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 baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Moder ...

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the Baseball scorekeep ...

. He played 15 seasons in

Nippon Professional Baseball is a professional baseball league and the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning simply ''Professional Baseball''; outside of Japan, NPB is often referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league ...

(NPB) from 2003 to 2017 for the Yokohama BayStars and

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 h ...

. Murata led the

Central League The or , also known as the for sponsorship reasons, is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League i ...

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s in both and and is one of the few pure home run hitters in Japanese professional baseball today. He played in the

2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

as well as the

2009 World Baseball Classic The 2009 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was an International Baseball Federation, international baseball competition. It began on March 5 and finished March 23. Unlike in 2006 World Baseball Classic, 2006, when the Round-robin tournament, round- ...

as a member of the Japanese national team and hit

cleanup Cleanup, clean up or clean-up may refer to: * Cleanup (animation), a stage of animation workflow * Clean-up (environment), environmental action to remove litter from a place * Cleanup hitter, a baseball position * Clean-up Records, a record la ...

for much of the latter tournament.

Early life

Murata was born in Sasaguri, Fukuoka. He played for the Seto Bears, a local Little League team, in elementary school and for the Kasuya Phoenix in nearby Kasuya in

junior high Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school. Afghanistan In Afghanistan, middle school includes g ...

. Murata went on to Higashi

Fukuoka is the List of Japanese cities by population, sixth-largest city in Japan and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancient times. ...

High School, leading the

school A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...

to consecutive berths in national tournaments in his senior year (1998) as the team's ace pitcher. Armed with a

fastball The fastball is the most common type of pitch (baseball), pitch thrown by pitchers in baseball and softball. Its distinctive feature is its high speed. "Power pitchers," such as former major leaguers Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, relied on the ...

, Murata carried his team to a 5–0 victory over Izumo Hokuryo Senior High School in their first game in the 70th

National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament The National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament (選抜高等学校野球大会 ''senbatsu kōtō gakkō yakyū taikai'') of Japan, commonly known as "Spring Kōshien" (春の甲子園 ''haru no kōshien'') or "Senbatsu" (センバツ ...

(Higashi Fukuoka High's first-ever appearance in the spring tournament), but succumbed to

Yokohama is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...

Senior High School in the next round, suffering a two-hit

shutout In team sports, a shutout (North American English, US) or clean sheet (Commonwealth English, UK) is a game in which the losing team fails to score. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketba ...

at the hands of

Daisuke Matsuzaka is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher, who pitched professionally for 23 seasons, 16 of them in NPB, 7 in MLB. He is currently a baseball color commentator, critic, Sports journalism, reporter, and YouTuber. Daisuke is nicknamed i ...

and giving up a home run to Taketoshi Gotoh. Though Murata's team secured a berth in the 80th

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 ...

held that very summer, they lost to a -led

Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

Otani High School in the first round. Murata hit a total of 30 home runs during his high school career. Realizing that he "would never defeat Matsuzaka as long as eremained a pitcher", decided he would become a

position player In baseball, a position player is a player who on defense plays as an infielder, outfielder, or catcher. A pitcher is generally not considered a position player. A designated hitter, who bats but does not play any defensive position, is also not ...

upon enrolling in college. Among Murata's teammates at the time were then- junior

Kensuke Tanaka Kensuke Tanaka (田中賢介, born May 20, 1981) is a Japanese former professional baseball second baseman and left fielder. He played in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, and in Major League Baseball (MLB ...

and

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

. As a player who was born in the 1980 Japanese academic year and participated in the 1998 Summer High School Baseball Championship, Murata is considered a member of the " Matsuzaka Generation".

