is a professional Japanese

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

player. He plays

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

for the

Hiroshima Toyo Carp The is a professional baseball team based in Hiroshima, Japan. They compete in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. The team is primarily owned by the Matsuda family, led by , who is a descendant of Mazda founder Jujiro Matsuda ...

Early Baseball Career

He started playing little league baseball in 3rd grade for Meijikita Elementary School. He continued to play for Daito Junior High where they made it all the way to national tournaments in his 3rd year. Thinking of playing more baseball just for fun, he and most of his teammates entered Oita Commercial High School. He doubled as a pitcher and 3rd baseman/shortstop and had a friendly rivalry with Hikaru Kawase (Softbank player) for those positions. While they made it to the Koshien nationals in his first year, he didn't get any play time during those matches, and his school never made past the prefectural tournaments in the succeeding years. Nevertheless, he was selected to play for the national team for the 2015 U-18 Baseball World Cup where Japan finished second. He then joined

Meiji University , abbreviated as Meiji (明治) or Meidai (明大'')'', is a private research university located in Chiyoda City, the heart of Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1881 as Meiji Law School (明治法律学校, ''Meiji Hōritsu Gakkō'') by three Meiji-er ...

where he became a regular in the lineup as they played in Tokyo Big Six tournaments. He became the ace pitcher and helped his team win the 2019 National Collegiate Baseball Championship. He was also selected to play for Samurai Japan in the

Baseball at the 2017 Summer Universiade Men's baseball was contested at the 2017 Summer Universiade from August 20 to 29 in Taipei City and New Taipei City, Taiwan. Medals Teams Eight teams participated in the men's tournament. ;Group A * * * * ;Group B * * * * Tournament ...

where Japan finished first, the 2018 Haarlem Baseball Week, and the yearly USA vs Japan Collegiate All-Star Series. He finished college with a 2.78 ERA, and a 13–9 record in 35 league appearances.

Hiroshima Tōyō Carp

He was the Hiroshima Carp's pick in the first round of the

2019 Nippon Professional Baseball draft The 2019 Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) Draft was held on October 17, , for the 55th time at the Grand Prince Hotel Takanawa to assign amateur baseball players to the NPB. It was arranged with the special cooperation of Taisho Pharmaceutica ...

. He signed a 100 million yen contract with them plus a 50 million yen signing bonus, for an estimated annual salary of 16 million yen. He was assigned the jersey no. 18. 2020 His performance during the pre-season games earned him a spot in the starting rotation, and he debuted on the opening card against the Baystars on June 21, the team's third match in a pandemic-shortened season. Despite pitching 7 scoreless innings, he didn't earn the win as the opponent scored against the relievers who took over. He went the distance and notched his first win on his next outing on June 28, where he almost pitched a complete shutout against the Dragons until he gave away 3 runs on the 9th inning. On August 14, he almost singlehandedly pitched a

perfect game Perfect game may refer to: Sports * Perfect game (baseball), a complete-game win by a pitcher allowing no baserunners * Perfect game (bowling), a 300 game, 12 consecutive strikes in the same game * Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League, New York ...

against the Tigers with only 2 hits allowed in 9 innings, no walks and 12 KOs. He notched his 10th win on November 1, a feat last achieved by a rookie Carp pitcher in 2014 (

Daichi Osera is a Nippon Professional Baseball pitcher for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp in Japan's Central League. He was the Carp's top pick in the 2013 autumn draft. Career Early baseball career Daichi started playing baseball when he was in 4th grade in Koku ...

). He finished 10–3 out of 18 outings, topped the team in winning percentage (0.769), and second ERA in league with 1.91 and 3rd in strikeouts with 124. He is the first CL starter rookie to record an ERA under 2 since

Yusuke Nomura is a professional Japanese baseball player. He plays pitcher for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp The is a professional baseball team based in Hiroshima, Hiroshima, Hiroshima, Japan. They compete in the Central League of Nippon Professional Base ...

in 2012, and the first one in 54 years to record double digit wins with an ERA under 2 since Giants pitcher

Tsuneo Horiuchi is a former professional baseball player in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball, and a politician. A right-handed pitcher, in he was voted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame. Baseball career Horiuchi played for the Yomiuri Giants his ...

in 1966. Post-season, he received a 27 million raise which brought his annual salary to 43 million yen. On December 17, he won the CL rookie of the year award, the first Carp rookie to do so since

in 2014. Morishita was named an NPB All-Star for the second time in his career in .

National Team

On July 31, 2021, Morishita debuted with Samurai Japan's top team during the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

held in Tokyo, Japan. He was the starting pitcher for the Opening Round match of Group A against Mexico. He pitched 5 innings (68 pitches total), allowing 5 hits, 2 earned runs and struck out 3. Japan won the match 7-4 and Morishita made quite an impression on the opposing team. Gold Medal Match After his good initial performance in the olympic tournament, Morishita was trusted by manager Atsunori Inaba to start the Gold Medal Match against the United States of America on August 7, 2021. He went 5 innings again (81 pitches total), allowing 3 hits but no run and striking out 5. Japan won the match 2-0 and Morishita won an Olympic Gold Medal, the first in Samurai Japan history, along with his teammates.

References

External links

Nippon Professional Baseball Stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morishita, Masato 1997 births Living people Baseball people from Ōita Prefecture Meiji University alumni Nippon Professional Baseball pitchers Hiroshima Toyo Carp players Nippon Professional Baseball Rookie of the Year Award winners Baseball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic baseball players of Japan Olympic medalists in baseball Olympic gold medalists for Japan Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics