Masaru Nakamura

Masaru Nakamura (中村 勝)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 165 lb.
• High School Kasukabe Kyoei High School

• Born December 11, 1991 in Kasukabe, Saitama Japan

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Masaru Nakamura pitched in Nippon Pro Baseball for 10 years.

Nakamura was a youth star, playing on the Japanese national youth team and leading his high school team to the Summer Koshien quarterfinals in 2009. In high school, he was called the "Saitama Darvish" due to his pitching style and his general appearance that resembled that of Yu Darvish. The Nippon Ham Fighters picked him in the first round of the 2009 NPB draft, and he was 1-2 with a 5.50 ERA in his first season He became the first pitcher since Darvish to earn a win for Nippon Ham after coming straight from high school, and he done it on August 11 against the Chiba Lotte Marines. Nakamura mainly stayed in the NPB Farm Leagues in 2011, and he only got 2 appearances for the top team.

In 2012 at age 20, he went 2-2, 1.79 in 8 starts for the Fighters after spending most of the season in the minors. He was given the ball to start Game 4 of the 2012 Japan Series against the Yomiuri Giants, where he faced another promising 20-year-old hurler in Ryosuke Miyaguni on October 31st. The two went toe-to-toe for seven innings, without allowing a run, and the game was not decided until the bottom of the 12th inning, when the Fighters finally scored to win, 1-0. It was his only appearance of the series, which Nippon Ham lost, four games to two. He had his best season in 2014, when he was 8-2, 3.79 in 18 games, but he only appeared sparingly at the top level after that. Nakamura again played for the Japanese team in the 2014 U-21 Baseball World Cup, going 1-0 with a 7.04 ERA for the runners-up. He was roughed up by Australia but beat the Czech Republic's Michal Sobotka.

The Saitama native was 2-4 with a 4.17 ERA in 2015, then he allowed 8 runs in 12 innings in 2016. Nakamura only started 2 games in 2017, then he underwent Tommy John surgery and missed the rest of the season. After spending all of 2018 in the minors, he returned to the top level for just one game in 2019, giving up 6 runs in 2 innings. His career appeared to be over at that point, but after stints in the Australian Baseball League, where his main purpose was to perfect his English, and then in the Mexican League, where he won Pitcher of the Year honors after going 8-0, 3.25 for the Mariachis de Guadalajara in 2021, he resurfaced with the Orix Buffaloes' ni-gun team in 2022. He even made 3 appearances at the top level for the Pacific League champions that season, and he announced his retirement. Nakamura was the pitching coach of the Kufu HAYATE Ventures Shizuoka from 2024 to 2025.

Overall, Nakamura went 15-18 with a 4.17 ERA, struck out 154 and pitched 295 2/3 innings in 10 seasons in NPB.

Sources

• Wiki Japan
• 2014 U21 Baseball World Cup