is a Japanese-born Australian former professional baseball pitcher who played for the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

and Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, Yomiuri Giants and Saitama Seibu Lions of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He was educated at the Knox School and Wesley College, Melbourne.

Career

Nakamura was born to an Australian mother and Japanese father. The family moved to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

when he was 3 years old, and Nakamura later moved to the United States after signing with the

in 1997. Despite having participated on the Australian Olympic baseball team in

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

and

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, Nakamura was not successful in Major League Baseball; he pitched in only 31 games from 2003 to 2004, and never recorded a win. He was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays in 2004, and was not re-signed for the next season. On July 27, 2004, Nakamura surrendered

Gary Sheffield Gary Antonian Sheffield (born November 18, 1968) is an American former professional baseball outfielder who played in Major League Baseball for eight teams from 1988 to 2009. He is a sports agent. For most of his career, Sheffield played right ...

's 400th career home run. After being cut from the majors, Nakamura sought opportunities in Japan and was drafted in the 4th round of the 2004 draft by the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, and he debuted against the Seibu Lions on March 29, 2005. He was injured halfway through the year, but ended with a record of 3-0 and a 2.31 ERA over 32 games. He struck out more batters than innings pitched, and did not give up a single run in the second half of the season. In his second year Nakamura made 39 saves, setting a new Pacific League single-season record, and the Fighters won the Japanese championship series. Nakamura pitched in four Japanese championship series games, and did not give up a single hit. He has since been traded from the Fighters and signed for the Yomiuri Giants. Nakamura retired as a member of the Saitama Seibu Lions after the conclusion of the 2012 season.

International career

Nakamura represented Australia at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

in Atlanta and

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

in Sydney. He had four appearances out of the bullpen in Atlanta and three appearances in Sydney games.

Pitching style

Nakamura throws sidearm and relies mostly on two types of curves and a fastball around 90 mph. One of his curves has a movement resembling a slider (some commentators have called it a

slurve The slurve is a baseball pitch in which the pitcher throws a curve ball as if it were a slider.

), while the other has a wide break.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nakamura, Micheal 1976 births Living people Australian Christians Australian expatriate baseball players in Canada Australian expatriate baseball players in the United States Baseball coaches Baseball people from Nara Prefecture Baseball players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Baseball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Edmonton Trappers players Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters players Japanese Christians Japanese expatriate baseball players in Canada Japanese expatriate baseball players in the United States Japanese emigrants to Australia Japanese people of Australian descent Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball players from Australia Major League Baseball players from Japan Minnesota Twins players Olympic baseball players of Australia People educated at Wesley College (Victoria) category:Nippon Professional Baseball pitchers Saitama Seibu Lions players People from Nara, Nara Toronto Blue Jays players Yomiuri Giants players