College career

Murata enrolled in

Nihon University , abbreviated as , is a private research university in Japan. Its predecessor, Nihon Law School (currently the Department of Law), was founded by Yamada Akiyoshi, the Minister of Justice, in 1889. The university's name is derived from the Ja ...

in Tokyo as an economics

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

alongside his high school batterymate Ohno and worked his way into the lineup as the team's starting

, eventually developing into one of the league's more prominent sluggers. In 2001, his junior year, Murata led his team to the

finals Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

of the All-Japan University Baseball Championship Series in June and was chosen to the Japanese team that would play in the 30th Japan-United States University Baseball Championship Series to be held later that month. He tied a Tohto University Baseball League record for most home runs in a single

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

(previously held by Tadahito Iguchi) with eight that fall. Murata earned his second straight selection to the Japanese team prior to the 31st Japan-USA University Baseball Championship Series in the summer of his

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

year (2002). He also played for the national team in the inaugural IBAF World University Baseball Championship held in Italy in August, contributing to the team's

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

finish. Murata hit .275 with 103

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * '' H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014, a British compilation album s ...

(tied for sixth all-time), 20 home runs (tied for second all-time) and 70 RBI for his

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary sc ...

career, winning the Tohto University Baseball League Best Nine Award four times. He was signed as a pre-draft pick prior to the 2002 NPB amateur draft held in the fall of his

year by the Yokohama BayStars. Ohno, who had played alongside Murata throughout high school and college, was drafted in the fifth round of the draft by the Hawks (he retired in 2007). Other notable college players selected in the same draft include Tsuyoshi Wada and Nagisa Arakaki (Hawks), Katsuhiro Nagakawa (

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 ...

), Hirotaka Egusa (

Hanshin Tigers The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team playing in the Central League. The team is based in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, next to their main stadium, Hanshin Koshien Stadium. The Tigers are owned by Hanshin Electric Railway Co., ...

) and Gotoh and Chikara Onodera (Lions).

Professional career

Yokohama BayStars

Murata made the ''ichigun'' (Japanese equivalent of "major league") roster in the spring of his

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience, a rookie is typically considered needing more tra ...

season in the pros, making his professional debut in the season opener against the Tigers on March 28, getting his first career hit then-

veteran Masumi Kuwata on April 1 and hitting his first home run off Giants left-hander Hisanori Takahashi the next day. His first career

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base unaided by other actions and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or out ...

was a steal of

home A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or more human occupants, and sometimes various companion animals. Homes provide sheltered spaces, for instance rooms, where domestic activity can be p ...

on a delayed double steal against the Carp on May 7. In the first half of the season, Murata saw a significant amount of playing time at second base, despite having played third base almost exclusively during his college career, due to teammate Katsuaki Furuki's stronghold on third. He and Furuki started at their respective positions until June, with Murata being moved back to third when Furuki was converted to the outfield in the latter half of the season. He entered a slump in July and was sent down to the ''nigun'' team ("

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...

" or "

farm team In sports, a farm team (also referred to as farm system, developmental system, feeder team, or nursery club) is generally a Team sport, team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any s ...

"), but hit 10 home runs in September after being called up a second time, setting an NPB record for home runs hit in a single month by a rookie. Though his campaign was cut short when he was hit by a pitch thrown by then- Yakult Swallows right-hander Katsutoshi Ishidoh on September 28, fracturing his right

ulna The ulna or ulnar bone (: ulnae or ulnas) is a long bone in the forearm stretching from the elbow to the wrist. It is on the same side of the forearm as the little finger, running parallel to the Radius (bone), radius, the forearm's other long ...

, Murata finished with 25 home runs in just 104 games, good for sixth all-time in home runs hit as a rookie (he also finished with a

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 ...

of just .224 and an

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batting (baseball), batter reaches base (baseball), base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA ...

of .303). Murata began the season as the BayStars' starting third baseman and No. 5 hitter, but saw fewer starts as the season went on due to his spotty

defense Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense industr ...

and abundance of

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It means the batter is out, unless the third strike is not caught by the catcher and the batter reaches first base safe ...

s, with then-

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

Daisuke Yamashita opting to use veteran Hitoshi Taneda or Seiichi Uchikawa at third base instead. He often hit in the 7-hole after the

All-Star An all-star team is a group of people all having a high level of performance in their field. Originating in sports, it has since drifted into vernacular and has been borrowed heavily by the entertainment industry. Sports "All-star" as a sport ...

break, striking out less and improving on his on-base percentage but seeing a corresponding drop in his power numbers (home runs,

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at-bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at-bats for a given player, an ...

