseball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Fukuoka Daiei Hawks players Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks players Japanese baseball coaches Japanese expatriate baseball players in the United States Living people Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Nippon Professional Baseball coaches Nippon Professional Baseball outfielders Olympic baseball players of Japan Olympic bronze medalists for Japan Olympic medalists in baseball Orix BlueWave players Orix Buffaloes players People from Kanazawa, Ishikawa Salinas Spurs players {{Japan-Olympic-medalist-stub