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
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*
;Group B
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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
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 ...
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