). Murata spent the majority of the season as the BayStars' No. 7 hitter. However, despite getting his first career walk-off hit off then- closer Masahide Kobayashi in an interleague game against the

Chiba Lotte Marines The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based in Chiba, Chiba, Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region, and owned by Lotte Holdings, Lotte Holdings Co., Ltd. The Marines were a founding member of the Pacific Le ...

on May 6, he struggled so much early on in the season that he even found himself slotted into the 9-hole for seven games during interleague play (in games hosted by

Pacific League The , or , or the , due to sponsorship reasons, 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 a ...

teams in which the

designated hitter The designated hitter (DH) is a baseball player who bats in place of another position player, most commonly the pitcher. Unlike other players in a team's lineup, they generally only play as an offensive player and usually do not play defense as ...

rule was employed). He used the lineup change as motivation, hitting a game-winning two- run homer off reliever

Yasuhiko Yabuta is a Japanese former baseball pitcher. Yabuta made his professional debut with the Marines in 1996, and spent 12 years with the organization. He competed in the 2006 World Baseball Classic and struck out Alex Rodriguez, Johnny Damon, and ...

in a game against the Marines on May 28. He hit his first career grand slam off Giants left-hander Tetsuya Utsumi on June 22, finishing the year with a .252 average, 24 home runs and 82 RBI. Murata was chosen to the Nippon Professional Baseball All-Stars that would face the Japanese national team in the

exhibition game An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the playe ...

s preceding the inaugural

World Baseball Classic The World Baseball Classic (WBC), also referred to as the Classic, is an international baseball tournament sanctioned by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), the sport's global governing body, and organized in World Baseball Clas ...

in early , hitting a three-run home run off Daisuke Matsuzaka in Game 2 to lead the All-Stars to a 4–3 upset victory over the national team. It turned out to be a breakout year for Murata, who began the season in the 7-hole but moved up to the No. 5 spot after

center fielder A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball and softball fielding position between left field and right field. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the ...

Hitoshi Tamura was removed from the active roster due to

injury Injury is physiological damage to the living tissue of any organism, whether in humans, in other animals, or in plants. Injuries can be caused in many ways, including mechanically with penetration by sharp objects such as teeth or with ...

. He made the first start as

cleanup hitter In baseball, a cleanup hitter is the fourth hitter in the batting order. The cleanup hitter is traditionally the team's most powerful hitter. His job is to "clean up the bases", that is, drive in base runners. Theory The thinking behind the ...

of his career on June 1 in a game against the Hawks as a replacement for slumping

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

Takahiro Saeki, hitting the first walk-off home run of his career off then-Buffaloes reliever Jun Hagiwara on June 9 in the eleventh inning and following up the feat with his second such shot off Tokyo Yakult Swallows reliever Masao Kida on June 30 in the tenth inning. He remained in the cleanup spot until the end of the season, finishing with a .266 average, 34 homers and 114 RBI (all career highs) as one of the few consistent sources of offensive production on a team plagued by injuries all year. However, he also struck out 153 times, leading both Central and Pacific leagues in that category. Murata was again named to the NPB All-Stars, this time to play in the Major League Baseball Japan All-Star Series, after the regular season. He batted cleanup in Game 4 and hit a solo home run off then- Anaheim Angels right-hander John Lackey in Game 5, going 4-for-15 (.267) with three RBI for the five-game series. Murata continued to develop as a hitter in 2007, playing all 144 regular season games as the starting third baseman and cleanup hitter and hitting over 30 home runs and driving in over 100 RBI for the second straight year. He hit his 100th career home run off Swallows ace Masanori Ishikawa on April 10 and showed improvement in his plate discipline, cutting his strikeouts from 153 to 177 and marking career highs in both on-base and slugging percentage (.376 and .553, respectively). Murata's decision to use a heavier 950–960 g (34 oz)

bat Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera (). With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out ...

in the second half of the season after hitting just 13 home runs at the All-Star break was particularly effective, allowing him to hit 23 homers after the break alone. He passed then-

Chunichi Dragons The are a professional baseball team based in Nagoya, the chief city in the Chūbu region of Japan. The team plays in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. They have won the Central League pennant nine times (most recently in 2011 ...

slugger Tyrone Woods, who had led him by eight homers at the end of August, and finished with 36 (one more than Swallows

right fielder A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the ...

