, nicknamed "Sho Time", is a Japanese professional baseball player playing for the

Yomiuri Giants The are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They ...

of the

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

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters The are a Japanese professional Baseball in Japan, baseball team based in Kitahiroshima, Hokkaidō. They compete in the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball, playing the majority of their home games at ES CON Field Hokkaido. The Figh ...

. He plays outfield and first base.

Career

Early baseball career

As a high school student, he played as a pitcher for Osaka Toin High School and his fastball was clocked at 94 mph. In 2006, he took part in Japan's

National High School Baseball Championship The of Japan, commonly known as , is an annual nationwide high school baseball tournament. It is the largest scale amateur sport event in Japan. The tournament, organized by the Japan High School Baseball Federation and ''Asahi Shimbun'', t ...

, 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 The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

and

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion team ...

all expressed interest, with Seattle offering $2.5 million. Nakata turned all of them down to play in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Nippon-Ham Fighters

He was in the first pick by

in the 2007 draft (High School Players). He succeeds the number 6, previously belongs to "Mr. Fighters" Yukio Tanaka. 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 William Domingos Barrett (born March 9, 1981) is a former professional baseball pitcher. He was selected by the Minnesota Twins in the 7th round (212th overall) of the 2002 Major League Baseball Draft. He bats and throws left-handed. He pitched ...

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 Keisuke Katto (甲藤啓介) was born November 12, 1983. He is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball. He played for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks The are a Japanese professional baseball team ...

, 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 (born August 15, 1983, in Daitō, Osaka) is Japanese baseball infielder for the Saitama Seibu Lions of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). Nicknamed "" (roughly translating to second helpings) for his large overweight frame, Nakamura is one of ...

and

Hiroyuki Nakajima , nicknamed "Nakaji", is a Japanese professional baseball infielder for the Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He previously played for the Saitama Seibu Lions and Orix Buffaloes of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and the ...

), second in doubles (to

Kazuo Matsui is a Japanese retired professional baseball player who played as a shortstop and is the current manager of the Saitama Seibu Lions. He is a switch-hitter. Matsui signed with the New York Mets on December 17, 2003, becoming the first Japanese i ...

), tied for third in homers (with Aarom Baldiris, trailing Nakamura by 30 and

Nobuhiro Matsuda is a Japanese professional baseball player for the Yomiuri Giants of the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He previously played for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. Professional career Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks On November 18, 2005, Matsuda was draf ...

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 Michihiro Ogasawara (小笠原道大, born October 25, 1973 in Mihama-ku, Chiba, Chiba Prefecture, Japan) is a Japanese former professional baseball player. He is currently the first team head coach for Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. He had an ...

(now the 2nd team coach of the Chunichi Dragons). Together with then-rookie pitcher

Shohei Ohtani , nicknamed "Shotime", is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher, designated hitter and outfielder for the Los Angeles Angels of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters of Nippon Professional ...

, the duo were dubbed the "O-N tandem of the Heisei Era", referencing

Sadaharu Oh Sadaharu Oh (Japanese: , ''Ō Sadaharu''; born May 20, 1940), also known as Wang Chen-chih (), is a Japanese-born former baseball player and manager Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"Ō Sadaharu"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 758. who ...

and

Shigeo Nagashima is a Japanese former professional baseball player and manager. Biography Nagashima played baseball at his local high school, and on the Rikkyo University baseball team from 1954–1957. He joined the Yomiuri Giants in 1958. His jersey number ...

's "O-N cannon" back in their prime with the

. Nakata was named the most valuable player of the 2016

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 ...

Climax Series The is the current annual playoff system implemented by Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). It determines which team from the Central League (CL) and from the Pacific League (PL) will advance to compete for the championship in the Japan ...

. He was selected for the . On August 11, 2021, Nakata was suspended indefinitely for committing violence against his teammates.

Yomiuri Giants

On August 20, Nakata was traded to the

in a gratuitous trade. This trade lifted his suspension.

International career

Nakata played for 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 ...

in the

2013 World Baseball Classic The 2013 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was an international professional baseball competition, held from March 2 to March 19, 2013. This was the third iteration of the WBC, following the two previous tournaments, held in 2006 and 2009. Unlike t ...

, 2013 exhibition series against Chinese Taipei, 2014 MLB Japan All-Star Series, 2015 exhibition series against Europe,

2015 WBSC Premier12 The 2015 WBSC Premier12 was an international baseball championship sponsored by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), the inaugural event of the WBSC Premier12. It was held from November 8 to 21 in Taiwan and Japan. The South Korean ...

, and 2017 World Baseball Classic.

References

External links

Career statistics - NPB.jp
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nakata, Sho 1989 births Living people Baseball people from Hiroshima Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters players Japanese baseball players Nippon Professional Baseball first basemen Nippon Professional Baseball left fielders Yomiuri Giants players 2013 World Baseball Classic players 2015 WBSC Premier12 players 2017 World Baseball Classic players