Ryoma Nishikawa

Ryoma Nishikawa (西川 龍馬)

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 9", Weight 150 lb.

• High School Tsuruga Kehi High School

• Born December 10, 1994 in Izumo, Shimane Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Ryoma Nishikawa has played in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Nishikawa played for Oji Seishi in the industrial leagues. He was a backup infielder for the Japanese national team in the 2015 Asian Championship, filling in for Katsuya Kawashima at 2B and Kimio Watanabe at SS. Nishikawa was 2 for 6 with two walks, a double, four runs and a RBI and had 8 chances in the field without an error. Both hits came against Indonesia as he got a start in an easy win for Japan. The Hiroshima Carp took him in the 5th round of the 2015 NPB draft. He hit .294/.339/.392 in 2016 as a backup to Tomohiro Abe and Hector Luna at 3B and Ryosuke Kikuchi at 2B. His first NPB hit came off Kentaro Kyuko, and he was the first Carp drafted rookie to hit a triple in his first career game. He was 1 for 2 in the 2016 Japan Series, as they lost to the Nippon Ham Fighters.

In 2017, he produced at a .275/.309/.417 clip while backing up Abe at third. His first NPB homer came off Tomoya Mikami, when he was pinch-hitting for Ryan Brasier. He got one vote for the 2017 Central League Rookie of the Year Award to place a distant 4th behind Yota Kyoda, Yusuke Oyama and Haruhiro Hamaguchi. He then represented Japan in the 2017 Asia Professional Baseball Championship. Nishikawa was 2-for-4 against South Korea, and he had a 2-for-3 record versus Chinese Taipei. In the Gold Medal Game, Nishikawa hit a single against Se-woong Park in the 2nd inning, and he added a 2-run double against Jae-min Shim in the 4th inning. He crushed a solo shot against Min-ho Lee in the 7th inning, and Japan won Gold. He was named the All-Star third baseman.

Nishikawa played 107 games with a .309/.364/.450 batting line in 2018, but he also committed 17 errors and led in CL third basemen. Thus, he was turned into an outfielder, and he hit .297/.336/.441 in 2019. He set the NPB record as he hit a leadoff homer in four straight games, and he also tied the Carp record with 42 hits in a month. Nishikawa was 5th in hits (159, tied with Koji Chikamoto) and 6th in batting (between Hayato Sakamoto and Nori Aoki). He suffered from a right ankle injury in 2020, so he only played 76 games, with a .304/.368/.426 batting line.

The Shimane native returned in 2021, and he recorded a .286/.335/.399 batting line in 137 games. He was 7th in hits (144, between Shugo Maki and Munetaka Murakami) and 10th in batting (tied with Kento Itohara). He then suffered from injuries again, and he crushed 10 homers with a .315/.366/.456 batting line in 97 games the next year. Nishikawa played 109 games with a .305/.337/.423 batting line in 2023, and he was 2nd in batting (.021 behind Toshiro Miyazaki). He won the Best Nine award as one of the CL's top three outfielders (alongside Yuki Okabayashi and Chikamoto), and he gained one vote in the CL MVP voting). He then announced that he would become a free agent, and he signed a 4-year, 1.2 billion yen contract with the Orix Buffaloes.

Nishikawa had a .258/.294/.347 batting line in 138 games in 2024, and he was 7th in hits (134, between Hotaka Yamakawa and Neftali Soto), 8th in steals (11, in 12 tries) and 6th in doubles (25, tied with Kenta Imamiya, Takuya Kai, Kotaro Kurebayashi and Shuta Tonosaki). He fractured his tibia in 2025, and he hit .310/.343/.413 with 23 doubles. He tied Chusei Mannami for 6th in doubles (23), and he would have win the batting title had he qualified.

Sources

• Wiki Japan