Aaron Guiel), leading the Central League in home runs for the first time in his career. Murata played in the

Asian Baseball Championship The Asian Baseball Championship is the main championship tournament between national baseball teams in Asia, governed by the Baseball Federation of Asia (BFA). It is held every other year in odd-numbered years and since 1983 it also functions ...

as a member of the Japanese national team that December, his first time playing on the national team. Murata cemented his role as the team's cleanup hitter in , hitting just .231 with six home runs in the month of April but heating up in May and reaching the 30-homer plateau by the end of July. He hit the third walk-off home run of his career off closer Alex Graman in the tenth inning of a game against the

Saitama Seibu Lions The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based north of Tokyo in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture. Before 1979, they were based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture, in Kyushu. The team is owned by a subsidiary of Seibu Railway ...

on June 21 and homered in five straight games from July 15 to 19 against the Carp and Giants, garnering selection to the national team for the upcoming Beijing Olympics. Even though he missed two and a half weeks of the season due to the Olympics, Murata managed to reach 40 homers for the first time in his career on September 14. Murata finished the season with a .323 average, 46 homers (a franchise record) and 114 RBI, hitting over .300 for the first time in his career and leading the league in home runs for the second straight year (finishing just one ahead of Giants slugger Alex Ramírez). He became the first Japanese-born player to lead the Central League in home runs in back-to-back seasons since Hiromitsu Ochiai accomplished the feat for the Dragons in 1990 and 1991 and also led the league in slugging percentage (.665) and

on-base plus slugging On-base plus slugging (OPS) is a sabermetric baseball statistic calculated as the sum of a player's on-base percentage and slugging percentage. The ability of a player both to get on base and to hit for power, two important offensive skills, are ...

(1.062). However, despite his offensive production, the BayStars finished dead last in the Central League with a 48–94 record, most likely playing a factor in Murata's finishing just seventh in

Most Valuable Player In team sports, a most valuable player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particular competition, or ...

voting and receiving only two first-place votes (Ramírez, who hit .319 with 45 homers and 125 RBI, won the award). Murata began the season with the farm team, unable to play due to a torn left

hamstring A hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in human anatomy between the hip and the knee: from medial to lateral, the semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris. Etymology The word " ham" is derived from the Old ...

suffered while running the bases during the

held in March. However, while it was initially reported that he would be out roughly six weeks and that his return to the active roster would be no earlier than May, Murata recovered from the injury sooner, playing in a minor league game against the Marines on April 15 (just two weeks after the season opener) as the designated hitter and homering in his first

at-bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens upon completion of his turn at bat, b ...

. He was added to the active roster and returned as the cleanup on April 21, getting his first hit of the season in a game against the Swallows on April 24 and his first home run off Tigers reliever Ryo Watanabe on April 29. He earned a walk-off hit by pitch against the Giants on May 13 in a 9–8 win. He hit his 200th career home run on July 28 against Tigers. On August 7, he tore his right hamstring after the game against the

; although he was expected to be sit out for the remaining season, he recovered again and managed to return to the starting lineup as the cleanup hitter in September 21's game against the Hanshin Tigers.

Yomiuri Giants

Murata played in 118 games for the

in 2017, slashing .263/.331/.423 with 14 home runs and 58 RBI. On December 2, 2017, he became a free agent.

Tochigi Golden Braves

On March 5, 2018, Murata signed with Tochigi Golden Braves of Baseball Challenge League. On September 9, 2018, Murata announced his retirement from professional baseball.

International career

2007 Asian Baseball Championship

Murata's first stint with the Japanese national team came in the

2007 Asian Baseball Championship The 24th Asian Baseball Championship was contested in Taichung, Taiwan in November and December 2007. The tournament is sanctioned by the Asian Baseball Federation. The winner of the tournament will gain automatic entry into the 2008 Olympic Games ...

(which also functioned as the Asian qualifying tournament for the 2008 Beijing Olympics) held in

Taichung Taichung (, Wade–Giles: '), officially Taichung City, is a special municipality (Taiwan), special municipality in central Taiwan. Taichung is Taiwan's second-largest city, with more than 2.85 million residents, making it the largest city in Ce ...

