Shunichi Nemoto

Shunichi Nemoto (根元 俊一)

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 165 lb.

• School Tohoku Fukushi University
• High School Hanasaki Tokuharu High School

• Born July 8, 1983 in Nishitama-gun, Tokyo Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Shunichi Nemoto was an infielder in Nippon Pro Baseball for 13 years.

Nemoto was a third-round pick of the Chiba Lotte Marines in the 2005 NPB draft. In 2006, he led the Eastern League in average and doubles. He was up with the big club for 31 games as well, but struggled, going 9 for 54 with 3 doubles, 5 walks and 22 strikeouts. His first hit in NPB was a double off Hiroki Kuroda on May 14. He was primarily a backup to Jose Ortiz and others at 2B in 2007 and hit .266/.318/.342 in 90 plate appearances. On June 19, he got his first career homer, off Hiroshi Kisanuki. In 2008, he was productive as Chiba Lotte's main second baseman, posting a .296/.369/.430 line with 6 triples. On July 11, he hit an inside-the-park 3-run homer off Tsuyoshi Kawagishi. He tied for third in the Pacific League in triples, behind only Nobuhiro Matsuda and Kensuke Tanaka. Had he qualified, he would have just missed the top 10 in average.

The Marines picked up Tadahito Iguchi in the offseason as a free agent as he was returning from the US and that cost Nemoto his starting role. He struggled off the bench, going 12 for 69 with 2 doubles, a triple and 3 walks in 2009. In 2010, he went 10 for 51 with two doubles, a homer, 5 walks and 19 whiffs. His playing time again changed with a player switching continents, as Tsuyoshi Nishioka went to the US, opening a spot at shortstop for the Marines. No one wound up with more than Nemoto's 42 games there in 2011 (Masato Watanabe also got into 42 at SS); Nemoto hit an unimposing .228/.290/.289, though, while fielding .965.

Nemoto became Chiba Lotte's starting shortstop in 2012, and he played 133 games with a .279/.322/.396 batting line. He led the league with 40 sacrifice bunts, and he was 7th in hits (between Katsuya Kakunaka and Ryo Hijirisawa), 9th in doubles (tied with Dae-ho Lee and Sho Nakata) and 7th in triples (tied with Kazuo Matsui, Yuichi Honda, Tomoaki Egawa and Esteban Germán). Nemoto then hit .262/.338/.353 in 123 games in 2013, but he slumped to .197/.253/.303 in 2014. His batting line was .245/.326/.362 in 2015, and he recorded a .215/.286/.327 batting line in 2016. He had a .220/.267/.330 batting line in 40 games in 2017, and he went 8-for-43 in 2018. Nemoto then announced his retirement, and he was the fielding coach for the Marines in 2019.

Overall, Nemoto hit .250/.312/.352 with 583 hits and 31 homers in 13 seasons in NPB.

Sources

• Wiki Japan