Masanori Arai

Masanori Arai (新井 昌則)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 8", Weight 156 lb.

• High School Fukaya Commercial High School

• Born June 23, 1948 in Fukaya, Saitama Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Masanori Arai played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 11 years.

Arai was drafted by the Taiyo Whales in the 3rd round of the 1966 NPB draft, but he only got 2 at-bats combined in his first five seasons. The Whales traded him to the Lotte Orions for Motohiko Sato in 1972, and he had 32 at-bats combined in the next two seasons. Arai finally got some chances in 1974, and he played 94 games with a .242/.294/.318 batting line. He was 0-for-3 in 5 games in the 1974 Nippon Series, and the Orions beat the Chunichi Dragons in 6 games. Arai hit .258/.295/.318 in 1975, but he slumped to .189/.231/.254 in 1976. He struggled again in 1977 as his batting line was .182/.212/.271, and he batted .208/.208/.229 in 1978. Arai bounced back with a.309/.317/.353 batting line in 1979, but his batting line fell to .214/.258/.238 in 1980. He was 5-for-30 in 1981, and he announced his retirement. He later became the fielding coach for the Orions in 1986 and from 1990 to 1993, and he also coached their minors team from 1982 to 1985 and from 1987 to 1989. He was also an assistant coach for Jobu University.

Overall, Arai hit .231/.266/.289 with 229 hits and 7 homers in 11 seasons in NPB.

Sources

• Wiki Japan