, Taiwan. He went 4-for-9 (.444) in three games, helping Japan win the tournament and clinch a berth in the upcoming

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

2008 Beijing Olympics

Murata was chosen to play in the 2008 Beijing Olympics amidst high expectations for a Japanese national team that consisted entirely of professional players. However, he came down with a severe

cold Cold is the presence of low temperature, especially in the atmosphere. In common usage, cold is often a subjectivity, subjective perception. A lower bound to temperature is absolute zero, defined as 0.00K on the Kelvin scale, an absolute t ...

and had to be hospitalized in Tokyo in early August, keeping him from taking part in team practices prior to departing for Beijing and temporarily weakening his dynamic visual acuity. Japan's disappointing fourth-place finish behind

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

prompted sharp criticism of manager Senichi Hoshino by the Japanese media, who had opted to start Murata in eight of the team's nine games despite his clearly not being in good health and hitting just 2-for-23 (.087) with one

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

(55th of all 58 qualifying players in batting average) during the tournament.

2009 World Baseball Classic

In early 2009, Murata was chosen to play in the World Baseball Classic as a member of the national team, his first opportunity to redeem himself after an abysmal showing in the Olympics the previous summer. He hit a two-run home run in Japan's 4–0 win over

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

on March 5 as the team's No. 5 hitter and another three-run homer in their 14–2

mercy rule A mercy rule, slaughter rule, knockout rule, or skunk rule ends a two-competitor sports competition earlier than the scheduled endpoint if one competitor has a very large and presumably insurmountable scoring lead over the other. It is called t ...

clubbing of South Korea on March 7 as the cleanup hitter, hitting .320 and driving in seven runs in the first seven games of the tournament. However, Murata injured himself while rounding first base in the fourth inning of Japan's seeding match against South Korea in the

second round The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of Un ...

held in

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

on March 19, tearing his right

. Though Japan went on to become tournament champions in the

final round A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

played in Los Angeles, Murata was forced to return to Japan early. He was presented his

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

by manager Tatsunori Hara upon the team's return to Tokyo on March 25.

Coaching career

On November 5, 2024, Murata was hired by the

Yokohama DeNA BayStars The are a professional baseball team in the Japanese Central League. Their home field is Yokohama Stadium, located in central Yokohama. The team has been known by several names since becoming a professional team in 1950. It adopted its current n ...

to serve as a coach.

Playing style

Hitting

Listed at and , Murata is a stocky, if not particularly tall, hitter. While he fits the description of a prototypical

power hitter Power hitter is a term used in baseball for a skilled player that has a higher than average ability in terms of his Batting (baseball), batting, featuring a combination of dexterity and personal strength that likely leads to a high number of hom ...

in that he hits many home runs but also strikes out often, he is also well known for his exceptional opposite field power, a trait that Murata refers to as " pulling the

ball A ball is a round object (usually spherical, but sometimes ovoid) with several uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used for s ...

right field A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In t ...

". While he left much to be desired in his plate discipline early in his career, he has improved his batting average as well as his on-base percentage virtually every season of his career and has developed into one of the most dangerous hitters in all of Japanese professional baseball.

Fielding

While Murata has a strong throwing arm and shows good instincts at third base, he leaves room for improvement on the defensive end. He has made strides in his glovework since coming into the league but is still prone to mistakes, leading the league in errors in both 2007 (18) and 2008 (16). Murata has seen time at both second and first base in the pros, playing 65 games at second in 2003, his rookie season, and one game at first in 2004. He played first base in the seeding match in the second round of the 2009 World Baseball Classic (Giants slugger Michihiro Ogasawara took his place after he was injured).

References

External links

*
Career statistics - NPB.jp
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Murata, Shuichi 1980 births Baseball players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Japanese baseball coaches Living people Nihon University alumni Nippon Professional Baseball coaches Nippon Professional Baseball third basemen Olympic baseball players for Japan Baseball people from Fukuoka Prefecture Yokohama BayStars players Yomiuri Giants players 2009 World Baseball Classic players World Baseball Classic players of Japan