Masato Nakazawa

Masato Nakazawa (中澤 雅人)

• Bats Left Throws Left
• Height 5'10" Weight 176 lbs
• High School Toyama Commercial High School

• Born February 16, 1985 in Saitama, Saitama Japan

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Masato Nakazawa pitched in Nippon Pro Baseball for 11 years.

Nakazawa was drafted by the Yakult Swallows in the first round of the 2009 NPB draft, and he was 7-9 with a 5.68 ERA in 2010. He collected 3 hits against the Yokohama BayStars, and he was the first rookie pitcher to get 3 hits in a game since Kazuyuki Yamamoto in 1972. He won 2 votes in the CL ROY voting. However, Nakazawa suffered from injuries, so he only pitched 7 games combined in the next three seasons. He returned in 2014 as a reliever, and he had a solid 1.57 ERA in 24 appearances. He then had a 3.03 ERA in 35 relief outings in 2015, and he pitched 1 1/3 shutout innings in 2 games in the 2015 Nippon Series. The Softbank Hawks beat the Swallows in 5 games. Nakazawa then had a 3.54 ERA in 19 games in 2016, and his ERA rose to 4.10 in 28 games in 2017. He struggled again in 2018 as his ERA was 6.91 in 37 appearances, and he only pitched one game for the big club in 2019. Nakazawa's ERA was 7.36 in 28 games in 2020, and he announced his retirement.

Overall, Nakazawa was 13-15 with 21 holds and a 5.16 ERA, struck out 196 and pitched 291 1/3 innings in 11 seasons in NPB.

Sources

• Wiki Japan
• NPB bio page